New here, AS/HFA but undiagnosed in childhood ?

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Hello,

Been lurking here for a while but now hope to join in. Over the last few months I have been reading a lot about Asperger
syndrome and its helped me to understand why I seem so different to other people.

I was in special education from the age of six, first of all at a "special unit " within a primary school after which I was sent
to a Rudolph Steiner special boarding school. Throughout my childhood and the myriad assessments that I underwent I recieved
no official diagnosis of any sort. They did tell my mother I had "autistic traits" though. I left school shortly before the diagnosis of
Asperger syndrome became available in the DSM IV. After I left school I didnt want anyone to know I had been in special education
and for years refused to entertain the idea that I had anything "wrong" with me. Whenever I ran into difficulties (mainly practical ones) in my life my mum would plead with me to "get help" but unfortunatley I wouldnt listen. She has been mentioning AS for
some years now but I woudnt even look it up on the internet until recently. When I did I realised straight away I must have it.
I recently went to see a specialist in autism who is actually assessing my little nephew and she confirmed that I was on the autism spectrum. I have now been reffered by my G.P. to see a psychiatrist for an official diagnosis but I thought I would also ask what people here on the WP think, so here is a list of some of my "odd traits"


I didnt speak until I was four, before that I had what my mum calls my own "oddle-doddle" language although I did not try to
use it for communication. When I did learn to speak I started with whole sentences. My mum was told I had learned to speak
my own language as if it was a second, foreign language.

When I was little I used to walk round and round in circles, I still pace a bit.

I have always" flapped" with strings of beads etc, still do though learned in childhood not to do so in public.

Always have a huge interest in something. I seem to have two main genres of special interest, scientific (mainly astronomy and
cosmology) and politics, different countries and cultures.

Was "in my own world" a lot as a child and didnt really have friends or interact much, in fact I didnt feel I needed to make
friends during my childhood and teenage years. I am now much more outgoing and given an interesting topic of conversation
I can" talk the hind legs off a donkey" and often people are more likely to complain I talk too much rather than too little.


Picky eater, still have difficulty" eating my greens" also hate noise, chaos, etc,

People say I dont pick up "social signals" I didnt believe such things existed until I started reading up on AS etc, Apparently NTs
must have some sort of built-in aeriel to detct them.

Theres more but I think this post is long enough

Greetings, and welcome aboard the Wrong Planet, Higgs_boson.

^ Thank you.


Just curious about the issue of language delay and AS. What sort of diagnosis do people get who have all the criteria for
an AS diagnosis but did have a language delay?. Would that be High functioning autism ? I dont think it makes much difference
as its all one spectrum anyway but i,m just curious. Funny, I didnt want to go near the issue before but now i,m really interested
in autism/AS.

I think my post above is a bit long but wondering what people here think. Has anyone been through special education but
got no diagnosis of any sort the whole way through ?

Helloooooo ! Anybody out there ?


I think I have managed to come across as really boring, as usual.

hey,welcome!!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Are you a physicist? Why is your name "higgs boson"? That is impressive, I never studied that stuff utnil I was way into graduate school. Have you gotten your ph.d.? What are you working on?

As for me I just got my ph.d. last may and now I am doing my postdoc. I work on quantum gravity (causal set theory to be more precise)

Thats what happened to me but I was seven when i was moved to a special unit in another primary school that i was in.



Again thats also what happened to me too, it felt like that to me too... Whenever i've learnt how to do something, i would also run around in circles and yes i was always in my little world too thinking i was on tv.

My social skills i would say is rather awkard... and i did managed to get lucky to have a few friends as i have mentioned in one of my previous posts. I would think i would have to buy an ariel seperately for my social skills to work fully ...

and Higgs_boson, also Welcome to WrongPlanet

I'm getting diagnosed on Monday. It took me a couple months to find a doctor who takes my insurance, and it's 50 miles (80 km) away. I just started learning about aspergers this year, and before that I had no idea what was wrong with me and neither did anybody else. But I did manage to develop a system to hide most of my symptoms and pretend to interact with people. But it's still obvious to everybody I know who knows anything about autism.

If someone meets all the criteria for Classic Autism or Asperger's Syndrome and also had a language delay, i.e. not speaking words before the age of 2 and not speaking sentences before the age of 3 then the diagnosis will be Classic Autism. If the person also has normal to high intelligence then it will be High Functioning Autism indeed.

Don't worry about it . If it is boring it is just in the wrong group. Someone will be interested in some of the same things you are.

This from an HFA language delayed old lady with lots of experience.

And to top it off I am Deaf. Is that interesting to you? Do you understand what I am telling you?

OH well. Welcome.