Highly likely Asperger's

And finally, somebody has given me an answer.

I'm in 10th grade, so it's been three years since I first heard about Asperger's. My mom was quick to tell me I definitely did not have it, so I tried forgetting about it but in this past year I became really obsessed with researching it. I'm in the gifted program at my school too, so a majority of the research was the differences between giftedness and Asperger's, and I could never quite decide if I should take my Asperger's symptoms seriously or not. I couldn't really talk to my mom about it, but then again I can't really tell her anything.

There's a child psychologist who comes to my school and is accessible to kids who can't afford help. When I was going to therapy for OCD, I remember Asperger's was brought up once and the therapist brushed it off, saying I definitely didn't have it, so in the presence of this psychologist I wasn't going to say anything about it.

But after seeing him for a while, yesterday he started asking new questions. He came to a close by saying that he has worked with a lot of Asperger's kids before and that I most likely have it.

I was so relieved I wanted to cry. I guess my case is also a tad bit different, because I do have some traits of gifted kids too that gives me better insight and such? I'm not exactly sure, but my mind has just been reeling since and I'm okay with it.

So, I guess I'm an Aspie. It's good to finally get that resolved.

I, too, was a 'gifted' child, so I can truly commiserate. In my case, though, Asperger's didn't exist as a diagnosis until I was in my teens. I always felt out of place, but never really felt like something was wrong with me, if that makes sense. I just knew I wasn't accepted among my peers; I couldn't understand why. Later in life, when I started researching Asperger's, that was one of the key things that directed my thinking more towards Asperger's than simple giftedness.

Because there is a lot of similarity between the two, I think many psychologists are hesitant to misdiagnose. So, on one hand, you have gifted traits that can often mimic Aspie traits; on the other hand, your giftedness could, for that very reason, obscure Aspergers, because the symptoms of Aspergers are just written off as gifted traits.

There are a couple of things you wrote about that I find telling. First, you have been treated for OCD, which is often comorbid with Aspergers. Second, the new shrink not only has experience with Asperger's, he's the one who brought it up.

As far as distinguishing between Asperger's and gifted traits, here is a link you may find helpful.
http://mcgt.net/wp-content/uploads/2....Checklist.pdf