Anybody here diagnosed in childhood (under 16)?

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Joe90
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29 Jul 2021, 12:03 pm

So many adults here seem to be undiagnosed, awaiting a diagnosis, just been diagnosed or were diagnosed in adulthood. It makes me feel like the only one who received a diagnosis in childhood. I was only 8 and a half when I got diagnosed, even though I am female and only have mild Asperger's, with no speech delays in early childhood.

Anybody else the same who got diagnosed as a child? How did it make you feel? Do you feel your social life would have been better if you didn't have a label?

I do think those that were diagnosed in adulthood outnumber those that were diagnosed in childhood, even in my age range. I'd like to talk to others who were diagnosed since childhood.


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HeroOfHyrule
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29 Jul 2021, 1:14 pm

I wasn't diagnosed as a child, but it's been suspected since I was 4-6 and I've been assessed twice (once in 2006/2007 and once in 2017). I also went to special ed. for issues that were obviously more than just "ADHD" that included speech issues, motor skill issues, etc. I was told about the fact that my parents think I have Asperger's like my brother since around 11.

When I first found that out I didn't fully get what autism/Asperger's was, and after looking up stuff about it I was frustrated and didn't like being told I could have that, since I thought that it meant I had something wrong with me. I'm also not sure if I would have preferred to have been diagnosed when I was first assessed.

My social life suffered even without a label, and probably even more so since I didn't have a "reason" to seem so weird to other kids and adults. I noticed sometimes kids and adults were more lenient to kids with my issues that had an autism diagnosis, even though they weren't treated perfectly fine either.



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29 Jul 2021, 1:18 pm

I was diagnosed in 6th grade.


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naturalplastic
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29 Jul 2021, 2:00 pm

I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.



Joe90
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29 Jul 2021, 2:33 pm

Quote:
My social life suffered even without a label, and probably even more so since I didn't have a "reason" to seem so weird to other kids and adults. I noticed sometimes kids and adults were more lenient to kids with my issues that had an autism diagnosis, even though they weren't treated perfectly fine either.



I had a "reason", and all the other kids in the class were told that I was autistic, but it made the kids dislike me because they thought Asperger's was like AIDS or something. Before I got my diagnosis I was much more socially accepted by the other kids. After I was diagnosed the other kids seemed embarrassed to be seen with me, either that or they assumed I couldn't read or do other things.
The teachers were a bit more lenient with me but I still preferred to have friends. I didn't really care about grades, I just wanted a social life.

Quote:
I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.


Believe me, they are not. The majority of people here weren't diagnosed in childhood.


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Last edited by Joe90 on 29 Jul 2021, 2:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Crystal1414
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29 Jul 2021, 2:34 pm

I was really young when I was diagnosed. I was in special education from the time I was 7 to the time I was 18.



League_Girl
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29 Jul 2021, 3:46 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.



Most of the posters here are older adults, middle aged and up. There used to be a lot of young posters here but they all seemed to have disappeared and they were pretty much diagnosed as children. I am one of the few that are still here. Any 20 something year old adult here would be most likely diagnosed as children. For 30 something year old adults here, half of a chance lol.


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29 Jul 2021, 4:42 pm

League_Girl wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.



Most of the posters here are older adults, middle aged and up. There used to be a lot of young posters here but they all seemed to have disappeared and they were pretty much diagnosed as children. I am one of the few that are still here. Any 20 something year old adult here would be most likely diagnosed as children. For 30 something year old adults here, half of a chance lol.


Lots of ppl come and go on here. But theirs quite a few diagnosed young on here.



Joe90
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29 Jul 2021, 5:42 pm

League_Girl wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.



Most of the posters here are older adults, middle aged and up. There used to be a lot of young posters here but they all seemed to have disappeared and they were pretty much diagnosed as children. I am one of the few that are still here. Any 20 something year old adult here would be most likely diagnosed as children. For 30 something year old adults here, half of a chance lol.


Even a lot of people in their 20s here seem to be awaiting a diagnosis. I mean, how did they manage to slip through the cracks growing up with autism in the 1990s-2000s? How come I had to be strictly under family support services from age 7-18 and had no friends as a teenager? I didn't have special interests as a child, I made normal eye contact, I was social, could play imaginary play with other children and had no speech delays.

I just don't get it. I suppose because I was diagnosed so early I find it baffling to imagine how other people on the spectrum got through childhood without anybody batting an eye about their behaviours.


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kraftiekortie
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29 Jul 2021, 7:03 pm

I was diagnosed when I was about 3.



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29 Jul 2021, 7:24 pm

I'm.
Assessment started by age 10 and ended somewhere around age 14.

I already have all the signs long before age 5. I could've been diagnosed much earlier.

It's my parents -- they're too clueless about that. I could say the same around me at school and anywhere I had gone to.

It took a random visit from an observing trained professional, which is in 5th grade.


My social life is no different whether or not I have any label. I never turned asocial -- it's what I've always been.

I only truly suffered in puberty mostly emotionally than socially. I hate hormones and I don't like annoying and loud teenagers of my then same age.

And my pride is what suffered the most -- because I lack control over my emotions; something I've been struggling for as long as I could remember.
It just escalated in teenage years.


The only reason I ever hated the diagnosis was out of sheer ignorance.
It was at least then associated with mentally disabled children with no sense or ability of independence.

My pride wouldn't ever allow that! And it definitely doesn't resemble me inside AND outside.
Until I found what aspergers meant instead. Until I understood it's a spectrum.


And if I have no label???
Children already gave 'insane' or 'crazy' -- adults already gave 'moody' and 'angry' way, way before I got diagnosed.
Sure, like that's any better than autistic when I was 10. :lol:

Adults are at least more accurate about me and my reactions, but that's not the point of what I experience at all.
But my pride fancies 'special'... :roll:

I would've easily been one of those misdiagnosed with other conditions.


As for services? There is no strict services. Likely because we can't afford it. :lol:
There's no special schools. And special classes in schools I've been into are outdated enough, it's more of an advance class.

My parents could barely afford tutor sessions that were recommended and it didn't lasts long because they can't afford it.

Let alone therapy or meds or anything beyond that.
They imagine special rooms for noises -- and they never thought of earplugs?? :lol: They're that clueless.


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30 Jul 2021, 3:15 am

Joe90 wrote:
I just don't get it. I suppose because I was diagnosed so early I find it baffling to imagine how other people on the spectrum got through childhood without anybody batting an eye about their behaviours.


I have heard from more than one person here (as well as in my exploratory research) that many people who slip through the cracks without getting a diagnosis often have several unpleasant circumstances that contribute to why this happened. That is, there are people undiagnosed because their behaviours drew the attention of abusers, and so in order to adapt and survive they learned to mask those behaviors.

Add to this the fact that some behaviors are just seen as "quirky," or "weird," and not everyone is trained well enough to recognize the symptoms... it is easier to believe why there are large swathes of people who were undiagnosed. Poverty, poor access to adequate systems, and a lot of mitigating factors that drive the behaviors underground lead to people who do not even know they are Autistic until late in life.

This explains my own personal circumstances. I became the target of abuse when I was about the age when ASD symptoms begin to arise, and my symptoms were not so exaggerated that they were of greater concern. I was just "weird." And my inability to read emotions lead to being abused...so I quickly learned to mask some of my weirdness in order to survive. But by then the circumstances had already shifted to have a larger impact: We went through several moves, and no one school district had enough time with me to see that maybe I had Asperger's, and several districts didn't even know what that was. They certainly didn't have the tools to assess me. So I just grew up learning to hide my weirdness where I could, and to pretend to be normal, and learn how to read emotions more effectively, and learn extremely useful conversation strategies, etc.

And 18 years into adulthood I discover that maybe all those times when I was struggling with X, it was a point in which somebody should have clued into the fact that I was on the spectrum. And that makes me pretty angry, and confused, and a few other things besides.

That isn't to belittle your concern. I don't disagree with your frustrations. Having so many people who are jumping on board (and I am no exception) to the ASD wagon as adults seeking diagnosis sucks, I imagine. Where are the people who have grown up with this their entire lives knowing? Where are their voices?

Well...those here who do have those voices, *I* want to at least say thank you for being here, even though it does suck you seem outnumbered. Because I do not know how I could navigate this situation without you guys here to help me make sense of it.

I know, not really what you wanted to hear, but I wanted to chime in anyways.



naturalplastic
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30 Jul 2021, 3:22 am

Joe90 wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
I thought that the "diagnosed in childhood" set were the majority here.



Most of the posters here are older adults, middle aged and up. There used to be a lot of young posters here but they all seemed to have disappeared and they were pretty much diagnosed as children. I am one of the few that are still here. Any 20 something year old adult here would be most likely diagnosed as children. For 30 something year old adults here, half of a chance lol.


Even a lot of people in their 20s here seem to be awaiting a diagnosis. I mean, how did they manage to slip through the cracks growing up with autism in the 1990s-2000s? How come I had to be strictly under family support services from age 7-18 and had no friends as a teenager? I didn't have special interests as a child, I made normal eye contact, I was social, could play imaginary play with other children and had no speech delays.

I just don't get it. I suppose because I was diagnosed so early I find it baffling to imagine how other people on the spectrum got through childhood without anybody batting an eye about their behaviours.


I wasnt diagnosed until around sixty, but my parents sent me to shrinks since I was like 8. I got decades of ( largely useless) head shrinking before I was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum for the simple reason that autism wasnt thought to BE a "spectrum" that included someone like me until I was middle aged.



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30 Jul 2021, 9:36 am

Me, me! I'm not sure of the exact age, but I was already in school, yet younger than 10. Probably 9. I think that one of the reasons I got mine so early was the fact that I kept going to the doctor's all the time anyway due to a physical problem, so my behavior during those various visits (and during the months I spent in the hospital) drew the attention of various professionals.

I'm not sure if it was a good thing or not. On one hand, I feel like if my parents hadn't known there was a real reason I was the way I was, they might've pushed me harder to be normal, and maybe I would have become more normal if I'd felt like I had to work harder for it. But it's also possible that the said pressure would've been too much and I would've had a major burn out at some point and grown up to be even less normal than now.

But well, there is one thing that I most likely wouldn't have to deal with if I didn't have a diagnosis, or if I had it but my family didn't know: my family wouldn't use it as an acceptable reason to consider my opinion to be worth less than theirs. I remember one time I was talking with my half sister, I don't even remember about what, and we had a different opinion on something, so she said that "it's because you have that illness." As in, since I'm on the spectrum, it automatically makes my opinion to have less value??? Her and my mom basically use it as an excuse to belittle my opinions. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but it's interesting that those two are the ones in the family who are medical professionals...

The fact that I got a diagnosis so early also makes me feel like an outsider sometimes in our local support group, especially since I'm one of the few women who got it at a young age.



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30 Jul 2021, 11:12 am

Despite having a diagnosis, my mum still pushed me to have friends and freaked out when I didn't. I think it's because she had a traumatic childhood (an alcoholic father who was aggressive, unpredictable and neurotic), and she was afraid of what other people thought. I don't know.

Also adults would often tell everyone that I had Asperger's, and as a child I felt like it defined me and it was too much for me. It's like people would introduce me to someone like "this is Joe90, who by the way has Asperger's syndrome". And I had no control over it because I was just a child.
Now I do have control over who knows and who doesn't, and I completely sweep it under the carpet in my offline life, but I spend most of my life worrying that somehow it's going to be revealed beyond my control.


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30 Jul 2021, 12:23 pm

Mom also pushed me to have friends.
She doesn't freak out -- at worst she just gets protective. Though but more like simply concerned that I might be lonely or something.

... Didn't get the message that I'm not interested and do not get 'lonely'.

Until I was around 16, she just stops and at least told the school to leave me be. Best decision ever -- seriously.


She's one of those super social people who's far, far and very far from anything that a stereotypical awkward person could ever relate to.
I'm glad she's not obsessively normal. Still clueless though.



And adults also kept telling anyone about my diagnosis.
Or that I'm somewhat different -- hinting my traits here and there.

I had explicitly told my mom, over and over again to not to tell my diagnosis. She'd do it when I turn on my back. Adults knew -- but they will be quiet about it.
They don't listen that my hearing is good.

At least they all knew better. :twisted:
"Yes, I like chocolates preferably dark and luxurious ones." "Yes, I'm moody and probably don't even reply or look at you 100% at the time." "Yes, I'm usually into tech and arts and I'll take 'em without further comment, thanks." :lol:


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