Late Diagnoses

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How often does it occur that one is diagnosed with Asperger's at age 15 or later?

Since Aspeger's has only been an official diagnosis since 1994 there are a lot of us oldsters who are just catching up.

My 14 y.o. has been recognized as needing to be evaluated for Aspeger's just a few weeks ago. I read up on it and have self-diagnosed at age 39. I have an uncle that I suspect has it too - he is 60ish and will probably not get a formal diagnosis.

There are tons of aspies out there who haven't been diagnosed yet because the label wasn't around till the 80's and 90's. Even though the condition was described by Hans Asperger in 1944, it was ignored all those years until 1981, the word got coined by Lorna Wing. I do not think that word was around in North America till 1991. There has been other criterias for AS. The earliest one I have seen for it was created in 1989 and I have seen one from 1991 and 92. The DSM-IV for it was created and came in the new DSM book in 1994.

I do not know how many adults have been diagnosed with it since 1994 but I think there are still tons of un diagnosed ones out there. Some are still discovering it on accident and realizing they have it.

People with AS would have fitted in to the DSM-III too (Childhood-onset Autism for the more "severe" AS, and Atypical PDD for the less severe "AS"), which came out in 1980. It's just that not everyone followed the DSM-III (you'll note that Lorna Wing is in the UK, where they had the various iterations of the ICD).

About half of all adults with AS are undiagnosed, according to research; half of all children now are too (both of these are from different studies and researchers).

It's theorized that many with "HFA", that's Autism without mental retardation (Kanner's Autism), are undiagnosed too, as since many are socially aloof and withdrawn from society (but they did ok at school), so their "problems" aren't in the spotlight.

I just found out I had aspergers less than a year ago. Im not diagnosed and im 19 years old so it probably happends quite often because it isnt a well-known disorder and it seems if their is nothing wrong with you at times.

My nephew who is an aspie didn't get diagnosed till he was about 19 or 20. Yet my boy was 5 when he got his autism diagnosis.

Got diagnosed at age 18. I didn't know what Asperger's was before then.

I believe this generation of kids will be diagnosed quicker and will be better off than our generation because the world is starting to know what it is. It's starting to appear on the news and having events.

I COULD have been diagnosed in my twenties, though it wasn't an official possibility until my thirties. I WISH I knew about it! In my thirties, I was STILL kind of going somewhere. Knowing about AS would have prevented a few mistakes.

Our 12 year old was diagnosed just before he turned 5, but it was then that we realized that our (then) 14 year old was very probably on the spectrum as well.

It occurs quite a bit right now because the DX criteria did not come out until 1994 but you can be sure that there were aspies around before then (considering that Asperger's original paper was done in 1944 and Wing's in 1981). I am sure that in another 10 - 15 years, those getting dx's when they are older will go down. I myself was in my 30s when I got my AS dx (but was also dx'd as probably autism and PDD-Childhood Onset when I was younger).

I got diagnosed aged 23. I can usually fit in if I want to but I am a bit "weird".

Then too there's the issue that there's NO SUPPORT for adults

This wasn't even a diagnosis when I was a teenager or child-I mean it was TECHNICALLY when I was a teenager, but just because something gets listed in the DSM-IV it still takes YEARS for that to filter through everything. I had never heard of it until a consoler told me they think I have it.

I haven't been diagnosed with AS, however i do strongly believe i have it. I was put into foster care when i was 9 and still am in foster care, my mum never really thought of me to be on the autistic spectrum because i spose she thought my way was normal however i am quite weird. I can tell my foster carers have noticed my peculiar behaviours but i think they think i have OCD, however they haven't yet discovered some other of my peculiar habits, e.g. my obsessions etc. I hope o know the truth soon, i just want to know whether i have it or not!! It's annyoing me like hell!

I was diagnosed at age 18/19.

There was no fitting disability known to the public and to regular professionals before.

Most people hear "autism" and they think "Rain Man"...and "Asperger's" is nearly unheard of...so it's not surprising that so many people go un/mis-diagnosed.

Or at least that was my experience.

First time I heard the word "autistic" I thought they said "artistic" and wondered why artistic children needed help