[Squirrel1983]

I am 27 and about 2 years ago, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I meet the diagnostic criteria for it now. The year I was diagnosed, I taught in a high school and had 2 or 3 students with Asperger's and saw a lot of similarities between them and me when I was in high school. So, I assumed my diagnosis was correct.

However, last semester I taught in a middle school and had 7 or 8 kids with Asperger's (I was teaching special education students). I could not find any similarities between these students and myself in middle school. That got me wondering if I really have Asperger's as it seemed strange to me that it would just "appear" later.

I made the assumption that I would have had to have had the symptoms as a child as well. I couldn't remember, so I found the diagnostic criteria online and sent it to my mom asking. She said that it did not fit me as a child to almost all of it.

So my question is...does anyone here know if I would have had to have had the traits as a child? Or could they not show up until high school?

I'm trying to get as much information as I can on this, so I can discuss it with my doctor when I go back at the end of June.

Thanks in advance.

[Perna]

Here's some good professional sites that might help with the education?

http://autism.wegohealth.com/adult-aspergers.html

[Callista]

Yes. Asperger's is required to start in childhood; it usually starts in infancy, and the rest of the time by the toddler years, though it often only becomes apparent once school makes social and executive-function demands that the AS brain has trouble handling. In fact, if it starts in adulthood, that's a reason to suspect something else, such as social anxiety disorder or schizoid personality disorder.

However, it is not unlikely that your mother believes that you didn't have AS as a child not because you actually didn't show traits, but because she has a mental idea of "autistic" that you didn't match as a child. The stereotype of autism is a picture that very, very few autistics actually match, though--and that means that if your mom is comparing you to that stereotype, she may be saying you weren't autistic as a child, when you actually were.

[Squirrel1983]

Originally Posted by Callista

Yes. Asperger's is required to start in childhood; it usually starts in infancy, and the rest of the time by the toddler years, though it often only becomes apparent once school makes social and executive-function demands that the AS brain has trouble handling. In fact, if it starts in adulthood, that's a reason to suspect something else, such as social anxiety disorder or schizoid personality disorder.

However, it is not unlikely that your mother believes that you didn't have AS as a child not because you actually didn't show traits, but because she has a mental idea of "autistic" that you didn't match as a child. The stereotype of autism is a picture that very, very few autistics actually match, though--and that means that if your mom is comparing you to that stereotype, she may be saying you weren't autistic as a child, when you actually were.

I didn't tell her Asperger's was part of the autistic spectrum when I asked her if I matched the criteria. I just sent her the criteria along with some other information on it and asked if it matched me as a kid. Hmm... I now wonder if she maybe didn't answer some of them correctly. Maybe I should drag her to my next appointment with me so my doctor can ask her questions about me.

I was looking at schizoid PD the other day and thought it sounded like me...it's funny that you mentioned it.

[Callista]

Hmm, bringing your mom to your doctor might help. The doctor talking directly to your mom might be able to ask the right questions to pin down the diagnosis properly.

Schizoid PD is one of the major differential diagnoses when Asperger's is suspected (social anxiety is another important one).

[starrina]

Our son has aspergers syndrome
and it was apprent from very very early on
that something was amiss there were things he did
even as a baby that we knew were not right
and the older he got the more ritualistic
he became I however also knew he was not "autistic"
in the true sense of the word as he had a very different
take on it to what I knew to be autisim from reading
and interacting with mothers of autistic children.I had
him formally diagnosed at 4yrs of age by a specialist
in this field.High school in itself was a nightmare because
we had all the usual hormore things going on.I think the right
question asked by the doctor may give you the answers
you seek.