Anyone 30+ with a childhood ASD dx?

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I don't know if this question has been asked before, but I am curious (I have a feeling this might be the most lopsided poll ever).

I am 29 years old and am self-diagnosed with HFA (I had a speech delay until around four), and I think that the main reason that I was not formally diagnosed as a child was a failure of those involved with my speech therapy and later the school system. As I just posted in another topic, my mother was told that I was probably mentally ret*d; the fact that I am a college graduate has pretty much put the lie to that. I was raised in a small town in coastal North Carolina, and I imagine that autism of any kind was a foreign concept to the local specialists 25 years ago; from all I have read, it was considered very rare at the time.

So I pose the question: are there any people with an ASD on here who are around my age or older who were diagnosed as children, and if so, are you from a rural area or an urban area?

A very interesting question. I too would like to know how many 30+ members of WP were diagnosed/ self-diagnosed/found out about aspergers, autism, neurodivergency etc before becoming an adult.

I get the impression that 30 is the age at which one is pretty much set for life, at which having missed, or been able to use, the "normal"/NT opportunities for career development in particular, determines to a huge extent what is still open to one.

And if one has never heard of, or not identified with, nor been diagnosed as Aspergers/Autist, it is unlikely that someone would see any reason to ask for help, request accommodations/support to deal with the things that NTs find relatively easy but we find so hard, and which make it very difficult to progress academically/professionally however "intelligent"/gifted one is.

I am 46, found out about aspergers two and a half years ago, and self-diagnosed soon after. I had thought I "was" various things before that, none of which helped me really understand my problems, nor how to handle work, academia, etc ( eg. according to my parents I was lazy, selfish, greedy, contrary/defiant, untrustworthy, inconsiderate, deliberately and repeatedly immature; according to teachers of art and english a very imaginative, creative daydreamer, and generally, at school/uni a persistent underachiever, who "could do better".

I wonder what difference it makes to someone, what difference it has made, to people around/over 30, who were dx'd, or self-diagnosed, before they became adults. Did it help?

I am 52 and had never heard of Asperger's before my son's preschool wanted him tested. As for myself, being a "problem child" was evident very early on. I was almost assessed as borderline MR when tested before first grade. Provisionally considered to have Schizoid Personality Disorder as a teen. Diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder at 35 and with Inattentive ADD at 45. Does your rural/urban option refer to your childhood or now? What about suburban?

I wonder how many people there actually are on WP who are around or over 30 years old.

I was first diagnosed as severely mentally ret*d. I was later diagnosed as "emotionally disturbed." Finally, I was diagnosed with autism. Today I am a moderate to high functioning adult who has an associates degree and even spent time in the military.

I am thirty four years of age, diagnosed with AS in October of this year...and still getting used to it too. I do have a son with PDD, he was diagnosed in 2004 and it was then I became suspicious that I could have an ASD too..but being 'mom', I put it on back burner and paid attention to my boys growing up..that is til now (they are obviously more grown up now)....anyhow I am from the Midlands in the UK, its hardly rural, I would say quite industrial. Not nice, but truthful non the less!! !

Quite a lot, I'm sure - perhaps as much as 50% now, we seem to be getting more and more every day. It would be interesting to know, if there is a way of getting complete and accurate poll results. Does WP have the capability of keeping statistics by cross-referencing profile info?

I'm 58 and got a DX five years ago but I've voted yes with disclaimer as I'm not sure if I had an 'official' DX as a child.
It's a hard to determine as both my parents and all but one of their siblings are dead (my father's surviving sister reckons I was a bit of a funny kid but will go no further).
What I do know is that there was talk of mild autism when I was four, that one of my mother's sisters worked with autistic kids, and that my cousins generally agree that I was a bit of a loner and some of them were instructed to look after me when we were in a group.
We lived in a semi rural area when I was a child and I've lived in rural areas almost exclusively as an adult (I think it's something to do with natural versus unnatural sounds and the ease of parking a car).

I'm 34. I grew up in a semi-rural area. I was 'emotionally disturbed' as a child. 'Schizoid Personality Disorder' suggested and then withdrawn when I was 18, never made an official diagnosis. I didn't have a speech delay.

Asperger's Syndrome was first officially diagnosed in 1994. That was fifteen years ago, so it IS possible that someone 30+ was diagnosed as a child/teen. (They would be fifteen or older at time of diagnosis, but that will steadily change.)

Still, I think the majority of our older members discovered the diagnosis because of children, family members, or friends who turned out to have the diagnosis. (Plus, a select few who learned about it through research or the telly.)

AS was first diagnosed in the forties when Hans Asperger described its symptoms as a clinical pathology.

It wasn't listed in the general DSM until '94, at which time school systems began to recognize it. It is not likely that anyone over 30 would have been DXd in public school programs or through school psychologists before that, but had a child or teen been introduced into the Mental Health Care System outside of school before that age, they might have been diagnosed pre 1994.

For most of us, it does seem to be the internet and others close to us saying "Hey - this sounds like you" that is bringing attention to the possibility. Really though, if the one-in-150 is fairly accurate for school age kids today, how many adults can you extrapolate from that are out here walking around with undiagnosed AS? A bunch, that's for sure.

I voted no.

I'm 32 yo. I was diagnosed with Specific Learning Disabilities without the specific part. I had speech, reading, math, and intellectual targeted special education services since my first round of 2nd grade. Speech therapy was only continued for the fist two years. I no longer required math help after I got passed the memorized type of math. Special education for reading/English was continued through graduation primarily do to low performance in spelling. I received these services in a suburban school system.

Over the past year, I figured out the "specific" part of my original label. I have deficits in non verbal working memory. I can't see anything in my head. This had affect on more than just academic performance. Non verbal working memory issues also play a roll in understanding non verbal cues, time management, recognizing people faces, remembering dates, ect. I had no idea that there was any relationship between my learning difficulties and the social problems I always had until a year ago. I also didn't know that most other people could see at least one type of information in their minds.

I'm in the middle of a diagnostic evaluation. I'm likely to be labeled as Asperger or ADHD/Gifted and Learning Disabled. I have one of the core deficits of NVLD to the extreme (non verbal working memory), but don't fit the cognitive testing profile or common characteristics too well. I thought I was diagnosed with AS a year ago when the psychologist said "it's textbook", but the diagnosis was never changed. I'm going through a full assessment now that will result in a official diagnosis of any disorders present and a full report.

Last edited by j0sh on 01 Nov 2009, 5:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I am 36

436 Months
1897 Weeks
13284 days
318810 Hours
19128608 Minutes
1147716490 Seconds
1147716490439 Milliseconds

I'm in my mid-40s and received a provisional dx of AS and a referral to a neuropsychologist this past summer. I see the neuropsychologist in 3 days.

there was no possibility of dx when I was a child. I was defiant and unmanageable, and from what I've read from others regarding their childhood I feel perhaps I'm better off not having gone through the mental health mill in my younger years even though my life has been very difficult in the absence of self-understanding that an earlier dx would have brought me.

I am 39. I was considered a (painfully) "shy" girl, maybe even quirky, but nothing to get me a diagnosis, but my mother was very young and I was an only child, so I'm sure a lot of things just got written off. I learned to compensate a lot, but still had very few friends and can vividly remember lying and making excuses to neighborhood kids about why I couldn't/wouldn't come play at 4 or 5 years old. As I got older it became harder to seem "normal" and in my 20's I was diagnosed with everything under the sun, but nothing ever really quite "fit".

I knew of Asperger's since 1999ish but this one Aspie I knew was much more severely affected so it never crossed my mind that this could be it. It wasn't until my son was diagnosed in January, and my family kind of "confronted me" with their observation that he probably inherited from me, that I started to realize what ASD really is, and how it's a spectrum. I got my AS diagnosis in March.

that was me as well. I've known several male AS children and could not see myself in them. it was only when I "met" my older half-brother online and read his blog that things started to fit for me. it is a spectrum, and the total immersion of WP has really helped me to finally understand myself after a lifetime of feeling like I never fit anywhere.