How could anybody not know?

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Brief history.

Early school books ahead of the class felt i had cheated the teacher hyperlexia.

Age of about 8 OCD starts.

Listened to a recording of my voice at school something about voice i did not like monotone.

Teacher saying he knows what to say but cannot say it.

Never been able to make proper eye contact.

Could never do maths at school, i did say it was like being dyslexic with numbers but nobody listened.

How could these supposed professional teachers not know something was wrong?

AS is something that just happens to be pretty much unknown about, even with the professionals. Unfortunate is it not?

Yeah would be nice if AS was more recognised for sure...

Yeah, I've found that most professionals simply aren't aware of AS - or autism at that. They're trained as teachers, not social workers or scientists. I know almost none of my teachers really know what it is, even after my parents told them. Some of that may be because I'm only about 2% as AS as everyone else here, so with me they might not even recognize it if they do know.

How old are you? AS was only formally recognized in the early- to mid-1990s. You can't expect people to recognize something that doesn't officially exist.

I'm not sure where you live, but the ministry here in Canada has lifted a discrimination against people with autism or AS from teaching. In fact, people with AS or autism have a better time teaching other students with AS. They should be more than aware of it.

..Doesnt "officially" exist.. Wha?

They might have just thought that you were a bit different, rather than having a medical condition.

stripey,
a lot of things used to be easily missed-or stereotyped,they were ignorant more than not wanting to help.

sisters boyfriend's sister is in her twenties and grew up undiagnosed with severe dyslexia-she was called stupid,slow and lazy but never the truth,she is diagnosed now,but too late,the same with most WPers to.

am had autism,no speech,multiple learning difficulties and seizures missed,and was assessed a lot as a toddler onwards,by gp,paed. specialists at hope hospital and park hospital.
after autism and brain damage not showing up on the scans,they and the gp decided am was just a disruptive,disturbed and uncooperative child,and prescribed smacking-something that even the teachers did when they got fed up with am not being aware of them [aka uncooperativeness to them] or for meltdowns.
it caused years of suicidal thinking,and a hate for own parents,as soon as was diagnosed,mum wanted to get out and sue the schools,sue the council and the specialists,but that does not solve anything.
have had old dinner ladies and teachers come up to family asking how am,and get onto the subject of autism,they said they always thought am should have been in a special school,had actually been offered a place for a special school when was in infant school,but parents refused it and repeated to them what the specialists said about being a badly behaved child.


ignorance,has a lot to answer for,for people with developmental disabilities and learning disabilities.
it might not help adult WPers now,but for the young auties,aspies,adhders,dyslexics etc of today,at least they have a better chance of being diagnosed,understood and helped as needed.
without all the adult mis or undiagnosed,misunderstood and stereotyped auties,aspies,adhders,dyslexics etc and the ignorance suffered by them,the young ones wouldn't have the best chance they do today.

I was unofficially diagnosed in the late 1960's by a teacher who told my parents. They kept it a secret from me for 50 years. But, at least they all knew.
I guess the 60's to early '70's were the Golden Years for education. Very "old school", very Mr.Chips. Granted, it was a program for "gifted" students. Accellerated program. The info was there back then and obviously lost until very recently.

Until about '92, nobody had defined AS, and it was another couple of years until it made it into the main diagnostic manuals, so any aspie who was diagnosed over 12-13 years ago would have been labeled as having Autistic disorder or PDD-NOS ("Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified").

Well, ChelseaOcean is right! It wasn't officially a diagnosis in the US until 1994! And I was checked out in 1969 and they couldn't diagnose me. GRANTED, they wanted to see me again, but they ran a LOT of tests. I don't even think AUTISM was a diagnosis then! With me, they offered that I could skip grades. I didn't simply because I had ENOUGH trouble with bullies. 8-( It was quite a while before I heard about gifted programs. Some others here have said the same thing. Granted, it IS on the district level, but it still smells fishy.

No wonder why my parents didn't think I had AS. They didn't know about it. They didn't think there was anything wrong about me; to them, I was probably just some normal kid until I went to high school. Then they noticed some distinct traits about me, and learned to accept me for being that way.

Neither AS nor ADD had any presence or mention when I was in school (in the 80's).... I only discovered ADD as a senior in High School.
I was just seen as an extremely disorganised, socially akward, emotionally immature kid who made very bad grades in class but scored extremely high on standardised tests.

no lables

...i did repeat the 3rd grade though....

I sorta got shuttled through the system...and yet somehow squeaked into the gifted classes

I scored extremely well in both math and arts in elementary school (mostly anyways) but completely failed at English. Well, not fail, but did poorly. That didn't change much in high school, but for some reason, my parents always felt compelled to make me attend some math tutoring group. I only got better at English because the grammar and spelling stuff is like doing math to me, and my parents got me to see an English tutor. So I ended up not having to take some English entrance exam for university, even though I didn't go to that university that required it.

Well, on their own, those things to me don't scream AS. It sounds like you have a math learning disability, in addition to OCD, but I wouldn't guess you had AS based on the rest of it. I'd have to know more about your interaction style.