QOTD: Would you want to know?
This isn’t your normal autism spectrum story…but then again, I’ve never claimed to be normal.
When people look at my life, there are a few pieces that seemed almost irrelevant growing up…but hint at something.
Although most of my good friends know I was homeschooled, I actually went to public school for two years. During those two years, in addition to music, recess, and gym, I had a few other things on my first-and-second-grade schedule. Speech therapy. Occupational therapy. A fourth-grade math book. Being in the ‘gifted’ group. Being moved from one classroom to another in my first week of first grade. (For the longest time, I was told that the two teachers both wanted to have my twin and I in the same class. Found out much later that they wanted neither one of us.)
During my college days (or slightly thereafter), my mom commented that she thought I was borderline Aspergers.
I’ve looked it up since then. The jury (of one) is still undecided.
Social interaction issues? Not that I recall.
Restricted interests? No.
Speech issues? Some.
Some of the minor ones (motor skills – took months to learn how to ride a bike; childhood sleep issues – it always took me a long time to go to sleep)
Was this the tradeoff for my smarts? (high school grad at 15, bachelor’s at 19, above-average ACT/SAT scores.)
A friend of ours is an occupational therapist…I think she wants to see both me and…well, that’s another story.
Do I want to know? Yes.
Does it really matter? I don’t know.
If you were told that you could be on the Autism Spectrum, would you want to know?
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ok, I just read an article about it, and I am back to thinking that I just have a social anxiety disorder.
sorry for making such self-centered comments. lol.
I think a lot of people probably wonder if there is something wrong with them. really, we are all just different… but only a few people are willing to admit the ways in which they are different.
<3
oh, wow. that sounds like me.
I’m very intelligent but also downright terrified of social situations… I had speech therapy as a kid…and yeah, I am not even vaguely interested in most of the things people of my age talk about.
I am wikipedia-ing “Aspergers” right now.
your paranoia has successfully rubbed off on me.
<3
Yes I would want to know, but it wouldn’t make a difference to me. It’s the same how I’d like to know who my ancestors were. I suspect I am borderline Asperger, because my dad has it and I share some of the same personality traits. Whether I am diagnosed as such or not is going to change nothing. I will still have the same problems that I do. I will still be blessed with the same abilities.
Yes, I would want to know.I mean, I’m undergoing a lot of testing recently for some health problems, and my doctor has mentioned that she thinks I may have aspergers for years– but that it doesn’t interrupt my daily life ENOUGH to test me. So why not test me now? I already got thrown out of my school for my health trouble, so why not just test for everything I could possibly have? Lol. :]
I have a brother on the autism spectrum–he has crazybad Asperger’s, and the diagnosis has helped so much. Rather than simply being labeled as a “problem child”, his teachers know he has AS and are able to deal with him as an autistic child rather than just an obnoxious one. People who would jump on him for behaving inappropriately now back off because they know about his disorder.
So, yeah, really roundabout way of saying it, but yeah, I think I’d want to know.
Have you had your hearing checked?
Why label myself and be diagnosed. For me, there is no such thing as normal. Everyone is unique and have some qualities that others don’t have.
Congratulations in your accomplishments, regardless of difficulties, your struggles made you a success
My son is 4 and has aspergers and he is well above the normal 4 year old. It is so possible that you are. It’s not a disorder, its a way of life. You couldn’t look at him and know he was any different.
sure i would. my parents were told that id have learning disabilities when i was born. i never noticed any and im studying to be in medicine, which lets face it, isnt easy. but itd be good to KNOW.
I’d want to know, in fact I did want to know my whole life and no one would tell me.. When I was 8 years old I switched schools, and my new counselors wasted no time labeling me as ‘learning disabled’ and placing me in SPED. The only problem was, no one actually told me what my learning disability was, they just used it as an excuse to intrude into my life and keep me from challenging myself in harder classes.
Finally when I was 15 I had enough and threatened to drop out of highschool all together. That’s when they showed me my IEP with the diagnosis NVLD written on top. The next year they threw me out of SPED.
They still didn’t tell me what it was, and when I looked it up, I was furious. NVLD is very simular to Aspergers, and the two conditions often overlap. As a child, I only displayed a fraction of the symptoms; And of those, most could double as signs of an unhealthy home life, that they knew I was living in at the time, but did nothing about.
They used a learning disability as a prop to keep themselves from dealing with the real problem at hand. My sister and I both suffered because of it.
Wow.
You are a very accomplished young man. The question you have to ask yourself is “Will it matter to me or make a difference in my life?”
My brother was diagnosed with aspergers when he was 9 years old. My parents always knew something was wrong, he didn’t start talking until he was almost 4, (his first word was “barbara bush” haha) but he very intelligent. He’s a sophomore in high school now, and still doesn’t know that he has aspergers, my parents just never told him, but they atleast knew how to deal with it. I’m not really sure how he feels or what goes through his head, but he seems very happy with his life! He’s discovered what he loves, football, track, and history!
I on the other hand was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, now I know thats a totally different disorder, but it has effected me greatly. I was told that I had a disorder when I was 8 years old, and put on medication. This made me feel like a freak, like I wasn’t normal and never would be! Even through high school I was constantly thinking in the back of my head “can anyone tell that I’m different? Am I acting normal?”
I’ve decided that when I have children of my own, I will never give them a label such as Aspergers or ADD/ADHD.
My niece has autism. She is only 4 years old. She is very very smart. She was late on learning how to walk and she can’t even talk yet. She knows how to scream and make out little words but you can tell that her speech is a little impared. I also have another niece who sort of has the same traits as an autistic person with being very smart and OCD like, but doctors think that she is not autistic. She is so smart, she is only 11 and she can read on my level already and i’m in college. She even knows and uses words that I have no clue what they mean.
I wish you the best of luck! 🙂
To be honest, I was relieved to find out I was on the spectrum, although I did deny it at first (I don’t really know why.) It’s nice, it’s like there are a lot of people out there who understand what you’re going through, and you aren’t, in fact, just abnormal.
It wouldn’t hurt to know, just wouldn’t let it define me as a person.
No, i wouldnt. Absolutely not. As long as you’re happy & healthy, that’s all that matters! If you think there is a problem & want to get to the root of it, then I might want to. But like I said, if you’re happy & feel healthy, don’t.
If you find out you aren’t, it wont change anything; life will be the same… If you find out you are, you could get wrapped up in it…good luck 🙂
i would want to know. ive thought before i might be SLIGHT aspie… if i am, ive learned to deal with it. i hope you find out and love yourself either way.
You’ve been successful and have gotten this far in your life…why go and get a label?
I’d want to know just in case it was genetic, and so I’d know what to look for in my own children. I don’t think I would change my life or anything though.
I don’t think it’s at all uncommon.
I would. It was brought up to me very similarly, and it sure sounded like me, but I have no clue, nor does it really change anything. I guess if anything it would be a mild validation of sorts instead of people just calling me a weirdo.
yes, I would.
I tried to answer this but my comment was so long, it was a post on it’s own. So maybe I’ll just write one on the pros and cons of diagnosis.
Would I personally want to know officially? Since it wouldn’t make a bit of difference in my life it doesn’t matter. i know what I know and nothing’s gonna change that. (but that’s only after too many years in dealing in an educational system and lots of personal research)
I think you answered your own question. You want to know. and it doesn’t matter. You can go get an official diagnosis or you can do your own research and find out all kinds of things. A diagnosis can help others understand what makes you tick a little better. If that’s improtant to you then it’s a plus. But it won’t change who you are and you can get an idea of what makes you tick either way. You’re obviously not a little kid and you sound pretty comfortable in your own skin, so find out what you can, keep what helps and throw out the rest.
My personal philosophy is We’re all a little bit neurotypical, some of us just hide it better. And if you think you’re not then that just proves it.
I don’t know…? But yeah, it would be nice if someone would take Josh’s struggles seriously, and if a label is what it takes? It’s better than him being told over and over, “You’re a smart kid, but you’re not working up to your potential.” Of course he’s not. He’s not being taught to his potential. He’s being taught to the potential of the typical kid his age, which includes some strengths that he does not yet fully possess, and ignores the strengths he does have. I would homeschool, but I can’t teach Josh what I’m still struggling to learn myself, so I think it would do him more harm than good… which sucks ’cause we’d have a lot of fun.
I have mixed emotions. In a way I wish I didn’t know because for all these years I labeled myself as a freak of nature. On the other hand, I’m glad to know WHY I am the way I am. So for me it’s a double-edged sword.
I was so relieved to find out I’m on the spectrum and not just a ‘weirdo’, that there really is a normal for people like me. Everyone around me pretty much nailed home that my problem was my bad attitude, because I could never seem to synchronize with any kind of group, was never happy, could never seem to keep step with the crowd or handle hanging out very long. Once I realized I ~like~ me the way I am, and then I ran into the whole spectrum thing and started seeing a psychologist, a whole lotta stress just melted right off me.
Sounds like you are already comfortable with who you are. They could slap a label on you and you’d still be exactly who you were the day before the slapped the label on.
Two of our kids are diagnosed, and when I read all of the info. there were some major red flags there in my childhood…I think someone can have a lot of autistic traits and end up adapting and living a happy adult life.
I don’t really care. I try not to let myself be defined by labels.