What is it like to be an adolescent with ASD?

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What is it like to be an adolescent with ASD? Researchers need your feedback!

I am a doctoral student at Michigan State University and I work in schools with students who have autism spectrum disorders (ASD). My professor and I believe it’s important to hear the views of students with ASD. If you are in middle school or high school and have autism, Aspergers, or consider yourself “on the spectrum”, we want to hear from you. We’re hoping to learn more about your experiences as an adolescent with an autism spectrum disorder. Your responses are important in helping us to understand how middle and high schools can better support individuals with ASD. Please click the following link to participate in a 10-15 minute survey. Thank you in advance for your help.

Please go to: surveymonkey dot com /s/adolescentvoices

It is certainly a life experience like no other. My name is Brad and im 15 yrs old, going intpo 10th grade, and i have been diagnosed with aspergers syndrome when i was 12 yrs old.. I know i personally feel tjat my As is aboth a blessing and a curse all at the same. It is a blessing because i have so many special interests that give meaning to my life. My AS has given me an open mind that constantly wants to be filled with information on almost anything, in other words i always want to learn more about different things. We may be different, but we are proud of being different and we would never change ourselves for the world. Of course, then there is the part about it being a curse. The worst part about having As is being alone. When i was in elementary, and this mostly refers to my 4th,5th, and 6th grade yrs, school was a living heck(ill say the nicer word), I was constantly taunted by my peers, they would throw text books at me and scream weirdo at the top of their lungs, and when we were in gym and i could never make that basketball shot they would always scream at me for atleats 5 mnutes about how much of a loser i was, in fact one kid told me once in 5th grade that he wanted to take his motorcycle and use the back tire to completely ruin my face, then stab me until all the blood was out of my system, I spent pretty much my entire childhood reading books and listening to music, while most of my peers were always out playing sports or socializing, i was always alone. I always wished i could go out and join them, and be able to be like them. To be able to be an Nt and just act normal and say things normal. i just finally asked myself"whats wrong with me, why am i so weird", and i never got an answer. then when i was in 6th grade i was 12 yrs old, and i was taken to therapy for my self esteem issues, I was diagnosed with aving AS. And that was when my whole life turned around,. I began to learn more about AS, and how it can actually be a blessing, and its not my fault i am the way i am:)! I actually learned to cope with my problems, and by the time middle school came around i began to live a wonderful life, no, i still didnt have all the friends, or anything like that. but i learned how to be proud of who i was, thats what its like to be AS, being proud of your differences and using our pride to walk through a society ran by judgemental NTs gracefully and happily. here i am in 10th grade, and i couldnt be happier i have AS

http://surveymonkey.com/s/adolescentvoices

From the ages of about 12-16 it really sucked, but things are starting to get much better now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of middle and high school. In the past year, I guess I have finally "found myself" as other people would say (and AS is only part of that).

adolescents is already the worst time in anyones life, now add social outcast, socially inept, social phobias, Severe Inferiority Complex, and Avoidant Personality Disorder to the mix and that was how life used to be before i found a medicine that allows me to gain the confidence needed to talk to others though the SIC and APD are still there, i am just able to have an EASIER time talking with people

what i learned is be honest and be yourself they can either take it or leave it

personally most my friends love me because of how honest i am, i have never pretended to be anything im not. these days i hang out with a lot of the cool kids even and they all know im a nerd(i DO NOT look like one but anyone who knows my scientific goals in life and my fluency in leet should know by now im a nerd) hell my nickname is Doctor because how smart i am at school and they still say that when im not around they notice because apparently life has a different atmosphere when im gone, which sucks since i recently moved to a different town

im sure most people here will be glad to answer ANY questions you have about ASD

Phenomenally difficult. The process of growing up is intensified and worsened to the extreme. Everyone around you is moving on because they are normal, or at least the mainstream part of society. I have had crushes on girls all throughout the years I have become interested in them, but have never, ever had the confidence to talk to them, resulting in me going insane and losing all hope.

I spent the majority of last year crying until it physically hurt me, because everything is so unfair, but since December I've been taking anti-depressants which have helped. Still haven't learnt anything in how to cope with life, though.

dam hard i am overwhelmed with my schedule. I am ignored and disrespected by everybody.

I took the survey!

I do pretty well in school, I probably get about 75% in my courses on average. (That's a B here) However, I don't have any friends my age. I have acquaintances my age, but no good friends. All my friends are older than me.

A lot of people at school don't like me, including adults. This wasn't the case last year, but it is this year. One student can't stand me at all (I don't like her either), a few people who work in "skill development", which is program for "high needs" kids. Most of them need to do work that is below their grade level by quite a bit, have physically disabilities or can't talk. Anyway, a few people in that room don't like me. A few teachers don't like me. However, most people DO like me at school, it's just about 5 or 6 people who don't. Maybe 7. I'm not really sure.

I have interesting musical tastes for my age. I am not sure what I'd classify my favourite genre of music because it is very unique to the band I like. It guess you could call it folk-rock.

My case manager wants me to do a lot of online courses, but I only want to take courses online if there is a good reason to do so (they don't offer it at my school, my case manager doesn't think I would like any of the teachers that teach it, the workload is demanding etc.). I find that taking online courses can be a bit boring because there is no interaction. It is also hard when you have a question because it can be hard to get it answered. I am also never sure who to hand my stuff into.

My favourite subjects are English, Video/Photography and Computers. My least favourite subjects are Socials Studies, Math and Physics. Next year, I am going to an "easy" math course, Earth Science, English, Family Studies, Photography/Video. I need take A course to graduate, but it doesn't have to be traditional social studies; you have a few alternatives, they don't offer the one I want take at my school, so I am trying to see if I can do it online, but that may not be possible. If push comes to shove, there is another course I can take. I am trying to take computers and even signed up for it and told the consular that I wanted it, but the case manager took it out and put a homework block in it's space. I am going to talk to him about this.

Having Asperger's is such a fun thing. I've always been picked on, excluded, thought of as "weird," et cetera, but I never let that get to me - why would I become something I'm not just because other people would like that more? I've never been compelled to act like other kids or to be interested in the same things that they are. As far as special interests go, the whole world is a special interest to me - my favorite things are black airplanes, mushrooms, birds, and designs, not to mention Beat poets. Though I draw all the time, I wouldn't call that a special interest, just something I can weave into everything I do. If I can get away with it, I will draw on anything. I also make detailed lists of everything. For making lists and brochures, or for titling papers or other documents, I use round, sans-serif fonts like Century Gothic or Calibri. If I am making poetry or stories, I have to use Georgia or Times New Roman or I won't be able to take myself seriously. I am considering starting a small business in photography, because my skills have become quite in-demand in the last couple of weeks.
I absolutely love public speaking, even though I am by my very nature granted no predilection towards it. I was the student body President at my last school and brought advancements the school had not seen at least for a few years.

My GPA is okay. I had a 3.85 last time I checked. I don't consider this a good grade at all because I know I could do much better. You might call me overcritical. Anyways, I just graduated from high school one year early (first in a class of five), and will be pursuing a B.S. in Biology, and maybe art. I have a hard time concentrating on one thing, but I don't beat myself to death about it, I'd rather find an error and work on it.

Yes, I have problems socializing with others. I'm not completely shy, but I find that it's rather hard to talk to most kids my age. I like talking to adults and younger children, but most teenagers would rather discuss popular music or video games. I'd rather speak about current events or ideas about government or science.

I suppose I stim, but it's not very noticeable. I twist my hands around and fiddle with my fingernails, but only when I'm trying to read a boring book or do high-level math. I pace, but only when I have a really good idea but can't act immediately on it. Stimming is very situational for me.

I'd do a survey, but I doubt my parents would let me. Sorry!

Thank you all for your responses!

Maybe I can be a little bit more specific than that.

In the seventh grade, my first year at junior high school, I didn't have any classes with the few close friends that I had. I never really attempted to make new friends, and after a few weeks my classmates thought I was a mute. I became so annoyed with everyone asking me whether or not I could talk I just ignored them all. There were only a few people I was comfortable talking to, and I wasn't very close to them. But, yet, that's really not the reason why I hated the seventh grade. What really bothered me was all of the homework and stuff I was expected to do. I just didn't do it all, and as a result I struggled to keep up with my grades, which made my life hell. I still kept one friend from elementary school to hang out with on the weekends, and that was enough.

In the summer before the eighth grade, I moved from northeastern Florida to San Antonio Texas. While it was definitely a culture shock, it didn't bother me as much as it did my parents and sister. Once again, after I started going back to the middle school, I didn't even care to communicate with my peers, so I just ignored them. Needless to say, they annoyed the bloody crap out of me. I didn't make any friends, and retreated even farther into my shell. I started playing computer games online, and at that point, I lost all interest in the social world. I was able to make friends with some people that I played with, and I really enjoyed it. While, for an NT, that would really have been a sucky time, it wasn't for me. With school being a breeze, I never really worried about failing. Now, I look back on the time when I would come home from school and start owning noobs in Empire at War, and I had many positive experiences.

Then I had to move again. I spent my freshman year of high school in San Diego California, and many of my classmates were of "ivy league" quality. I had always been told I was so smart, and that I had a bright future, blah, blah, blah... well, to put it simply, I fell flat on my face academically. The quality of my social life did not improve much. While I was no longer that kid who never talks, I didn't really make any friends or acquaintances. My NT sister was able to make many friends just within the first month (I think in excess of 15), and every day I would come home to a house full of loud 11 year old girls with more homework than I ever could have imagined. I became very irritable, and I hated my life. I barely passed all of my classes, which, for me, was an epic failure. Some of the students simply thought they were better than me, and the others were drug addicts. In the online world, I started playing Generals with my older cousin, who, at the time, just graduated. Generals was a much harder game, and I wasn't as good at it. Sometimes his buddies wouldn't even let me play. For almost the entire year, I couldn't find anything that I actually was good at or even wanted to do.

After having completed my freshman year, I was prepared for the next. I knew what it was going to be like and what to expect. Well, it didn't really help one bit. But, my sophomore year actually was a lot better. My sister had to say goodbye to all her little minions as we were moving back to the east coast about six weeks into the school year. At the new school, I was once again able to excel at my studies. I had some really nice teachers who appreciated my willingness to learn. While I did not make friends, I was at least somewhat respected by most people. For me, that was good enough. My sophomore year wasn't all that bad.

Over that summer, I had finally learned to drive. This greatly improved my self confidence. In addition, I had also applied to join the engineering academy at my school, and I was admitted. When I got back from summer break starting my junior year, I had finally found what I was looking for. The engineering teacher is the absolute best teacher I've ever had. I met a few people who I now know are also aspies, and I really enjoyed working with them. Even the other people in those classes were actually friendly towards me. For once, I was actually interested in the subject material, and I appreciated the way my classes were set up to be both challenging but not stressful at the same time. Not only that, but this past year I discovered AS, and now everything makes sense. As I wrote, I think I have finally found myself. I know what I want to do with my life, and I know how I'm going to do it.

You're welcome! It was no problem, I love surveys!

Annoying.

I did the survey.

so difficult at times for me.

I just wanted to say thank you once again to those who have completed the survey and/or posted replies here. Your input is so helpful to me and I really appreciate it!