How old were you when you found out you were autistic

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This is just a poll to see what the average age of diagnoses is here,

You can also vote what age you self diagnosed yourself or just suspected autism.

I was 15 when my diagnoses was finalized and re-diagnosed at 18 and there was no self speculation of autism before evaluation.

I was diagnosed with autism when I was about three years old.

I didn't know this, though, until I was in my 30's.

Growing up, I thought I was brain-damaged, and I also thought I had my "retardation" cured through brain surgery.

I learned about autism when I was about 9. I saw a public service commercial about autism. At first, I thought they were talking about "artistic" people.

When I was a child, the brother of one of my best friends was severely autistic. The family didn't call it autism, though, they always said that "he didn't get enough oxygen in the brain when he was born."

I found out that I'm on the spectrum when I was 15. It bothered me for a year and than I was able to accept it.

I found out at 27 and was diagnosed the same year. I had no doubts either. At 26 I started to realize a wall between myself and others... It hadn't occurred to me that it was abnormal for me to not want friends. when it did finally occur to me I started to TRY to make friends.... It felt awkward because they weren't as deeply interested in things as I like to be. Acceptance came fairly easy for me since I was already looking to add myself up. Googling "Female Asperger's" helped a ton with acceptance. Reading other Women's written words was enlightening and incredibly comforting

My folks took me to the county mental health clinic at age 4. I was unmanageable to say the least. I was not your sweet and shy Asperger kid. I got kicked out of nursery school, restaurants, department stores. Kindergarten was a nightmare. Poor mom by herself with me while dad was out to sea.

I had no idea what my deal was until I overheard a conversation with my mom telling someone I had autism. I was 17. My world went to crap.We never discussed it. Even now I can't any info about my mental health visits. I just have a savant like memory for details. I had behavioral therapy there and later in grade school.

Even with behavior therapy, my sensory issues kept on as well as my auditory processing problems. Smells and sounds in school were too much for me .

I was non-verbal until age 5 1/2. I went through similar things as Spinelli at about the same ages.

It wasn't called autism, though. It was called brain-damage, emotional disturbance, retardation.

Though I was actually diagnosed with Infantile Autism at age 3.

I tried recently to get a dialogue going with my mom about this and she clearly ignored everything I said (Facebook private message).

So Kraftie, I'm thinking infantile autism is what was suggested to my mom about me . Your story helps me get closure. ☺

I was 63 when diagnosed by a competent professional. I'd been going to my local Mental Health Center for years, for Clinical Depression, and on antidepressants. My daughter heard about Asperger's in a college Counseling course (the idea being Church Employee Counseling, a Christian college) and said "That's my Mom!", but the Center didn't have anyone qualified to do the professional diagnosis: but she did tell them about it. Then the Center got an inquiry from a PhD Psychologist specializing in Autism, working at the Children's Hospital 50 miles away, who was writing a paper about people who'd lived a life undiagnosed, and how they'd coped with life. Of course, the kicker was _finding_ undiagnosed people to study! So we went over there, she did my diagnosis and her interview.

Well I was diagnosed when I was 2
But I really didn't begin to know what it meant until after I turned 10.

Age 55, almost 56

I was only 8 years old when I was diagnosed with mild Asperger's. I was always told that 8 is the average age of Asperger's diagnosises, but I have read that most girls with mild Asperger's get overlooked and go undiagnosed. Even on WP people who were born in the 80's/early 90's got diagnosed in their teens or 20's, because their Asperger's didn't get recognized as a child.

I hate that I had a diagnosis so early in life. Yes I may of got support through school, but having a label made me feel more different from my peers than I was before I got the diagnosis. The day I got diagnosed, my respect from my peers changed all of a sudden, as my teacher told the class about my label when I wasn't in the room, and everyone must have thought Asperger's was the plague.

I believe 15 but I wasn't told right away

Well, you could say I always knew but since you mean that like diagnossed, around 10 mabye 9.

I was diagnosed at 3, so my mom knew then, but I was probably about 10 when my mom told me about my diagnosis.

I was diagnosed at 43, but had suspected I was on the spectrum for at least 10 years. I just didn't have the means to pay for a diagnosis. Of course, insurance doesn't cover it here, so it's out of pocket.

When I started earnestly looking around for somewhere local that did them, it was difficult to find someone that didn't want me to come in for extended counseling, which is not what I was looking for. In retrospect, I particularly resent the implication that I was in need of "fixing," when what I really wanted was a simple diagnosis.

I finally found a clinic associated with the local university, where they strictly perform a diagnosis, the fees were more reasonable.

I started suspecting that I had it around the time that I joined this site. I started noticing something was up when I was 14.
I talked to my dad about it and he dismissed it, but he's mentioned a few times that I could be autistic.
My sisters are pretty convinced that I have autism because of a lot of the behaviors that I had as a kid, and even now.