The earlier you're diagnosed the better the outcome ?

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Is that true or false ?

Hello,

From my perspective, and having received a late evaluation, I think I can say that it is better to have it when you are a child. Why is that? I think that after struggling a lot with myself during these years without understanding well why I didn't click with anyone, all my particularities that I have been hiding the best I could, etc., if I had had an early evaluation, I would have found a meaning to things, I wouldn't have fought against me and the rest, and I wouldn't be disoriented now as I feel. Everyone will have an experience behind them, so I encourage other users to share their opinion.

Thanks for reading

I will say my situation is complicated by having a severe mental illness , that I believe most here don't have . That, by itself, can have a negative impact on how well a person does .

Compared to many here I could accurately be described as an out and out failure .

No, it is likely that some very exclusive doors would have been closed. Most people don't get to go through those doors so why should someone with a disability even consider walking up to them?

It's about community support. Whether or not a person is diagnosed, is there a supportive community. If they are diagnosed, is there a supportive community? I would like that the community supports a person regardless of diagnosis and especially with diagnosis, but that is not always (or even usually) so.

Warning trigger: There is a high rate of self harm in the female population of ASD. I would like to see that statistic by those diagnosed at the time or not. In my personal experience: my undiagnosed ASD-like cousin is dead (and it was a close call for me) and my diagnosed ASD neighbor has community supports in place and is getting through (seemingly better).

I feel for those folks who are diagnosed or not and have little support.

Not necessarily true.

It can be said that mild autism---especially Asperger's---is not usually evident until a child reaches at least preschool age; whereas more severe autism tends to start being evident in late infancy-early toddlerhood.

It is better for a relatively high-functioning person to have clarification through a relatively early diagnosis, though. Undiagnosed people in adulthood might be confused about what is causing their "symptoms," so they feel like they're "in the dark." They feel befuddled, and wonder whether they are "defective" in some way.

I wasn't diagnosed with Moderate ASD until 2018, and I'm in the midst of an ADHD diagnosis right now.

I feel like earlier diagnoses would have helped me through school but I don't know. I might be idealising. I don't think there were many accommodations or special programs for children when I was in Primary in the 1970s. I wouldn't have wanted a label but it would have been nice to understand myself better. As it was, I learned to self-hate and to assume I was defective somehow. I could tell I wasn't "a real person" (that's what I thought everyone else was -- I seemed like an imposter).

Unless you have an effective treatment approach, early diagnosis, IMHO, is not effective and may be an unnecessary crutch for the Aspie.

And IMHO there are very few effective treatment options today.

My mom provided me with lots of support. My brother had to go to a lot of social activities like the Boy Scouts as well as martial arts training to defend himself. I did not. A casual observer would think the opposite. That I wasn't getting any support!

You can also look at it from the opposite direction, and ask what the chances are of a good outcome if you're diagnosed very late. At 64, I currently can't see any way to make up for what I've lost, and missed out on, but even a decade or two earlier might have made a huge difference.