Your diagnosis

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If you have AS or HFA, how did you get your diagnosis?

I chose medical professional (not psychologist/psychiatrist) because I was diagnosed by a pediatrition (I don't think that was spelled right but you know what I mean, children's doctor). I was 11 years old at the time.

I was diagnosed by a psychologist specializing in ASDs who has a private clinic.

I was diagnosed HFA by a psychologist who specialises in LD's but is also qualified to diagnose ASD.

Psychologist and psychiatrist with in-depth experience with autism and Asperger's in children and youths and with equal experiences in many others disorders. Which I rate as a specialist.

The exact same way as someone with LFA.

Self diagnosed but when I was little, my family had a psychologist run some tests because I didn't "play right" and autism was suspected. This was in the 70's.

I was diagnosed HFA by a paediatrician.

It's hard to choose - first I was self-diagnosed, then that was confirmed by a non-professional, then I spoke a few times with a psychologist who confirmed it again.

A few years later, in some misguided search for legitimacy, I collected diagnostic opinions from a psychiatrist I'd spent a while talking to a decade or so earlier and a psychologist who'd sold me neurofeedback training, which were reviewed by our local autism association and approved by them.

Not that any of it did me very much good, but any tiny shred of self esteem helps these days.

Diagnosed by an M.D. under supervision from a psychiatrist and later re-diagnosed by a psychologist (who somehow didn't believe the M.D.'s diagnosis). The psychiatrist now heads that city's adult autism program, and the psychologist was somehow on some autism team, too, but I am not sure whether either can be considered a specialist on the subject.

"Assessed" by an AS specialist at an AS center who gave me her opinion after a conversation..and said I could treat it as a diagnosis..though it was not an actual diagnosis....
Went later to see a phychiatrist who said in his opinion that the assessment was probably correct, but did not count as a diagnosis...and neither did my ADD "diagnosis" by a couple of MDs....a few years before....

So I am in limbo between "Have no diagnosis" and "diagnosed by a specialist"

Diagnosed with Aspergers by a psychiatrist specializing in childhood anxiety disorders and PDDs (nice combination... heh). For that, it was actually pretty informal, though.

Autism specialist but given that reading about autism just made so much sense I'd have remained convinced by it even had she told me I wasn't autistic. Then again, the diagnosis in many ways consisted of her asking if I thought I had autism or not.

When I suspected I had AS, I did a self-diagnosis using the Adult Asperger Assessment. I was then advised by two nonpracticing Ph.D. clinical psychologists to get a formal assessment. So, I did (from a Ph.D. adult autism specialist) and got a two-fer: AS and depression (again).

The Ph.D. part is important: it reflects a much higher level of training than an M.A. or LCSW. I'd never see the latter for a diagnosis of any sort. They are good for inexpensive talk therapy when problems are not too deep. M.A.s are good for routine testing, at the direction of a Ph.D.