how did you get diagnosed or if your not, when did you know?

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ZombieBrideXD
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21 Mar 2013, 8:04 pm

i know some people get diagnosed because they suspect they have aspergers or some parents diagnosed them at a young age. for me, my parents suspected and ALL my relatives KNEW something was off, i kinda felt i was autistic for some reason even though i knew nothing about autism, i thought autistic people were just ret*d before my diagnoses. anyways i went to therapy for violent outbursts and when i met my therapist , i greeted him by saying "hello, my name is Emily Sanipass and i will be your new client" and right then he did a background check and a number of small tests without letting me know, (a former aspergers client greeted him the exact same way) it was more than obvious that i was off a bit for my whole life.


however you were diagnosed, i would like to know

if your not diagnosed id like to know how you know you have aspergers?


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Valkyrie2012
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21 Mar 2013, 8:20 pm

I just got my official diagnosis today. Though for years I have called myself an aspie. When I read about Asperger's and blogs by aspies I felt I could have written the posts. Before I knew about Asperger's I knew I was different.. I just wasn't sure how.. other than that I was seen as "Gloria being Gloria" by my family.



cathylynn
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21 Mar 2013, 8:32 pm

my nephew was diagnosed last year, so I read up about Asperger's. the symptoms they listed were describing me.. i'm 56, so my teachers weren't thinking about autism when I was in school. Asperger's just made sense of many things in my life. I don't have an official diagnosis, but wouldn't know what to do with one anyway.



mrmjb1960
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21 Mar 2013, 8:39 pm

I was diagnosed in 1991,after 37 long years of having "Mental Retardation" on my Records! My therapist Karen Lakritz looked at me and quickly got it! Thanx,Karen! You've saved my life by correctly diagnosing me!



eric76
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21 Mar 2013, 9:00 pm

I don't know if I have it or not. Some days I think I may have Aspergers and other days I think it is rather unlikely.

A few years ago, I was talking to someone who works with Autistic children. In the middle of our conversation, he suddenly asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with Autism. I thought that was a crazy question, said "No", and forgot about it for a while.

Then last year, I ran across something about prosopagnosia. I had always thought my inability to recognize people by their face was normal. It had never occurred to me that there might be something wrong. For the first time, some things started to make sense.

When reading about prosopagnosia, I saw several references to Aspergers. That brought back the memory of being asked the crazy question a few years ago. I did some reading about Aspergers and realized that it described a number of things about me. I then took some of the on-line tests and made quite high scores.

So I don't know if I have it or not. It seems fairly likely, but I have overcome many, but not all, of the difficulties and don't see that a diagnosis would help me very much.



Liv_a_Little92
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22 Mar 2013, 4:03 am

I was diagnosed when I was 4-5 so in 96-97.
In kinder garden I wasn't speaking properly and my teachers just thought I had a language disorder. My mum, however, thought different. My mum was awesome. She went to the local child psych and they referred my mum to a Autism/Aspergers where I had an assessment done. He also referred me to an Occupational therapist to help with my speech and motor function.
Over the years my mum taught me how to cope with the things that I was uncomfortable with and my siblings taught me how to have fun.
I'm now 20 and in my 2nd Year of University and although I have a tremor in my hands and at times I don't understand a conversation, my friends just accept me for who I am. :)



League_Girl
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22 Mar 2013, 4:09 am

I was seeing a psychologist in 5th grade and then in 6th grade, she suspected I may have Asperger's after she had been seeing me for nearly a year and had ruled things out for what may have. she knew nothing about AS and didn't even know what it was but yet she still suspected it? I never understood that part from my mother. But she wasn't qualified to make the diagnoses so she referred my mother to a autism specialist. Mom took me to see him and i saw him for a few months and it took him a while to diagnose me. I was hard to diagnose because of my medical history. It was mainly my poor social skills, I also had sensory issues too and dyspraxia and my obsessions but they seemed more concerned about my social skills.

But in 5th grade, my speech teacher thought I may have it after knowing me for three years.


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Urist
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22 Mar 2013, 11:20 am

Not diagnosed, but I decided to look into things co morbid with depression after I was referred to a psychologist due to it. Read about a lot of stuff and found that the cause of my depression seemed very AS-like(trying to be more social and 'normal' than I really am) and that I fit the criteria as well. As that referral is for April, I don't know what an actual psychologist will make of it, but I don't think I'm far off.


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22 Mar 2013, 11:42 am

After having another embarrassing meltdown last year (for the second time that year) and nearly calling 911 I was in such bad shape I knew I wasn't "fine" like my doctor said. My mother was also going through some health issues and I was in the library and read about Asperger Syndrome. I turned white as a ghost as I knew nobody who had those issues and to see it on paper helped a lot. Since I learned about Autistic meltdowns I have only had one very minor one since.

After spending a year here at WP and researching it carefully I went from 99% to 100% convinced I'm an Aspie. As chronicled here I tried to get formally diagnosed but apparently experts believe Aspies by definition cannot be employed full time.



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22 Mar 2013, 12:29 pm

Undiagnosed, but lots of little things led me to the conclusion. One, I was reading the dictionary when I was bored at work and came across this definition: a psyciatric disorder usu. of childhood, characterized by impairments in social interaction and repetitive behavior patterns. Two, aguy who had it had to work in my room with me. He was obssessed with Elvis Presley, wiggled incessanly in his chair, and was really shy and awkward. He reminded me of myself as a child. Three, I read the NYT Sunday Magazine article, "What are (Autistic) Little Girls Made Of". That really drive it home.


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22 Mar 2013, 1:05 pm

GiantHockeyFan wrote:
After having another embarrassing meltdown last year (for the second time that year) and nearly calling 911 I was in such bad shape I knew I wasn't "fine" like my doctor said. My mother was also going through some health issues and I was in the library and read about Asperger Syndrome. I turned white as a ghost as I knew nobody who had those issues and to see it on paper helped a lot. Since I learned about Autistic meltdowns I have only had one very minor one since.

After spending a year here at WP and researching it carefully I went from 99% to 100% convinced I'm an Aspie. As chronicled here I tried to get formally diagnosed but apparently experts believe Aspies by definition cannot be employed full time.


I had a bad time with meltdowns a couple of years ago including actually calling 999 (UK equivalent of 911). Not taken seriously but ended up with counsellor. It was me who read about it while researching for someone else but had the same eureka moment. I have worked full time in a responsible professional job but in the UK that does not exclude diagnosis, so I asked for a referral and was diagnosed officially last month. Ended a lifetime of wondering about being wierd!



goldfish21
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22 Mar 2013, 4:45 pm

Not officially diagnosed yet, but I know. I figured it out 6 months or so ago after symptoms got really bad and I looked things up online, then read a few books about AS. I know.

Funny thing is, I maybe should have looked into it years ago... as one memory that comes to mind from business school back when I was ~18 years old I had calculated & delivered the answer to some math question by the time the instructor had finished asking the questions and presenting the figures.. he thought I'd seen it before or something and asked how I came to that conclusion, I immediately delivered a precise monologue on the mathematical process to calculate the answer which I had done in my head moments earlier. Being the youngest in the class, I had a room of ~50 people staring at me in aw, wondering how the F I'd just done that. All I could think was "sorry, I didn't realize it was supposed to take longer... I thought this was a quick simple example and we were moving right along, not intending to spend the next 10-15minutes working out the answer to this in groups of 4.. oops." A bit later, one of my teammates looked at me and said in a slow but sincere voice "no.. it's got to be some kind of autism," and I didn't say anything at all in response, I just thought "f**k you.. as*hole," and then never gave it any additional thought. In 20/20 hindsight, I reeeeeeeaally should have looked it up and read about it back then, I'd have figured things out 12 years earlier!! ! Ah well, can't change the past.. learning now & moving forward. 8)


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kate123A
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22 Mar 2013, 5:23 pm

well it all started when my son got diagnosed with autism.

I took him to a doctor that specialized in Autism and she told me that I had it too. I was shocked and in denial.
I then took my son to get a second opinion and spent five hours arguing with the neuropsych well she told me
my son had it and so do I.

She later arranged a formal evaluation and it came out that I have Autism as well.

That is how I ended up at age 30 with a diagnosis.



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22 Mar 2013, 6:53 pm

I don't know if I have it or not. As I read more and more on wrong planet, more and more begins to make sense, especially if I look back at my childhood and how I just did not cope at all and seemed to stand out. Thinking about it now, I can kinda see it...sometimes web talking to people, I have no idea where I'm supposed to look when doing so. I seem to have coped better later, so whilst wondering if I had some form of autism or not, I'd say no. It doesn't help that (no offence meant) I'd always thought of autism as being the kid screaming his head off in a corner somewhere.

I've always been odd, I guess. Even if I'm not an aspie, I'm not the usual neurotypical. I don't know whether to get a diagnosis or not. NHS is kinda useless and I don't want to have to deal with anything more with the mental health team than I already am.



donothing1979
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22 Mar 2013, 7:38 pm

i am not diagnosed, but i have thought for a while that i exhibit behaviors that are in the scope of AS.

I don't know if it's Asperger Syndrome or mild Autism, but i will find out, as i'm seeing a specialist in April as well.

i don't know if i'm sad or happy about this; that it took me until 33 to bring this into question.

if i'm not diagnosed, then i am just weird like i have always been. if i am diagnosed, then i am weird like i have always been, but for good reason. :D



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22 Mar 2013, 7:44 pm

I was 12. I was referred to a general mental health expert, who my school hoped would label me with something, so they wouldn't be in so much trouble over my low attendance.


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