do you know an autistic?

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bonosloveslave said:
Wow, Doug and verte, never would have guessed that you guys have struggled with this, thanks for being so honest :hug:
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astute observation, bonolsoveslave! EYE am not struggling with it, really rather having a nice time of it :sigh: pictures in the mind, photography in motion, the politics of dancing...

so fun to be passed over, as it was since nursery school, so it goes... (the last a quote from Linda Ellerbee)

Love you guys!:yes:
 
that's really awesome guys:up: never would have guessed.

my girlfriend is an applied behavior therapist with a couple of autistic children aged 3 and 9. she absolutely loves it.
 
Thanks Beth and Diamond!!

With Asperger's Syndrome, social interations do not come naturally - they must be learned academically. What makes things difficult is that we enjoy, almost crave social interaction. We just don't know how to do it.

Interference provides me with a social setting where I can thrive as best as I can. The wonderful people here make it easy for me.

Actually, it feels great to talk about it!!

Verte76 - if you ever want to share experiences, etc., please let me know.
 
Well said, nbcrusader. A place like Interference really is cool for someone with Asperger's. I don't have to worry about some :censored: posting a nasty note. That bugs me on some other lists where there is a bunch of flaming and such. If you want to e-mail me nbcrusader my e-mail addy is p.hefner@worldnet.att.net
 
I work with kids with disabilities at school. We do have a couple of autistic kids who don't know how to communicate like you or I can BUT are getting the idea that they can communicate in another way. I tend to work with kids who are autistic along with other disabilities including behaviors. I overall enjoy it. It is really a great feeling when you see the kids actually learn something and be happy and enjoy life as best they can. It is simply the best job I am grateful to have!!:yes: :wave:
 
One of the guys in my choir class in college had a pretty severe case of autism (it may have been combined with something else, I don't know). He was a pretty cool, if odd guy, but he wasn't really very socially aware, though he was always well-mannered. He did have some really bad nervous ticks (spasms?) that were a little unnerving the first few times you saw them. I do remember that he was a very good pianist though.
 
for a short time we lived across the street from one. his was a more severe case and had to be supervised at all times. he and his family were so nice though. the guy was a genius, he did computer stuff and i think maybe even did some programming. quite impressive for an 11 year old.

we only knew them for about two years cuz then we had to move. :mad:
 
KhanadaRhodes said:
for a short time we lived across the street from one. his was a more severe case and had to be supervised at all times. he and his family were so nice though. the guy was a genius, he did computer stuff and i think maybe even did some programming. quite impressive for an 11 year old.

we only knew them for about two years cuz then we had to move. :mad:
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I've met some more severe cases. I'm lucky that my case is mild. It could be so much worse.
 
I'm sorry Debbie - I guess I misunderstood your post since the first thing you said was that you 'have not been diagnosed as such' - didn't mean to leave you out, wouldn't have guessed you had a problem with it either :shrug:
 
bonosloveslave said:
I'm sorry Debbie - I guess I misunderstood your post since the first thing you said was that you 'have not been diagnosed as such' - didn't mean to leave you out, wouldn't have guessed you had a problem with it either :shrug:
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yep, a problem with social "skills" like timing in group conversations...i never quite get the swing of it, and often misread body signals...does not make for a sweet time at a party, unless there is some "event" going on...the actual problem is that i'm seeing pictures of your words and responding in "summary" of the pictures i imagine, which can, unfortunately, be totally irrelevant to the general topic...(though i do enjoy myself, i must say) Different perspective, and one that doesn't translate into words, that's the worst of it :yes:
 
I've had problems with not being very social. Some people didn't get it when I got stressed always being with a group over at someone else's place. Gosh, talk about screwed up relationships. They were big time extroverts and didn't understand why I wasn't, and this was before I was diagnosed with Asperger's. This was very traumatic.
 
Small talk or casual conversation is the worst. I remember finding it easier if someone would ask me questions - providing answers was easy. But force me to ask the questions and I'll tend to be silent.

Another aspect of Asperger?s is that the brain is always working and catalogues information well. I remember meeting a child who's focus was dinosaurs. He could not only tell me details about dinosaurs, but described the exact location of a new T-Rex exhibit in Chicago.

Asperger?s is probably under-diagnosed in this country and is difficult to diagnose because some of the symptomatic behaviors are common in children without Asperger?s. For more information on Asperger's, check out the
OASIS
 
verte76 said:
I've had problems with not being very social. Some people didn't get it when I got stressed always being with a group over at someone else's place. Gosh, talk about screwed up relationships. They were big time extroverts and didn't understand why I wasn't, and this was before I was diagnosed with Asperger's. This was very traumatic.
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btw, how did you get "diagnosed" as having Aspergers? Was there a particular therapist, some written or motor survey? History, stories from friends and family? I have no clue where to get an "official" diagnoses, other than a suspician from my psychiatrist (ok, everyone, lose the stigma-reaction, they have the drugs, don't they??)
 
DebbieSG said:


btw, how did you get "diagnosed" as having Aspergers? Was there a particular therapist, some written or motor survey? History, stories from friends and family? I have no clue where to get an "official" diagnoses, other than a suspician from my psychiatrist (ok, everyone, lose the stigma-reaction, they have the drugs, don't they??)
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It's a long story. I was diagnosed with a whole slew of psychiatric psychobabble, and my father, who's an internist, started to suspect I was autistic. The shrink I was seeing was clueless; he didn't know what Asperger's was, and didn't think I was autistic because I'm not a "classical" severe case. Finally I was diagnosed with Asperger's by a therapist who treats it in the spring of 2001. It was weird, all of this stuff was going down when I was getting Elevated! Thank God I got to be Elevated, it helped me get through this crud. I had to change shrinks twice to get the right kind of treatment. It was a nightmare. But finally things started to get straightened out after I started to get the right kind of treatment just last year. Whew! You can get a diagnosis from a PDD-spectrum specialist (Pervasive Developmental Disorder). There is a special clinic in Birmingham that treats this stuff. This stuff is still not well-understood, not even by mental health professionals. It's tough. :scream: :scream: :censored:
 
Asperger's Syndrom was officially recognized in the United States in 1994. There are far too few people who can recognize and diagnose.

For us, we were extremely lucky. We noticed a very subtle movement in our son's hands while he spoke. It looked like he was very excited about what he was saying. When we asked our pediatrician about this, he referred us to another doctor, who just happens to be one of the leading experts in AS in the country (is said, we were very lucky). We then spent time with a psychologist who did the full evaluation for AS.

I will check our records and will post the factors determining AS in my journal.
 
Actually, my brother is diagnosed Asperger twice, but he (and my father) won't accept that. Personally me and my mother think this might be true (reading some stuff and more about it) but it also might not (which is also more or less the diagnose of the true expert that analysed him). I believe it's hard to diagnose Asperger and still, looking at my brother. He also has to be able to admit it and since he doesn't, treatments by the therapists who did diagnose him as having Asperger's won't work (and he's been analysed by the top asperger experts in The Netherlands), because he just hates the shit out of them because of the diagnose. Anyway, he's still under therapy and slowly recovering, but now with a therapist who doesn't want to name it (and also doesn't name it) but just tries to make him feel better. However, whatever it may be, I still think there's something that is substantially different with him comparing him to others. That it's not just a phase he has to go through as he's been thinking and believing for the past five years (since he mentally collapsed). I just hope that in the not too far away future he will be able to a "normal life", because his situation does put a lot of pressure on the family.
Besides that, I also know a true severe autist who is a part of one of the mentally disabled table tennis teams (together with some Down syndrom people and other people with other kinds of mental handicaps) of our local table tennis club.
 
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We had a similar experience with my son. He is very bright (high functioning) and a very likeable kid. Both my dad and my wife's dad didn't want to believe the diagnosis.

My wife has attended numerous seminars on the subject. Our goal is to equip our son with the necessary coping skills to overcome AS.
 
Hi! I'm an adult Aspie who hasn't been able to get diagnosed. I'm in the U.S. It's very hard for an adult to get diagnosed with AS, or at least that's what I've found. My current diagnoses are social anxiety disorder & avoidant personality disorder, but I think there's something else.

I've been to four therapists so far trying to get a DX I'm not willing to accept a self-diagnosis, but for various reasons I didn't believe any of the therapists either, in most cases because they didn't know much about AS. ONe was an autism & AS expert so he did know abouti
it, but I felt like the test wasn't comprehensive enough and he blamed my upbringing too much.

If anyone knows of a fairly inexpensive way to get diagnosed in SEattle, WA, please let me know!
 
Norah, quite a few adult Aspies also have avoidant PD. I think I might have it; I don't know, it hasn't been diagnosed. Getting diagnosed as an adult Aspie is really tough, so good luck! Sometimes it amazes me what even some of the professionals don't know.
 
We had a severely autistic boy clean our office once a week through a BOCES school program. It's a program where they take autistic and retarted kids and teach them jobs that they may be able to do in the future. Then they train them at local businesses that will take them. The boy had an adult coach with him at all times. It was really sad watching him, he would make loud noises and laugh while the coach was trying to get him to do his work.

It really broke my heart, but he seemed like a good kid.
 
:wave: I have a 5 year old brother that is Autistic and he lives in Mexico with my parents, do you know of any good organization they could go for advise and help?
 
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