How to get diagnosis and if I should be diagnosed

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Should I get diagnosed?
Yes 50%  50%  [ 2 ]
No 50%  50%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 4

TheMysteriousOne
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Joined: 7 Nov 2009
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 35

22 Oct 2010, 1:01 am

Hi guys, I've been kind of lurking since I joined this site a couple months back with an occasional post here and there. In my particular situation, I am above average intelligence, and socially competent (though far from proficient--my social IQ would probably be in the 80s), however, I am somewhat challenged in terms of my ability to perform academically, I believe due to potential Aspergers comorbid with Executive Dysfunction.
Though I have overall good grades, my performance oscillated throughout my HS career. I started off actually inheriting some of my bad grades (1 F and 1 D) from middle school, but my first year here, I performed excellently. Then sophomore year, I performed a 3/5 with another F, some C's. and the rest As and Bs. I spent my junior year (I was actually retained because of that F my sophomore year) repairing the damage and I brought my grades back up. My junior year was stellar. My senior year, I'm continuing that upward trend, but with more difficult classes. The thing is 1) my overall bad grades were due to boredom/lack of interest in the class. For instance, I had a 50 for my Algebra class from MS, however, I did a recovery course designed for a school year and completed it within 2 days with a 96. That same time I took Algebra in MS, I was teaching myself Calculus. Foreign Language, Computer Programming, etc (special interests at the time). However, classes I did well in (like high As and Bs), teachers would note that I always did poorly on the "basic/easy stuff". Basically, anything that required "common sense" stuff like organization, time management, following directions, etc.
In fact, just this week a teacher brought it to my attention. She said that I was 90% there in terms of knowledge, but I need that extra 10% to be wholly rounded for college. The thing is, its hard. Organization, to me, doesn't compute. I just shove papers wherever I feel they should go until I need to retrieve them. Time, time for me passes slower than it does in the real world. I find it sometimes helps to multiply my mental clock by 3 to adjust (my mother also says I seem to walk/move in slow motion, especially in the mornings). I also seem to have the hardest time with verbal processing now (a new thing). I find I may have to ask for instructions to be repeated several times as I don't hear them (I just hear garbled words) and I struggle to figure out exactly what was said. Further, assuming I do hear what was said, I have a hard time keeping it in my mental queue long enough to perform the task, and even still I often forget what had been said or asked. I just did a google and found Auditory Processing Disorder, however, there's no predictable pattern to this in my case (I may hear with heavy background noise, but not hear with no noise, and vice versa), and sometimes, my hearing is even temporarily heightened.
As far as my Aspergers goes, I think it's actually responsible for my success. I have a high verbal (so much so that I can read some other Romance languages without knowing them), and my special interests overlap with many classes I take, so I usually participate in class and ace the tests. I however, can't stand either homework or projects, so in classes where tests are minimalized, I'm at a disadvantage. I am socially competent, though it is a strain. I approach social situations with the same vigor I would any Calc or Physics with limited success. Even though I could easily get a gf, I abstain as courtship phenomenally harder than any test I have ever taken. I have one friend (female) who I've relayed this to (her mother's actually a psychologist interestingly enough, though I don't know her personally). She's been really helpful and supportive.
This is part of my drive to study neuroscience as my older brother has LFA (due to oxygen deprivation at birth for 12 minutes) and I see some overlap in our behavioral tendencies. My younger brother shows some traits of Aspergers, but I doubt he has it.
So far, I'm looking at
Asperger's Syndrome
Executive Dysfunction
Auditory Processing Disorder
I'm wondering whether I should pursue a diagnosis. I know one makes it harder to get insurance, and it could possibly lead to job discrimination in an economy already low on jobs. I also want to do it without informing my parents if possible for personal reasons and I live in the Atlanta area(I'm 17 August 93). I am Sub-Saharan African by ancestry, and according to some literature I read, the Asperger's gene is assumed to have emerged after the migration outside of Africa.



DandelionFireworks
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22 Oct 2010, 1:13 am

Do you need accommodations? Will you need them when you get a job? Will you need to be on disability?

If the answer is yes to any of these, then yes. If the answer is no, then no. If the answer is maybe, then the answer is wait and see. Basically, will a diagnosis do you any good?


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