Not surprising, but still...

[fullcontactmuse]

In the vein of "not doing what I should be doing", I was reading my e-mail and came across this guest post over on Shakesville. This caught my attention for a couple of reasons, but mainly centereed around the Asperger's Syndrome and autism side of things.

The Boy has an IEP, or Individual Education Plan, through the school for social issues. He has had many growing up. However, his teachers have suspected that he has Asperger's Syndrome and it was funny going through the behaviour check list for him because I could easily check most of the items on that list as well as for him. As a team, the teachers and I have not wanted to get an official diagnosis for him as learning disabilities come with a stigma in our society and he's not stupid by any stretch of the imagination. So we're trying to get him the coping mechanisms he needs on the sly, so to speak.

Okay, back to the guest post. In the post she talks about her recent diagnosis of AS at the age of 44, the initial sense of denial that came from it, and where she went exploring from there. One of the things she found was the Aspberger's AQ test, which is by no means anything like an official diagnosis, but it provides a list of 50 symptoms or behaviors and you check how much you agree or disagree with a particular statement of behavior.

The test says, "Scores over 32 are generally taken to indicate Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism, with more than 34 an 'extreme' score".

I scored a 38.

Comments

[strixluna.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...very interesting. I scored a 10. No real suprise there.

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

a 20 for me...

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Hrm. 42.

That's...interesting.

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

Or, depending on how you look at it, revealing. For me, if the "what if" turns out to be "what is", it fills in some holes in my understanding of self. Not that I expect that understanding to make life any easier... ;)

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

No, it certainly wouldn't. I'll admit being kinda shocked by the high score. I thought I was minimizing things while I was taking it. o_O?

[rowansilverwing.livejournal.com]

12 here

[ajrbarton.livejournal.com]

29 here.

Like you said, it isn't really a what-if thing... and besides, more self-understanding is always a good goal.

I got a rock

[princessmei.livejournal.com]

Actually, I got a 10.

So, now that you know this, or rather, now that you have some reasonable suspicion, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to visit a professional and get officially diagnosed and work on solutions for yourself?

I would agree that learning disabilities come with a stigma in our society.

So does being the weird kid, or being anti-social, or constantly in trouble, or failing your classes, or the kid from the weird family. Kids and adults do not need official diagnoses to unofficially stick any of these labels to someone. I remember elementary school. I remember being the weird kid, and the kid from the weird family. I also remember being more socially acceptable than the even weirder kids and the "bad seed" kids or the kids from the "strange satanic religion" (Wiccans).

If I or my parents had known more about my issues as a child telling my classmates might not have helped. Telling the school might have. I had some very good and kind teachers who really wanted to help me and couldn't understand why some days I was fine and other days I couldn't stand being in the light or seeing anyone and anyone touching me made me recoil in fear. Looking back on some of the tests they had me take and my peculiar family background I'm pretty sure they thought someone at home was molesting me. (Just to be clear, they weren't.)

By not telling people what my issue was, they got to assume all sorts of other issues instead. They heard hoof beats and thought zebra, antelope, gazelle, 4 legged rabid platypus, heffalumps and woozels.


The nice thing about being able to talk to the people in my life about what they can expect of my behavior is that often they can recognize when I'm off balance before I can. If they know about it, they can respond better to it. In my husband's case it means that if he comes home and finds me crying my eyes out over a book I've hurled against a wall he knows to get me water and feed me and then comfort me and try to talk to me about what I'm actually scared or unhappy about.

Long before him, the other very few guys that I dropped this behavior upon had no idea what to do and in most cases just tried to ignore it, or sum it up to 'Oh god my crazy girlfriend is crying again. What the hell did I do now? Why do all women do this?' I know they don't read this, but to wherever they are I'm sorry I couldn't tell them who I really was. It must have scared them sometimes. And I understand why they left.

anyways, my crazy, convoluted thoughts and opinions.

-Megs

[bluewingedcat.livejournal.com]

Frankly, for me, my diagnosis was a relief. It brought me a feeling of vindication, know that the problems I had growing up were not something that I, as a child, really had control over.

[bluewingedcat.livejournal.com]

41, btw. As if it needed taking. :P

[sweet-panda.livejournal.com]

35.

Well, that makes a certain amount of sense...

Hm.

[kmarier.livejournal.com]

And you're still a good friend no matter WHAT your score is. Will take it when I have time...

[asthecrowfly.livejournal.com]

Scored a 26, m'self.

If you think there's even a possibility of AS--you should pursue diagnosis. My friends with AS who were diagnosed late in life still found so much relief, help and support in the AS community and their medical providers. It was transformative for them.

[lbuckmann.livejournal.com]

i went to take that test and it has to many questions so i quit haha

kasey has an IEP. i think it helps me and tony understand what they are foucusing on with him in school, and helps us know if progess. Good thing is with the IEP we wont have to be on a waiting list to get him in to school when we move =)

[lilithvf1998.livejournal.com]

I scored a 30. Maybe I have Asperger's--or maybe I am just both smart and socially awkward. I seem to do OK, so who knows?

[mspurplepearl.livejournal.com]

Wow. Your assessment of the impact of this is exactly what I was thinking after I got my score, and my score is almost the same (31).

I was actually surprised by how high my score was, and I was leaning towards what I thought were less intense reactions, so I suspect that I could have scored higher.

This whole issue is actually why I love Norwescon so much: it is one of the very very few places where I DON'T feel socially awkward, I don't HATE social chitchat and I DON'T feel overwhelmed by the requirement to interact with people.

Hmmm

[rebelliousuno.livejournal.com]

A 9

And yet the average computer scientist is at 21