Worries of a Misdiagnosis

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Thinking a bit more, perhaps this is an irrelevan question:

after all, in practical terms, what is the diference betwen a diagnosis of HFA, of AS or of SPD?

AFAIK, both are, basically, incurable conditions without any known effective treatment or medication (there is some medication for the co-morbid problems, but not for the conditions themselfs). Then, perhaps it is not any real problem in a misdiagnosis between the 3 (althoug a diagnosis of SPD possibly can be better for the self-esteem of the individual than a diagnosis of AS or HFA)

That's a good link, thanks!

I agree, given the difficulty in differential diagnosis between AS and SPD (and, as you say, HFA), particulary in adults with little in the way of relevent, verifiable childhood history, the question needs asking: what does it matter? And, like you, I can't see that it matters at all. Perhaps the real problem is that there are too many overlapping labels, and that the attempt to be objective about something as subjective as the human mind will always lead to confusion (and undue distress) if pushed to the limit.

I'm relieved that, like AS and HFA, there are no life-shortening tablets to treat SPD. Perhaps my initial stance (that I don't believe I have SPD) was simply based on a fear of being shoved onto meds.

Tomasu, I don't think that this negates an AS diagnosis for several reasons. Firstly, there do seem to be two general types of Aspies: one who is quite outgoing, and has difficulty forming friendships because of social 'mistakes', but still has the desire to keep trying to make connections, and one who is content to be more solitary.

Secondly, I too was generally quite happy to play with others as a young child. I did not like large crowds of other children, but I did play, with one or two people at a time. I think, though, that AS (I am diagnosed as mild) showed within my play. I enjoyed preparations and making things for games, but the game itself was often rather awkward for me, and I often felt as if I wasn't quite sure exactly how to play and what we should be doing. I didn't like games to be 'just a game' - I wanted them to be real, and would get very frustrated to find out the next time we met that that things had ended for the other person when we stopped playing and that they hadn't thought any more about it or been 'living' it as I had. I liked repetitive games. I would often be accused of ordering people around and upsetting them when I had no idea what I had said or done wrong or that the other person had been upset.

I also believe that mild Aspies may have less trouble socializing as children for the reason that interaction between children is far more straightforward. Even non-AS children understand - and are expected to understand - less subtleties than adults. Children will say what they are thinking, and if they want someone to be informed of something, they will, as a rule, tell them, not simply expect them to 'just know'. I find it very interesting that the older I became, and the more I was expected to grasp subtleties and to 'just know' what people expected of me, and the less others were prepared to explain things, the more difficulties I had. I had few if any communication problems at the age of 5. By the age of 9, I did have problems. By the age of 15, I was noticeably out of synch with others and failing to notice or grasp an entire side of life/socializing that was obvious to them.