Do I have asperger's?

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The new guidelines say nothing about language proficiency, and allow a person to start using SIMPLE phrases as late as 3 YEARS! Frankly, under the NEW guidelines, I don't see why they would have to involve the parents.(Although, in my case, stims are subtle, and sensitivities aren't often triggered(They only show up at the airport, airplanes, conferences done by idiots, hotel/client alarms. I'm usually ignored or people think I am nuts.). My BOSS could attest to my INsensitivities though! ) My early school records could show the lack of social skills, early skill adoption(including language, as I first went to school at 3yo), and intelligence. The OLD guidelines would require someone like a parent.

Yeah, You're right about Tony Attwood.

Steve

I'd agree with Steve that it's more beneficial not to mention it to your employer.AS in
itself is not something that's liable to affect your abilities,in fact if you look on your job as an interest it can actually help you focus and be an advantage at times. Unfortunately,the
public perception as far as employers go would not I suspect be enlightened enough
yet to see the positive side.

Is that the only thing which was changed with the guidelines?

Hi kerryt84 as somebody who has gone through the SA route before I was diagnosed with AS. It doesn't hurt. Personally it never occurred to me I was AS or knew what it was about. I did some work on my eye contact. The eye contact thing with aspies is different from SA people who don't want to look at people. It is not to do with negative thought patterns it is physically difficult to directly into someone eyes. I describe it as similar to looking into a bright light.

edit - sorry let me refrase that. takling SA helps me with some aspects of AS. I'm not saying it is easy.

Last edited by 0_equals_true on 12 Apr 2007, 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

No, it is just one thing that really stood out. Anyway, they are about to change them again!

Some aspies just don't see the point of talking until we can talk in complete coherent sentences.

Well, my mother said I was speaking FINE, no giberish good grammer and 100% intelligible, by 18 months! Maybe some of you guys are like the danes I met on a train in switzerland that said they didn't speak English well. They spoke it better than most Americans! I BLEW my chance! I should have asked them to speak German and French! And HEY, you COULD speak earlier, right? You said it was ELECTIVE mutism. Lightning88 said she was READING at 3, so she probably could speak earlier too.

Steve

Yes, totally elective. I spoke very coherently at home and with people I knew. If I had enough time in kindergarten, I probably would have started speaking more and I do think I spoke a little bit when asked a direct question. I tended to take a lot of time to analyze things before jumping in. Had to study the kids and the environment for a long time before figuring it all out. The fact that I also have CAPD makes it harder for me to enjoy talking.

My mother always told the story of my verbal attack on the garbage collector when I was about 2-1/2. It seems I was attached to a tattered old blanket and my mother decided to throw it away. She told me that "the garbage man came and took it away." Apparently, I waited for his next visit and ripped him a new one.

So yes, I could talk very well when I wanted to. My son started talking around 2 and didn't stop talking from the time he opened his eyes until he went to bed. He was obsessed with electricity like you. He taught himself to read with he was 3-1/2 playing a video learning game. He would also sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and rearrange the computers, moving monitors and keyboards around. One morning I woke up and found my Unix terminal plugged into the internal modem of a PC! He was certainly a late talking aspie.

what is the difference between selective and elective mutism?

Don't worry, this forum accepts every lonely soul who is disgusted by the unclear current standards of social life.

I am kidding, now and then here there is a crusade of elitists who hunt all the phoneys they can find to kill them, and if someone of the phoneys complains there should be more empathy for them, they answer "THIS... IS... AUTISM!" and kick them down a pit.

This is not necessarily an aspie trait. A lot of lonely people are bullied. Obviously, maybe they are lonely because of something though.

Part of this may be due to a Central Auditory Processing Disorder. Did you ever notice istances when you cannot understand the words others are using while other people, even more farther than you, can?

Autism, in its various forms, seems to be related to some kind of sensorial disorder. Every person who is diseased consequently has to try to overcome its problem (of which they may be even unaware) using more conscious processes; through the more intensive use of the brain they became more intelligent, and yet at the same time they are slowly differentiating from normal people who use more unconscious processes (favoring white matter over gray matter), so they end up with totally different styles of conversation. At least this is how I see it. Obviously it's a very simplified view, but it can fit a more general approach where CAPD, NVLD, ADHD and ASD are seen as spectrums within a spectrum.

Anyway, about the diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder, you can go easy with it, you just need to never tell anyone not in this forum (well maybe your parents can know, but if you got a negative reaction from them keep in mind this is the same reaction you are likely to get from other people). I convinced myself I was slightly autistic simply because:

1) I clapped my hands while thinking once
2) I eat a lot of bread

Also I do some of the things people here do, although in a less exagerated way. There are a lot of non-diagnostic traits, related to co-morbid disorders. Example:

Do you never throw away anything? (Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder)
Do you wear the same clothes all the time? (Executive Dysfunction)
Do you have a sex drive? (If not, check Schizoid Personality Disorder)
Did you check on wikipedia the symptoms of all the disorders I mentioned before reading this line?

Anyway, as a good guide to socialization, I personally recommend "Venusian Arts", which is a book about seduction. I know you are a girl, but that book covers a lot of standard social tecniques.

FV

I have never seen this here. And who would want to be an aspie pretender anyway?

Kerry, all of your posting sounds very familiar to me, it could well be a description of myself. Every single online test I've ever done tells me that I have asperger syndrome, which I'm pretty sure I don't. I do however have social anxiety disorder (social phobia), officially diagnosed about 12 years ago. It seems that there are enough common characteristics for the 2 conditions to be easily mistaken for each other.
For me, there are a few things that make the difference
1) I don't have any trouble understanding the rules of social behaviour, I understand them perfectly well. I just have trouble following them usually because of nerves or anxiety in certain situations. I'm well aware that my behaviour is sometimes seen as 'odd or unusual but I can't do otherwise. I know very well how I 'should' behave, it just doesn't happen.

2) I don't have any problem with empathy, I understand other peoples feelings but I can't always react the way I'm supposed to.

3) Most of the time I don't have any problem understanding body language, but if I'm in a social situation that I'm uncomfortable with the stress/anxiety seems to cause a sort of 'blindness' and I don't spot the signs at all.

There are probably a few other differences that I could pinpoint if I thought hard enough about it but these are the main ones.
Sue

hi,
i read your post(obviously!) and in my opion you sound somewhat like me, although im only 16 atm.
i KNOW i have aspergers, and although i know my life would be so much easier if i have an official diagnosis for some reason i also think my doctor would laugh at me and call me a hypo.
another reason why i havn't seeked a proper diagnosis is because i dont need anyone else to tell me i have aspergers, ADHD and now depression, although it would've made sencondry school alot easier for me.
but anyway i hope evrything works out for you, and if you do pick up the courage to get a diagnosis please keep us informed because if you could inspire alot of people like me!

When reading this, it did make me think as it described how I behave well, but I'm a bit confused with what I might have or if I even have AS. When I look at lists of characteristics and traits I fit into every category and hit a lot of the criteria, but social skills seem to be key. And I can and do have fairly in depth and enjoyable conversations with different people. But certain social situations I find very difficult, for instance small talk. I also hate talking on the phone as I find it very difficult to know when to talk and find I always mess up. I don't believe I am a shy person, I am not assertive but that's different. Social skills do cause a problem in my life but I feel I deal with them because I have to. I am still a very successful teacher and have managed teams of people before. Also I do have empathy, and regularly cry when watching films, but I find I am not sympathetic at all and can't pretend to be, can you have empathy and not be sympathetic and still have AS? I feel my biggest problem is to do with sensitivities (which cause me problems constantly), and I don't know if that fits in with being AS. I have done loads of online tests and they all say I have AS, but who knows how accurate they are.

Just wanted to let you know that I am going to my GP tomorrow as the first step to getting a formal diagnosis. I am very nervous! Wish me luck! I will let you know how it goes.

As far as I know they're the same thing. It used to be called elective mutism because it was thought to be a choice. The name was then changed to selective mutism because of an increased awareness that sufferers literally couldn't speak in certain situations.