Adult diagnosis of aspergers/autism

Misunderstanding Nina

roses My son has high functioning autism. I know it's different to Aspergers. We thought Aspergers was what he had untill he was diagnosed by a psychologist. What I was trying to say, obviously not very well is that they are all part of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
As you say in your post yesterday at 15.52.

Yes along with childhood and life experiences that contribute to personality development.

Exactly, and their own character, personality as well.

The autism spectrum is most usefully looked at as a spectrum of cognitive ability. The fundamental problems apply to everyone on the spectrum but this constellation of difficulties manifests itself differently depending on the cognitive ability of each individual eg someone with a severe LD will present differently from someone with a high IQ who is aware of their problems and can try to compensate for them (although this is hard and tiring).
For simplicity's sake Asperger Syndrome could be said to be autism in people with average or above average IQ.
As I said before this is a massive subject and each individual is different. There is more to a person than their autism -cognitive ability, other genetic components and life experience all shape the person. Presentation may vary a great deal within an individual depending on current stress levels and/or sensory overload.

So, to be clear, you can be on the spectrum, and you can have either autism or Aspergers, both forms of autism, but children/ adults present differently.

I wrote ASD because most people know that term. We know two Aspergers
Boys, and they are very different.

Not so Nina, my DGS has what is called high functioning autism, in no way does he have Aspergers.He is eleven now and we have seen enough specialists and experts over the years to know the difference.

roses you mention autism Aspergers and ASD as if they are separate. Autistic Spectrum Disorder describes someone with those conditions. They are either on the perimeter of the ASD circle or at the most severe in the centre of the circle

Further to my earlier comment about people claiming/labelling people as Aspergers, there's a column in today's Guardian that is an interesting example of what I meant ...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/30/marriage-counsellor-husband-autistic-spectrum-wont-accept

I wish I'd been more like your OH, alchimillamollis, because I've spent 58 years trying to fit into a NT world and feeling that I am the one who is weird. Only one person amongst my family has taken my needs into account, the rest have acted as though its their way or no way. Work has been a nightmare and i finally gave up when i just couldnt cope with office life and expectations any more even though i was good at my job. So, it may be par for YOUR course but not for everyone.

Yes, my dh would, and indeed does, say that he has no problems whatsoever and I am the one who has issues, because I want to talk, socialise, be valued, etc. That is par for the course.

There is no doubt that ASD causes significant problems for some. Its a great pity that employers don't appreciate the good points of people with ASD. We live in such a social culture that people with ASD can feel miserably excluded. The people I work with find that their main problem is other people! Some struggle on wearing a social 'mask' which is very wearing. Many enjoy time on their own yet can be made to feel bad for not 'joining' in socially. It helps to accept that they are literally wired to perceive the world differently from neurotypicals and it can be more useful to work from there rather than assume that 'our' take on the world is the only and best one.
This is a colossal subject and not easy to summarise in threads.
The Scottish Govt ASD strategy has produced a doc called "The Menu of Interventions". It lists concisely the actual challenges posed by ASD and states what should be provided. There is also an excellent training framework for NHS staff. Of course having these docs is one thing, implementing them is quite another!

My dh manages in life because I look after him. I pay a very high price, however, to which he is entirely oblivious. He does not recognise my support of him, but believes himself completely my superior.

Of course you need to understand the cause of any "condition" that can have major implications for a person's functioning if you ever want to be able to help that individual or find ways of helping them with the more difficult behaviour issues this condition raises.
Jane10 Said
Too much is made of the deficits caused by ASD and not nearly enough about the benefits we gain from having people among us with this style of thinking.

I do not see that having autism specially enhances anything, there are plenty of people out there who are capable of great things in arts, science, music etc, etc, who get there without any autistic tendencies.

Having encountered children with severe autism, life is not at all easy for that individual or their carers. It includes severe learning disabilty. This is a syndrome that covers a whole spectrum of behaviours and learning issues and it can be extremely disabling causing great distress to the individual. For those who are severely affected behaviour can be very challenging. Aggression, constant anxiety, and severe self harm.

There was a father talking on the Radio a few weeks ago about his teenage son who self mulitated to the point of biting off chunks of his own lip and was proving too difficult to manage at home. This can be a very nasty severe and serious condition.

The people who make it to adulthood without symptoms being obvious are the luckier ones, but many more or less functioning adults still suffer a lot of isolation because of their lack of social skills.

Ok! my context is an OH who recognises the symptoms. He has an MSc but he has been made redundant from several good IT jobs because of difficulties in getting on with his work due to anxiety. A sort of compulsve prevarication. So his confidence goes down, any valid criticism of his delayed projects lead to him shutting down and then yet another dismissal because he just did not produce the work he was being paid for within any reasonable time frame. He was a mathemetician and very musical all very much the same part of the brain wiring.

I just do not want to play down the potential difficulties this condition can cause.

Gluten free diets may help, but not with autism! Autism often seems to go hand in hand with bowel/ gut problems, though not always.

My DD in talking to experts was told that we all have autism traits, some people have a lot and others only a little, but when a person has so many of these traits, that pushes it 'over the edge' and makes them markedly different.There is no 'normal' in other words, which makes us all different and interesting, but when a child has too many of these traits it makes it almost impossible to pass as normal, and help is needed.

It is certainly genetic ( autism, Aspergers ASD) but of course, one child may inherit it and the next child not.
my eldest DGS has it ( from SIL) but is much, much, worse than SIL.
SIL never formally diagnosed, but has now done a lot of reading on the subject which has helped him understand why he is like he is, which is like a lightbulb moment! That is all an adult needs to do, read up on the subject.
SIL managed to get by all his life, and nobody really noticed, and lots of people are like this.DGS will never be able to live alone,and his autism is severe, even though he is very intelligent.Very likely too, that he will never work or have any relationships.

I entirely agree. Looking for causes implies that there may be 'cures'. It appears that there are different connections across areas of the brain in ASD. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Too much is made of the deficits caused by ASD and not nearly enough about the benefits we gain from having people among us with this style of thinking. We are a highly social culture though and value social/sociability higher than extreme focus/great research skills/honesty/loyalty etc etc which people with ASD are likely to contribute. People with LD and ASD are more likely to be noticed and thought to be more typical examples of the autism spectrum but the majority are missed and are just quietly out there doing what they do. Time to appreciate autism!

There's an interesting thread over on, ahem, Mumsnet about this right now, if anyone's interested:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts/2497352-Guest-post-We-need-to-stop-looking-for-a-cause-for-autism

Dr Wakefield and others appeared to pick up on the changes in behaviour etc around two years of age that began to develop as ASD and it seems he put this down to the MMR vaccinations.
However I remember reading a book by Lorna Wing (who was a pioneer in studying Autism) in the 1960s about the early signs of autism starting to becoming apparent around the age of two. That was long before the combined MMR vaccination came in in 1971.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorna_Wing

Wouldn't you say you need to know causation in order to do a really effective intervention? Loads of parents try gf/cf diets for example, on top of other strategies.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31713147

I suppose I think the whole world needs to be better informed since the origin of autism is currently unknown.

ASD can't be caused by bad parenting if that's what you mean. It appears to be genetic in origin but there are several gene sites involved. These are inherited but there can be 'de novo' cases due to copy number variation.
I have to say that this an area of intense research but, while I'm glad this is going on I wish there was more research into effective interventions that could help the 1:100 of the total normal population that we already have. Only a fifth of the ASD population is under 16.

Jane loopylou mentions nature or nurture my understanding is that nurture has nothing to do with it.
Am I right ?