[InfiniteSadness]

Or can you develop it overtime? also, who diagnosis' it, a psychiatrist?

[Travelinglady]

It's generally believed caused a brain development problem, so is likely present at birth and noted at infancy or in the early years. However, sometimes it's not noticed until later.

The regular doc or pediatrician might see signs of it in working with a patient and then the patient usually is checked by a group of professionals to get an official diagnosis and verification of specific problems that need to be treated. It is not considered curable, but patients can get better in their skills and functioning.

[-jimi-]

A lot of things happen in very early childhood, and you can see it in normal children too, like language development. It is quite common a child actually knows the sound of language and replicate it rather well, but completely lose that for a while while increasing vocabulary and going back to only speaking one to three words.

I am a "regressive" "autist". I developed seemingly normally until I was three-four when I started to change, mostly socially. But I think it was sort of programmed from the start, just like normal kids can have what looks like regression in language learning.

So I would say, present from birth or developed in the first years. Some people it exists in utero and is the cause of why the baby makes less effort actively to come out. Because yea, it's not just the mom that is included in labor and pre-labor. One of my near-autistic friends were born a passive baby and they nearly lost her right after she was born.

[InfiniteSadness]

So is there a actual test for it like lets say adhd, etc...

[Pandoren]

I was diagnosed 1st Feb this year... I was referred to a psychiatrist (who obviously had knowledge of Autistic Spectrum) and I was asked extensive questions about my life, my parents, my childhood, my future plans etc... went on for ages. From my answers, he was able to identify enough traits for me to be diagnosed.

They did originally want family members (or people who knew me as a child) to attend the assessment so that they could give him and outside look at my behaviour as a child, but I didn't have anyone to go so it was just me.

[InfiniteSadness]

Oh, i forgot to ask is everyone with aspbergers, low functioning to a degree?

[liveforfish]

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

Oh, i forgot to ask is everyone with aspbergers, low functioning to a degree?

Yes and no. My son has had for his whole life, diagnosed around 1st grade. He is super smart in some areas and not in others.
He can design web pages but has trouble with reading people.

As he's gotten older he lost some symptoms and out grown others.

His IQ tests are borderline. He has a hard time in life, but is getting tons of help to live on his own.

[-jimi-]

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

Oh, i forgot to ask is everyone with aspbergers, low functioning to a degree?

What do you mean? It is considered a disorder because it makes it hard to fit and do things right the way others would have done it. Even with high functioning. Or it wouldn't be diagnosed.

People with AS have normal language abilities, so being non verbal cannot be a marker in AS for being "low functioning".

Or do you mean what your IQ is? With AS you have to have normal or above normal intelligence for the diagnosis.

I do well with computers, animals and finances. I do poorly with doing chores and keeping habits.

[Endeavy]

Thanks for all the posts its helped me to help my son who was only diagnosed last year with Aspergers at the age of 11, I knew from the age of 2 he had some trouble especially organization which eventually he got therapy from a team and was diagnosed with Axis 1 and OCD at the age of 8 but Asperger traits was found also , He is adorable polite helpful but so lost .He cant pick up on cues and he doesnt eat just chocolate so his younger brother is taller and weighs more BUT that does not bother him he seems to have developed a body issue as in he thinks and feels overweight where as its the opposite but his ASD team are working with him ,he is transitioning to Secondary school this year and my heart aches for him because academically he is above average Maths and Irish been his 2 favourite subjects but he puts so much pressure on himself and no matter how well he does he will always say it's not good enough .Thanks I enjoyed reading your posts .XXX Hope you get a diagnoses Infinity XXX

Yes you are born with Asperger's syndrome although not all the symptoms may be clear at once.

[Callista]

It's highly genetic... it's not obvious at first, because there are very few social demands on a baby. But by the time you're a toddler, there are usually oddities, and by the time you're in school there are usually enough problems that you've been to see a doctor about them (unless you have parents like mine who are in total denial and refuse to let you get any sort of evaluation... grrr!). They've done these studies where they look at home videos of autistic children as infants; even as young babies, six months old and less, they are detectably different in their home videos, even though nobody suspected it then.

Some people have problems learning to speak, some people have problems figuring out socialization; some people only seem a bit odd until they just burn out and drop their most tenuously held skills and nobody can deny they have a problem anymore...

Some people are diagnosed at three, or five, or even in their teens if the case is complicated; some people even in adulthood, the many missed diagnoses from back when we didn't know enough about autism to recognize milder or more complex cases. However it shows itself, autism has most likely been there since before you were born, and nothing you or your parents did could have changed it.

[Cellerest]

I didn't have any real difficulties until in my teens and didn't seek diagnosis until 18 years old.

Growing up I had routine and everything done for me. I struggled socially but otherwise was fine. I went to uni and fell apart. Since then, its gotten worse.

I don't think it's developed over time or suddenly I have it, but I think the more I have to be an adult and deal with stresses and anxiety the less able I am to compensate for it or hide it.