Anyone got ASD or Aspergers?

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I've been questioning for the past year or so. I have some traits, but lack others, or only have them to a mild degree.

My suspicions were arroused while doeing some research for work (I worked with developmentally disabled people) and I couldn't help but identify with a lot of what I was reading. Especially when I look back on my childhood I had some very Asperger's like traits.
I never got along well with other kids my age and was frequently told I was weird or retarded.
I could name every dinosaur in our local museum by the age of four, much to the surprise of museum staff.
I spent hours a day, alone, walking in circles and shaking flexible elongate objects. Eventually I settled on a specific dog collar for its optimal characteristics.
I have always been clumsy, have poor handwriting, and even required a special pencil grip in early elementary.
Throughout elementary I displayed unusual learning delays, while being ahead in other areas. Multiple assessments were never able to determine why this was.
For the most part I don't deal with SPD, but certain medications give me severe visual and auditory sensitivity issues.
I stim frequently; cracking knuckles, spinning objects, rubbing soft objects against my nose and lips, rocking, finger flicking, holding small objects next to my ear to hear what they sound like, ext.

Despite this, there are some ways in which I am very neurotypical. I believe that I am fairly good at reading body language and detecting sarcasm. My grasp of metephorical language is also pretty strong. I don't have trouble looking most people in the eye. Though some of my interests are rather escoteric (cephalopod neurology anyone?) I don't believe their intensity is in line with your typical "special interests."

I guess I'm also not sure if my occasional outbursts count as meltdowns as I always retain some degree of controll, opting for minimally destructive outlets for my agression. Well, sometimes my head becomes the target of said aggression, which is not good because that's where I keep my brains, and I like my brains, even if they are a bit messed up.
 
CuddleFish said:
I've been questioning for the past year or so. I have some traits, but lack others, or only have them to a mild degree.

My suspicions were arroused while doeing some research for work (I worked with developmentally disabled people) and I couldn't help but identify with a lot of what I was reading. Especially when I look back on my childhood I had some very Asperger's like traits.
I never got along well with other kids my age and was frequently told I was weird or retarded.
I could name every dinosaur in our local museum by the age of four, much to the surprise of museum staff.
I spent hours a day, alone, walking in circles and shaking flexible elongate objects. Eventually I settled on a specific dog collar for its optimal characteristics.
I have always been clumsy, have poor handwriting, and even required a special pencil grip in early elementary.
Throughout elementary I displayed unusual learning delays, while being ahead in other areas. Multiple assessments were never able to determine why this was.
For the most part I don't deal with SPD, but certain medications give me severe visual and auditory sensitivity issues.
I stim frequently; cracking knuckles, spinning objects, rubbing soft objects against my nose and lips, rocking, finger flicking, holding small objects next to my ear to hear what they sound like, ext.

Despite this, there are some ways in which I am very neurotypical. I believe that I am fairly good at reading body language and detecting sarcasm. My grasp of metephorical language is also pretty strong. I don't have trouble looking most people in the eye. Though some of my interests are rather escoteric (cephalopod neurology anyone?) I don't believe their intensity is in line with your typical "special interests."

I guess I'm also not sure if my occasional outbursts count as meltdowns as I always retain some degree of controll, opting for minimally destructive outlets for my agression. Well, sometimes my head becomes the target of said aggression, which is not good because that's where I keep my brains, and I like my brains, even if they are a bit messed up.
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Sounds like you are on the Autism Spectrum.
I myself did not get diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum until age 47, 11 years ago.
Anyway, welcome to the tribe!
 
caitianx said:
Sounds like you are on the Autism Spectrum.
I myself did not get diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum until age 47, 11 years ago.
Anyway, welcome to the tribe!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't know if it's worth it to get diagnosed though. I also feel really silly whenever I bring it up, like I'm just being a hypochondriac and cherrypicking symptoms. I've also been told that I don't seem like I have aspergers. But then I've had other professionals ask me questions that I know were autism related. I guess that's one of the perrils of researching everything to the enth degree, it's very difficult to give uncoached answers when you already know why they are asking those questions, and how to answer them for the desired result. I find myself dithering on my answers as to not give a pat response but also to not accidentally swing the other way and produce a false negative. I should be more honest about my suspicions, I suppose, and discuss this with my psychiatrist.
 
CuddleFish said:
Yeah, I don't know if it's worth it to get diagnosed though. I also feel really silly whenever I bring it up, like I'm just being a hypochondriac and cherrypicking symptoms. I've also been told that I don't seem like I have aspergers. But then I've had other professionals ask me questions that I know were autism related. I guess that's one of the perrils of researching everything to the enth degree, it's very difficult to give uncoached answers when you already know why they are asking those questions, and how to answer them for the desired result. I find myself dithering on my answers as to not give a pat response but also to not accidentally swing the other way and produce a false negative. I should be more honest about my suspicions, I suppose, and discuss this with my psychiatrist.
Click to expand...

I got diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome after decades of vocational failures, despite my high academic achievement.
 
I understand how you feel. I have Asd. I was diagnosed around the age of 5 and 6. I don't think I would change my condition for the world. It's an blessing and an curse.
 
I was diagnosed PDD-NOS when I was around 4 years old. Not exactly the best socially, but I get by. Life is definitely better now than when I was an extremely socially awkward kid in school, that was not much fun.
 
Ugh! School was terrible for me too. Elementary was the worst, but even in my relatively bully-free high school days I could barely bring myself to innitiate social contact. I just didn't know how to approach people and would become paralized with fear. Thankfully I learned to make friends in my early 20s and life has been a lot better since. I still think I need to work on how to socialize in the workplace though.
 
Fortunately for me, I was in a couple of private schools for my elementary years, so with smaller class sizes and more weirdly wired kids like me in the classes, there wasn't much of a bullying issue.

Middle school when I entered the world of public school, was when it became pretty yucky. Oddly enough, high school, at least from grades 10 and on, was pretty much bully-free for me as well. Maybe kids become less of jerks at that point. I was lucky enough to have a few good friends through all of that, which was probably the few things that got me though those years... that and the fact that I was a total bookworm and could drown out everything when I had my nose in a book.
 
No I don't, but I worked solely with severely Autistic kids when I was doing my 50 hours of tutoring in high school for the A+ program.
 
LittleLettuce said:
Fortunately for me, I was in a couple of private schools for my elementary years, so with smaller class sizes and more weirdly wired kids like me in the classes, there wasn't much of a bullying issue.

Middle school when I entered the world of public school, was when it became pretty yucky. Oddly enough, high school, at least from grades 10 and on, was pretty much bully-free for me as well. Maybe kids become less of jerks at that point. I was lucky enough to have a few good friends through all of that, which was probably the few things that got me though those years... that and the fact that I was a total bookworm and could drown out everything when I had my nose in a book.
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Jr. and Sr. High School were hell for me.
 
Was diagnosed as having the autism formerly known as Aspergers a few years ago (at age 49). It went a long way to explaining many of my childhood behaviors, like having my parents read me the Sears catalog to me instead of story books, and why I spent so much time has a kid developing TV network schedules.

I have some issues -- horrible with those non-verbal social cues -- but mostly being on the spectrum is a good thing.

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, I'm new and don't see how to edit a post; apologies for the extraneous "me" in that post.
 
Even though I have never been officially diagnosed with Asperger's, a few different people in some part of my Real Life have asked me if I have it after interacting with me at least a little - including one of my former psychologists/counselors. So I believe I have a mild version of it.

I believe I have a mild version of it because I have never been good at Real Life social interactions with other people (though I was good enough at it to hold a few different jobs during my 20s). Also, I have never had more than a few friends at once, and I only have a few hobbies/interests, which I am into very much.

BTW, if you're wondering why I have had psychologists & counselors, I was officially diagnosed with depression when I was a teenager. And the mild Asperger's might (at least partially) explain why I have it....
 
I have mild aspergers and TS (Tourette Sydrome) but my TS is very very mild
 
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