Brain Injury and AS

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The neuropsychologist who just evaluated me (as well as other neuropsychs in the past) said that I likely have frontal lobe deficits.


I imagine said deficits may be disproportionately common in people with ASD's and i'm including NLD on the spectrum here. I believe my performance on the tests of executive functioning, processing speed and other aspects of cognition is what lead the neuropsychs to believe I have frontal lobe deficits.

They are never very specific about the likely nature and extent of these deficits and for some stupid reason, i've never asked them to be more specific about them. For person as obsessed with their own cognition as I am, this is a rather odd "sin of omission" on my part. Anyway....all I know is that these psychologists believe I have frontal lobe deficits. My performance on some of the neuropsych tests (at least on some PARTS of these tests) like Halstead-Reitan often indicates impairment. Still.... this psychometric instrument is only sensitive to PRESENCE of brain damage....it cannot determine the part of the brain that is damaged. Nor can it determine the extent of the damage. For example....I performed very poorly on the "Category Test" on Halstead-Reitan. This test is considered one of the most sensitive tests available for detecting brain damage. I scored in <1st percentile on it.


I've read that people who perform poorly on the category test often complain of "memory problems". I'm certainly no exception to that and I don't believe my memory issues are limited to deficits in working memory (which I apparently don't have anyway) or visual memory (which I do have....albeit mild ones) which appear to be common for those with AS/NVLD. Also....the neuropsych who just evaluated me said that people who perform poorly on the category test are usually terrible at math. Once again....i'm no exception to that as i've never been able to grasp any math beyond SOME introductory algebra.I dropped intro algebra twice in college and opted for course substitutions for mathematics afterwards. My life-long struggles with math are one main reason I feel so hopelessly stupid.


So....I suppose i'm one of the few, the proud and the brain-damaged.



No wonder I could always relate to this song even when I was child who knew nothing about any brain damage.


"You raise the blade, you make the change....you rearrange me til' i'm sane".

God how I wish that were possible.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUwUKyztI10[/youtube]

I dunnow..it runs in my family AND I have had head traumas at early age.....cooincidentally....

I think perhaps the head traumas might have made me "less intelligent" than I would otherwise have been..I have always had issues with over-thinking, but having my brain not work like it is supposed to....

I was also riddled with sensory issues as a young one..many of which have dulled over time...

But i come from a architecht/engineer/musical/scientific background...and though I have always seemed a bit more "functionally impaired" than most other members of my family.....um...dunnow...
i do not think that one causes the other..but it is not unheard of that an ASish person could not also have a history of head trauma...and it is possible that it might have happened to me...