difficulties getting diagnosis

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I didn't get my diagnosis until my 9th grade year. I had good grades and never got in trouble. As a result, I flew under the radar. Only trouble makers get noticed by teachers. I got my diagnosis after having some trouble in a couple of classes in ninth grade. My mother just found out about autism earlier in the school year.My sister was misdiagnosed with mental retardation when she was in first grade. She was put in a class with other kids who actually were mentally ret*d. She hated that class and she hated the teacher. My mother got calls about her everyday for two years. The school refused to give her the correct diagnosis. My sister got a different teacher for third grade. She liked this teacher and didn't have meltdowns as a result. She got moved to another school for fourth grade. She hated the new school and she hated the teacher. My mother got the daily phone calls again. Still, my sister diagnosis was not corrected. My sister was moved to another school for fifth and sixth grade. She did well at this school. She didn't have meltdowns and she got average grades. Still, her diagnosis remained mostly unchanged. Her teachers didn't see any "autistic" behaviors. She liked her teachers so of course she didn't have meltdowns. She did get diagnosed with auditory processing deficit. My sister got average grades in middle school because she had teachers that followed her iep. She did well in high school for the most part. Math was her weak area. She finally got her autism diagnosis when she was in her senior year of high school last year so she could services from Vocational Rehabilitation. Our mother had to battle the schools for both mine and my sister's diagnosises. Anybody else have difficulties getting diagnosed?

Sounds like you went to school in a third world country .

Sounds like you went to school in the US in the 90's.

The local school system was extremely hesitant in acknowledging autism with my niece. My sister had to finally have her seen by a behavioral specialist outside of the school setting to get her diagnosed and even then the school seemed reluctant to change her IEP from 'developmental delay' to 'autism.'
She was around 3 or 4 then and is 7 now.

I was diagnosed with being a bad kid. That lasted until I was twelve. Then I was diagnosed with depression, social anxiety, OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, blah blah blah. I don't even remember everything.

I likely met the criteria for at least ADHD as a child, but back then it was something that was diagnosed mainly in boys. And Asperger's wasn't really commonly diagnosed until I was older and having major behavioral problems. So it was just assumed that I was troubled, and a bad kid.

So after years of being treated unsuccessfully for all sorts of things, I had to go find someone that evaluates adults. So yes, I had a lot of trouble.

Judging by the OP's age, she did go to school in the 90's. She didn't state which country. Even so my comment was not meant literally. We pride ourselves in the States as having the best of everything. Her experience just shows how far off the mark we are.

If I'm not mistaken, the US has been very slow to adapt to this. At least we do have some things that have happened, at least in major population areas. There is now a growing awareness and people who want to treat adults specifically.

But, yeah...we are so far behind in so many ways here. If you are in the sorta right place, you can get help with some effort. If not, you may as well be in the Sahara.

Can you imagine the damage done to a child that is made to believe she is mentally ret*d?

School employees often aren't the brightest lights in the harbor.

Instead of being specific, I would think of it as, "Imagine what is being done to children who are made to believe things that are untrue."

It's not just being labeled 'ret*d' is a problem. It's also the high functioning as well. Just different set of problems. One is no worse than the other in general. For individuals though, it can become specific.

Just like in life, I struggle with the things everybody else take for granted.

This situation was specific. About the OP's sibling. It had me reliving briefly some of my own horrific school memories. It was a sh***y experience for me and that is why I can relate to this OP.

School employees are the most clueless people around. How could they not notice that I talk funny and got made fun of by all the kids in my classes. Were my constant attempts to avoid going to school not a clue? It makes me wonder what was taught in the education programs at the colleges these people went to.

They were probably the ones destroying their brains cells at frat parties with all that beer funneling and weed.

I have no confidence in our third world quality educational system. Glorified babysitting.

Well, having had to deal with a lot of people in your age range, I can pinpoint a few problems with the educational system as it exists in America.

Instead of building self esteem by teaching critical thought towards success within given ranges, they treated everybody like obedient pets by giving them treats just for showing up. The trophy generation if you will. This is not the fault of the people your age. It is the people who stepped all over themselves with yearly changes in procedure that made them constantly have to alter methods.

Everybody was made to follow some experimental pedagogy that made students lab rats. While there were problems before, it was not the massive failure it is now.

Misplaced priorities and social warriors have made it difficult by trying to make students obey a metric system that is limited in it's ability to reach people.

Teachers can no longer spend years honing a craft and set of lesson plans that work. It's a yearly change putting a strain on resources that are already at the breaking point. There are times they have been made to work in a new system even before they get the guidelines to make lesson plans.

I feel sorry for the millennials. They drive me nutso. Not because of who they are. But how they were taught so many bad things that are giving them difficulty.
Almost complete risk aversion
Almost complete narcissism
Unrealistic expectations

The list is long. But, they were screwed over by people trying too hard to keep them safe and feeling good. Pain is not a bad thing. It is unavoidable. But, it makes you stronger.

It cannot be avoided.

Many are there just for a paycheck. The work ethic appears to have eroded. You have administrators whom are only interested in their career path. Students be damned.

I wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until I was nearly 30 because until then, mostly low functioning boys got diagnosed because even into the 90's, schools didn't acknowledge that autism is a spectrum, and that girls can have it. As late as 1994, the speech therapist said that "if there were such a thing as being a little bit autistic," that would be what I have. I had traits of Asperger's or being on the autism spectrum since I was born, but it wasn't until the 21st century that it was being diagnosed more in high functioning individuals.

Right on!
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Believe me I know the negative first hand experience of making it well into university and getting an adult diagnosis.
I would have benefited so much more at younger age, which would have made university that much better and easier.
Whether or not I'd be employed is literally down the economic situation...

But to be fair I grew up in a broken household with constant big issues and other disabilities, that yeah I don't blame anyone for catching it.

But I always talked about how I didn't "get" social and 'get" how to make friends.
But everyone punished me for it.