Saw a psychologist today who said that I most

[ikojo]

likely have Asperger's but not too severely. At least it's a start.

I told her that I've taken several Asperger quizzes online and come out high on the AQ. She said that since I show emotion in my voice that indicates low level Aspergers. My response to that was that I have a friend who I consider cultured and such, what I've done as an adult is to emulate what she does. I don't know. I do know I LOATH social situations. I prefer to work alone and not be interrupted at work. I see myself as different from people my age that is for sure.

[jimlup]

1. Interesting

That is very interesting. How does one know if they have it? I'm pretty anti-social myself and often prefer just to be alone but I doubt that I score that high on the AQ. How could I find out?

[merwin]

3. This is the most detailed one that I've seen.

http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

It even breaks down the results and gives you a chart for where you stand according to the test.

[sam sarrha]

6. thanks.. my results....

img]http://www.rdos.net/eng/quizpoly.php?p1=79&p2=22&p3=84&p4=86&p5=18&p6=18&p7=73&p8=24&p9=84

my wife wasnt supprised

[merwin]

8. That's right about where I landed as well. I saved it to a PDF, so I don't have a link

to post it, but the graphic looks almost identical.

[sam sarrha]

9. this is considered a disability, ..i just got hurt and the people i work for may go out of business

because no one else understands how things work from my perspective. i try to show them how to do it.. during one attempt, one guy says,,'took at how it just flows together like water... another replies.. yea, its scary'

one guy says, 'i hear your words, and see your lips moving, but i dont understand a thing you are saying..'

a new guy i was training.. said,'hey you got this all figured out..it's actually easy, i like you, i dont care what the others say about you.

i got layed off at boeing because my systems analysis abilities threatened mid management, within 6 months they lost all 3 of 'my' contracts and layed off over 400 people..

[Deep13]

15. Diagnosis of last resort.

If a person can't function instinctively in a social situation despite normal or above normal intelligence and some other specific indicators and there is nothing organically wrong, then Asperger's is the diagnosis.

[SheilaT]

2. For what it's worth

my husband and I are both quite independent and don't always do "normal" social things. We're quite content being alone. Our oldest son has been diagnosed with Asperger's. He's like both parents only more so.

[merwin]

4. I have yet to see a psychologist about it, and also scored very high

on the AQ. Personally, I have spent much of my life trying to imitate vocal and facial expressions, and force myself to try to fit in. This has worked with varying degrees of success. Apparently enough that my mom (an elementary school teacher) was surprised to hear that I scored so high, because she apparently always saw me as a very social person... I'm not sure how that can be, given my obsession with computers and programming since the age of 7, and the fact that I normally choose to spend most of my time at home or with a few close friends.

To me, it really isn't that important to get the official diagnosis, as there isn't a set line that says you are or are not. When you're borderline on some aspects, different doctors will tell you different things.

[hunter]

5. There's some comfort in having a diagnosis...

I don't know if there is anything practical in being able to say, "Okay, this is why my life is so screwed up," except that it makes the process a little quicker when you must change meds, doctors, or therapists.

Your family and the people in your community already know there's something weird about you, and they may not be willing to put up with your kind of crazy even if it has a name. (Nope, I don't mean to be offensive here, because everyone has some kind of crazy.) My wife's attitude is something like "Oh, no, not this shit again."

I thrive amidst practical people, and suffer amidst those who misinterpret my responses. If I didn't say "hello" to you at the supermarket it's not because I'm mad at you, it's because I simply didn't see you. Purchasing food for a family is much more difficult than purchasing food for yourself. When I was single I just bought the same things every time -- mostly rice, beans, and whatever fruits and vegetables looked appealing. Purchasing food for my family is like a horrible calculus problem... I can't be expected to recognize people too, can I?

:P

I took that aspie quiz you posted, BTW.

Your Aspie score: 171 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 34 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

Sometimes I see my online persona as a sort of synthetic thing. In the real world I have a very difficult time keeping up with normal conversation, and tend to be very quiet. If it's words on the screen I can go back and forth over them until I have some idea what they mean. Voices don't stick in my head at all.

[merwin]

7. I can completely identify with you.

If it's more than myself and someone else in a conversation, I will usually say nothing because I'm spending all my time keeping up with the conversation. Also, if something is not written down, there's a good chance that I'm not going to remember it. That goes the same with names, dates, directions, etc.

I also have this compulsion where when I can't remember someone's name, I will go through what I think of as my mental rolodex. I will go through the alphabet letter by letter in my brain (sometimes many times) until I get to a letter that seems familiar for that person. Then I will add a second letter to it, going through the alphabet with it. Sometimes I will spend anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour trying to remember. If it's a movie or song that I can't remember, I usually get lucky because I can just use Google :)

BTW, My score was 168/39.

[sam sarrha]

10. me tooo, i lose words in conversations, i can draw a picture, but cant say the word, when that

happens at home i use a thesaurus.. i think of a synonym and look it up, when i see it i can say it, i also use one as a spelling dictionary the same way.. i have one in nearly every room and at work

[sam sarrha]

11. A/S is a syndrome, a subset collection of a larger group of symptoms, i don't believe that any one

of the symptoms negates a lot of the others.... i would question her knowledge of the subject.

i have spent 2/3's of my life working on my problems and developing my gifts. i have 6 years of college, and scores of seminars.. i decided to learn algebra last year at 57.. failed it twice in collage.. finished to intermediate..

i was told i didn't have it because i had good concentration as an electronics assembler.. working thru a microscope 12 a day 7 days week for 4 months once .. but usually 60 hr week. well.., i have a FASCINATION, maybe a compulsion with the parts of things.. i did 2.6X more work than anyone else in our 22 person team doing orbital material standards. i never made any errors either.. i was also the Rework/repair specialist..

i frequently doubt the judgment of NT's, BUT USUALLY KEEP IT TO MYSELF, till i write it down on an engineering request, and cover all the options in writing, with drawings and graphs
..

[merwin]

12. I notice that I can hold one project at a time. Any more than that and I

start to suffer with both. I work as a database designer / programmer, and ALWAYS am getting frustrated at other people who are working on a project with me because (in regards to computers) I am a perfectionist.

However, when it comes to most anything else, I have a hard time keeping interest and processing the data that is given to me. Luckily, I found a program at the community college that let me design a AS degree (with a faculty mentor) based on the profession I was going into, bringing in Microsoft MCSE certification classes as a good chunk of the credits. That let me avoid most of the math and chemistry/biology classes that I had no chance of passing.

What I'm getting at is that at the same time as I was doing poorly in college , I was able to pass my MCSE certification tests in a total of 4 weeks (7 tests, with a full textbook for each test), passing each one on the first try, with minimal effort involved.

I think that the spectrum is so wide, with a criteria that is very subjective, that it's hard for an outside observer who is not on the spectrum to diagnose some of the cases. It's the same with anxiety disorders, depression disorders, etc where there is no specific test that can say yes or no.

[sam sarrha]

13. yup..... story of my life, i have an IQ of 164 and all thru public school they tried to put me in

classes for the retarded.

[idgiehkt]

14. I wonder about that

it may be because you are female and he is drawing from info about male aspies. Female aspies are very underdiagnosed since some of the traits are things that would be desirable in a female anyway.

[Kajsa]

16. Hi Ikojo,

Identifying what is going on with you is a big step in the right direction.

Let me restate that- correctly identifying what is going on is the key.

In the case of my son ( HS autism) he was misdiagnosed several times, especially
when he was quite young.

A diagnosis was required for him to receive help through social service agencies
and be placed in an appropriate Special Ed. program.

Like you said, it's a start.