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neongrl
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28 Dec 2005, 4:16 pm

I'm self-dx'd and I still haven't decided whether AS or HFA fits better. If anyone has any input I'd love to hear it...

For an autism diagnosis there doesn't necessarily have to be a language *delay* - there are a couple of other language/communication possibilities in the autism criteria. One is 'marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with other people'. I think I definitely have that one. Conversation/communication doesn't happen spontaneously, I have to consciously remind myself to talk to people. And when I do it's very rarely social conversation, it's mostly fact/information sharing or expressing needs etc. I usually just talk if someone talks to me (I rarely remember to initiate it myself, although I've been working on that lately) and the conversation'll die out fast unless the other person keeps giving me something solid to work with (like direct questions). I don't talk much in general and I notice that I talk the most in the morning when I'm rested. As the day goes on I get quieter - by the end of the day I'm almost mute, using gestures, nodding yes/no, etc if I need to communicate. And I'm pretty much mute when I'm overloaded no matter what time of day it is. Another thing - my parents say that I talked at a very early age (definitely no delay), but I mostly just talked to my toys and even to myself. I didn't talk to other *people* much at all. Not much has changed, the same thing still applies now.

quietangel wrote:
Quite frequently he has difficulty coming up with the names for objects, although he knows the functions of them. For example, yesterday he came up to me holding a mug of hot cocoa and asked me for the thing that people carry when they go to work. After further thought I realized he wanted a coffee cup with a lid. (he wanted to take his cocoa with us)


I have that too - names of objects vanish from my vocabulary all the time, only to return a few minutes later when it's too late. I think that's called anomic aphasia.



Sophist
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29 Dec 2005, 2:42 pm

hale_bopp wrote:
Why do you keep talking about non applicables sophist?


Neuropsychology is perfectly applicable. Finding answers through other disorders is a tried and true method of biopsychology.

Most Aphasias are caused by some form of brain damage such as after stroke, blunt head trauma, or infections. That very fact can give insight into other disorders which have similar symptoms-- as to their cause and/or functioning.


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30 Dec 2005, 1:47 am

I wonder if other factors can play into an AS/HFA situation when language delay is the deciding factor. For example, could someone who had language delay be AS and not HFA if other factors (such as a bilingual household) were present when the kid was growing up? I ask this because ASDs are not the only reason that someone might not talk right away, though it sure sounds like it's the only factor usually mentioned in deciding between AS and HFA.


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renaeden
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31 Dec 2005, 8:48 am

I've been diagnosed HFA.
When I was little I couldn't be bothered talking and socialising. I didn't feel the need for it.
I am glad now, though, to have friends, even though they are few.
When I went on dexamphetamine for my ADHD (yeah, that too) I suddenly found a desire to speak. So I spoke a lot. It can be quite fun sometimes.
Since being in hospital for depression, I have been taken off dex (they don't believe in ADHD), and have since gone quiet again. It's like I am just too tired for talking, it is too much effort.
Strangely, the doctors now want me to engage in talk therapy. I have been there before, I feel I have said all I'm going to say to them and so have refused this therapy.
What gets to me, is that the doctors in this hospital think I am "just a variation of normal". What is normal? They do not acknowledge the HFA diagnosis.
I guess there are always some who will and some who won't.
It has made things rather confusing, so I have made an application to access my psychiatric files. They didn't like that, heh heh.
renaeden.



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31 Dec 2005, 10:13 am

renaeden wrote:
I've been diagnosed HFA.
When I was little I couldn't be bothered talking and socialising. I didn't feel the need for it.
I am glad now, though, to have friends, even though they are few.
When I went on dexamphetamine for my ADHD (yeah, that too) I suddenly found a desire to speak. So I spoke a lot. It can be quite fun sometimes.
Since being in hospital for depression, I have been taken off dex (they don't believe in ADHD), and have since gone quiet again. It's like I am just too tired for talking, it is too much effort.
Strangely, the doctors now want me to engage in talk therapy. I have been there before, I feel I have said all I'm going to say to them and so have refused this therapy.
What gets to me, is that the doctors in this hospital think I am "just a variation of normal". What is normal? They do not acknowledge the HFA diagnosis.
I guess there are always some who will and some who won't.
It has made things rather confusing, so I have made an application to access my psychiatric files. They didn't like that, heh heh.
renaeden.


I'd get new doctors, renaeden, seriously, and get your medication back. Those doctors are working for you, not vice versa. Plus if it ain't broke don't fix it. But it seems your doctors need some fixing.

I'm free next Friday if you wanna bring 'em in so's I can spade and neuter 'em. I've not had much experience, but HEY! touche. It doesn't seem they have either. ;)


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renaeden
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31 Dec 2005, 10:58 am

I'd really like to take you up on that offer, Sophist!
Seriously, the reason I think I've been in hospital so long (I'm currently on weekend leave), is because they can't figure me out. And I'm gonna bloody well be proud of it!
:)



neongrl
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01 Jan 2006, 8:55 am

renaeden wrote:
I've been diagnosed HFA.
When I was little I couldn't be bothered talking and socialising. I didn't feel the need for it.
I am glad now, though, to have friends, even though they are few.
When I went on dexamphetamine for my ADHD (yeah, that too) I suddenly found a desire to speak. So I spoke a lot. It can be quite fun sometimes.
Since being in hospital for depression, I have been taken off dex (they don't believe in ADHD), and have since gone quiet again. It's like I am just too tired for talking, it is too much effort.


[You might wanna read my previous post at the top of this page if you haven't already, just for background.] It's interesting that you mention ADHD meds. I'm not on any real ones, but I notice a world of difference in how much I talk when I've had some kind of stimulants (caffeine/energy drinks) - when the stimulant effect wears off I go back to my default state of not feeling much desire to talk to the people around me and/or not having the energy to do it. Besides the talking part of it there's also the attention factor - I'm also a lot more focused on the *people* around me with stimulants too. Without them the people kinda fade into the background and my mind doesn't wanna put much more priority on them than anything else in the room (objects etc).

Hopefully everything starts going better for you. I agree with the others who said you could use some new doctors. It's so hard to find good ones...