If only they knew more about Aspergers back in the 70's...

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I know there's many people here around my age who who didn't find about having Aspergers until they were in their 40's. And if they knew as much then as they do now, a childhood diagnosis probably would've been made.

But here's what I'm wondering. For those kids who are being diagnosed these days, how much if any counseling do they receive on just what being autistic means and how it's going to impact them? How much coaching to they get on dealing with it?

Now I actually was diagnosed as a kid in the 70's. Not with Aspergers specifically I don't think, because that was so unknown and unheard of back then. But diagnosed with autism pdd-nos etc.

The thing is, no one ever mentored me on that. No one ever explained to me what that meant as to how it might effect me throughout life and what I might expect. I'm always glad to see young people here on WP, because they can learn from us old timers here. But outside of that, I wonder how much guidance AS kids these days are receiving regarding their AS?...

I was born in the 70s and while my mother and teachers knew there was something going on with me no one ever seemed to put their finger on it. I remember at the school's prompting my mother taking me to different doctors. I remember going to an opthamologist, some kind of hearing specialist and a child psychologist. I remember the school testing me with some special tests and at different times was either placed in the gifted program or the remedial program. No one really ever figured out I was on the spectrum and I had a rather difficult childhood. I had a terrible time with schoolwork. I bet my mother remembers to this day the creative writing paper I couldn't even start. I stared at the blank paper for hours. My teachers often thought I was a trouble maker and I'd either be placed in the back of the class or the front of the class depending upon their teaching philosophy. One time I was put in what was basically a closet with a window in the door. Other children teased me. One school I went to I literally had one friend. I'd sit with her and her friends at lunch but if she was absent I wasn't welcome at their table.

I had no clue why people didn't seem to like or accept me. My only concept of autism was people who were trapped inside their own mind and communicated little or not at all. I never even heard of Aspergers until a friend versed in psychological disorders mentioned it to me when I was 38 and at that time she was asking me if I thought my then husband might have it. It took me over a year to realize that I had it myself.

It seems to me that because of the misconceptions associated with being on the spectrum that it would be assumed that you wouldn't have the mental ability to understand your own condition, especially if you are a child, so I don't know how much actual counseling is done. I approached the only Aspeger's specialist I found in my area and she kind of rebuffed me because she was only concerned with teaching life skills to younger people with Aspergers and that as an adult I've probably already figured out most of it on my own but she'd be glad to see me if there was a specific skill I needed help with. I really was looking for a counselor to help me work through all the ramifications of what having Aspergers meant to me, not just someone to teach me how to manage my time and interact with people...although in all honesty I probably do need that also. So, I've kind of been putting the pieces together myself. Figuring out what behavioral traits I have that relate to having Aspergers and even some physiological ones.

The first time I ever heard of autism is when I watched "Rain man”.

I was born deaf in my left ear so the doctors thought I was a slow learner because of it. it also accounted for my behaviour. They gave me a hearing aid, all that did was attract bemused onlookers.

I still don’t understand why I was giving a hearing device to help me hear better, when the ear it was supposed to help didn’t work, full stop.

I had quite a tough up bringing in the 1970s, school was a waste of time, I was placed at the back of a class with 40 pupils, it didn’t seem to matter that I was deaf in one ear with learning difficulties.

I was told by two Doctors in 2002 that I have Aspergers, I have never really cared for a proper diagnosis because it doesn’t really bother me, the doctors knew straight away without all the funny little tests.

I knew I was different from about the age of six, the rain man helped put a name on it later on in life.

I would shout numbers at birds sitting on telephone poles, when my mother quickly counted the birds, it was the number I was shouting out.

I know the time on the hour whenever a clock is displayed in a room somewhere, without looking at the time first. I’m drawn towards the time, I sense it is the best way to put it.

Along with all the other quirks I grew up with (Too many to mention) I know what’s different about me, more so than most of the so called experts out there.

My symptoms go from one end of the spectrum to the other. Depending on the severity of the mental stress I’m enduring, I experience mild and severe autism.

I have never heard of anyone else this happens to, neither have the doctors I’ve talked with.

I think they know as much about autism today as they did back in the 1970s, the only difference is they have stopped the cruel practises they did back then.

Behaviour change techniques were used, which usually resulted in the autistic patient being subjected to pain and punishment in order control the subject’s behaviour.

Doses of LSD were used to alter children’s minds, along with electric shock treatment.

Of course the mother was to blame for the autistic child’s quirky behaviour, "Refrigerator mother”.

Despite all this, I loved growing up in the 1970s, I had a red chopper bike and skate boards started to grace our streets. Nottingham England.

I would like to have had something like WP back when I was young. I wouldn't have wasted so much time!! !

At least, I hope the new generation can learn from our mistakes.

By the way, I don't know if the current psychologist are really prepared to deal with asperger. They still think that this is kind of mental disorder, not a different psychology.

It has little to do with psychology. It's a different neurology.

As a parent, I am taking accountability for educating my kids about how their disabilities will affect them. Honestly, I don't think that is the job of the schools or of the medical profession. It's my job. And if I am to be completely frank, I wouldn't trust the schools or the medical professionals to do it. Half of them have no idea what they are talking about, and the other half is so focused on stereotypical presentations that they don't know what to make of it when the kid standing in front of them doesn't "look" the way they are "supposed" to look.

I was born in the 60s and when I was little the doctor told my mum I had to have all 10 traits of Autism so I never got diagnosed if they had known back then things would've been a lot easier for me during the 70s.
I don't know about getting diagnosed now as I'll be 50 this year there dosen't really seem any point but my doctor I have now seems to think I have Aspergers as she is going to conferences to learn more about it.

My mother didn't "believe in" doctors. She believed in God... and the power of prayer. But, when dad came home from the 2nd WW he was convinced I was a "stubborn child," and what I needed was discipline.http://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Child-Mark-Devlin/dp/0689114761

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_D._Devlin ( Mark Dennis Devlin was the author of Stubborn Child (ISBN 0-6891-1476-1), a critically acclaimed [1][2] memoir published in 1985.)

I can relate, I've shared my story elsewhere on the board but I recently had to deal with something that is probably the most stressful thing I've ever dealt with(my father died and I didn't get to see him, also had to deal with my mom which is frustrating) and I started pacing the house and what I guess is stimming? My wife found it bizarre and I didn't even realize I was doing it until she noticed. She said I often pace the house but not that badly.

Unfortunately you're in the majority I think. And of course Dustin Hoffman was imitating a specific real life individual who it turns out wasn't actually autistic.

I am glad nobody knew about it when I was little. I was born in 1964 and my mother was overprotective enough as it is. If she had known I was a "special child" that would have been it for me. I wouldn't have gone to regular school, I wouldn't have done anything, ever. I would have been made to feel that I couldn't do anything at all and would never be able to learn to. I would still be living at home with her and a bunch of cats.

I'm kind of glad and kind of not. I might have not tried as hard in some areas if I'd known or used it as an excuse. I really am just plain lazy sometimes.

But on the other hand, I might have gotten more guidance and less mistreatment at the hands of my peers.

Yeap, of course. But the inside view, when it comes to everyday life, it's that it's a different psychology. It's true that the ultimate cause is the different neurology, which is a deeper issue.

However, from the pragmatical point of view, when it comes to everyday problems, I think a psychological approach is easier to handle. I'm talking about high functionning adults and about needed tools to handle your own asperger life. I have no idea about raising a autist kid, since my point of view os asperger is first person POV, not a third one.

I just wanted to make this point: usually psychologist and psychiatrist think in asperger as a normal psychology with a neurological dissability, not as a different psychology that comes with dissabilities, but advantages too (at least, for the lucky ones as me).

I wondered why I was strangely drawn to your post.... I was in Nottingham in the early 70's, I was the one stealing matches and burning the railway embankments at age 6 !

Stu

I loved playing with matches also. Back in those days, the bottom of the bed I slept in was made of a sack like material, highly flammable. I lit a match under the bed and it went up like a burning bush, as quick as it blew up, it put itself out. A lucky escape. I was about 6yrs old.

I lived in Carlton, my stepfather worked in the coal mines (Gedling) and my mother worked at boots

1976 was a mad year, it was super hot weather, your shoes would melt to the kerb.

We lived in Rise Park which was still being built my grandparents were in Beeston ? we used to go to Wollaton park ?
By '76 I was down south in Surrey, I remember peeling the tarmac off the roads it was so hot !
I was a real pyromaniac though, I would burn anything !

Stu

It would have made certain things so much easier. I was born in the late sixties.

They knew that "something" was different about me at school, and twice I was pulled out for testing. The educational psychology service only seemed able or willing to test for learning difficulties, and when it was proven beyond doubt that I wasn't ret*d (quite the opposite, actually), they dropped me like a hot potato and sent me back to class: "There is nothing wrong with this child".

Unfortunately, because my IQ was so VERY high, the school and my parents assumed that my difficulties must come from me simply being willful or naughty.

It wasn't that. I used to forget things. If the teacher told us something, like we had to remember to bring a certain item to school tomorrow, because once I had walked out of the school door I would be in a different world/context, there would be nothing to prompt me to remember Item X and it would simply be gone from my universe until the next day when the teacher asked us for the thing and I wouldn't have one. I was forever being punished for "not listening" or "not paying attention", but that wasn't it. I HAD listened, I HAD paid attention, it was just this part of my executive functioning didn't work.

Another thing was I had no concept of the future (apart from perhaps the immediate future, such as what time school would be over), and so planning ahead just wasn't a concept at all for me. There was only the present moment. A lot of schools of meditation etc. seem to want to teach you to "be in the moment", but if you can't visualize further ahead than just a few hours, trust me, you will make a lot of wrong choices in life. I didn't grow out of this until I was about 16.

Also, I found it hard to pay attention to subjects that didn't interest me. I didn't learn to concentrate and finish my work certain classes until I was in my teens. While I was very bright, I didn't finish my work, particularly under timed conditions, meaning I never got the grades to prove my ability.

As for the constant teasing and bullying, don't even get me started.

As a small child certain textures used to freak me out, particularly of foods, but also of objects that I didn't like to touch. My parents would respond by trying to force feed me or force me to touch the offending items, which only made it worse. I was frightened of bizarre things for no reason.

A diagnosis and some proper support would have saved me a great deal of hassle.