Can you develop aspergers late? (6-9 years old)

Post Reply New Topic

I have always thought i had Asperger's but then i remembered i was never awkward or anything in kindergarten but when i entered first grade that's when i started to not talk to anyone and not want any friends, when i was in kindergarten i never had any problems socializing or anything and then i think in first grade i started acting awkward and anti social so can you develop Asperger's later or do i have something else like social anxiety?

I'm 14 by the way.

According to the formalized diagnostic criteria, Asperger's cannot develop past preschool age.

But like Meistersigner stated, it'd be better if you get more formally assessed.

If it adds another element to think about, look beyond the 'socially awkward' bit. I can recall things from my early childhood that indicate Asperger's, but like you I don't remember being socially awkward during my very early years. However, the reason for that is because EVERYONE is useless at socialising at that age. Very young children are still learning the social rules and all behave a bit erratically, so you wouldn't necessarily have felt like you stood out as much at that age. As the other children picked up more and more understanding of social behaviour, you would have started to feel the impact.

That's not to say that you definitely do, but it is something to think about.

I would say that you can't "develop" Asperger syndrome (AS) later than the diagnostic criteria of about age three years. But, I accept that some people can fail to exhibit AS characteristics in ways that would be obvious to others. Take me, for example. I was only diagnosed at age 53 years. Sooo, not one of my parents, family members, friends, educators, clergy members, neighbors, physicians, psychological clinicians, co-workers or partners ever recognized any AS or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) within my behaviors except to remark that I was "weird" or "quirky." If I hadn't done my own research, I probably would never have received an accurate diagnosis.

While the diagnostic criteria allows for diagnoses in children of about age three years, I don't believe that every diagnosis is required to show early developmental characteristics in ways that are obvious. Also, adaptation (masking) skills can be very convincing even in young children. In other words, you might still be diagnosable by diagnosticians who understand the difference. Good luck in your pursuit of a diagnosis.

According to the criteria, you have to show at least some autistic features in the 'early developmental period' (precise ages not specified, but I'm guessing before age 6). However, they don't need to be 'fully manifested' until later, when social demands outstrip the person's ability. So I'd interpret that as you need to have met full criteria in middle childhood (6-9 years) and have at least one autistic trait present before you entered school.

That's how I was, by the way. I had definite and obvious intense interests from at least a year old, and showed subtle signs of sensory issues as a preschooler, but my social skills seemed normal until I was around 6-7 years old. It's not that I regressed, or anything. (Though I did start self-injuring due to stress at the same time.) It's that the other kids advanced faster in social skills than I did.

Had they assessed me very carefully as a preschooler, they might have noticed early signs of social issues. For example, I already had mild prosopagnosia at that age. But those subtle issues didn't interfere with the level of social interaction most 4-5 year olds engage in.

You can't 'develop' Asperger.

I was very outgoing as a little girl and I remember commanding the play of other kids a couple of times when I was 5, which was taken as a sign of confidence, the same as me repeatedly running away from my parents in busy locations that I've never visited before since I only learned to walk.

Now it is said both of those are early signs of Asperger syndrome.

Do you have a sibling or a friend who knew you when you were very young? If so, you could ask this person to describe how you behaved in comparison to other kids at that same age. Siblings and same age peers can be more reliable "witnesses" because they won't be misremembering everything you did to be fantastic, like parents often do.

It can be pretty hard to tell the difference between light "Asperger's" level autism and social anxiety in teenagers and children. Some people advocate waiting until the person has become an adult before seeking an official diagnosis, to avoid misdiagnosing. I think it's great that you're self-aware now, so that you can find out these things for yourself.

I am a sociologist who studies autistic adults. You would want a psychological definition for both social anxiety and autism (just google all that). My common definition of each would be:
-Autism spectrum: A feeling of difference from other people, confusion in communicating with others (hard to understand exactly what they mean, hard for others to understand you), probable difficulty understanding complicated facial expressions and body language, perhaps specialized interests, perhaps increased preference for things to be done correctly and error free (you can very easily see errors), perhaps sensory sensitivities, and probably a general sense of awkwardness around other people.
-Social anxiety: No confusion when around others. You understand everything that is going on, it just makes you profoundly uncomfortable, and perhaps panicky. There is often also a general sense of awkwardness here. Any sensory sensitivities are related to anxiety, and would disappear when you calmed down.

A) you cant rely on your own memory for that. You would have to interview some adult observer (like your parents, or your kindergarten teacher) who knew you when you were five to find out what you were like back then.

B) Aspergers is milder than full blown classic autism (the latter may often be obvious even in a toddler). So your behavior might not have stood out as different from that of other five year olds even to an adult caretaker even if you already had aspergers.

From what I remember from Kindergarten I was about as outgoing as my five year old peers, but I still got diagnosed with aspergers a few years ago as an adult.

In my diagnosis, at least, my diagnosticians looked for characteristics which are known to exist since early development. Thus, they didn't need to interview my family members.

Asperger's didn't really fit me until I reached puberty and then it fit me more because of the anxiety and hormones. Before then no one knew what was wrong with me except I had a language delay and I thought different and processed information differently and I did have social issues but they were not as prominent. I think back then everything was just blamed on my language delay and I even showed autistic characteristics but they were not as prominent by the time I was eight so I had gotten better and then bam puberty started. I even had a bunch of labels before Asperger's. I was even social when I was a child and I went and played with other kids and asked if I could play and I went to houses and rang doorbells asking if they can play. But I also remember doing lot of parallel play. But even when I was little autism wasn't found in me except speech delay. I was also dyspraxic which I think is a characteristic of autism. I also had sensory processing issues which is also another characteristic. But I walked at 15 months according to one of my medical records. I think that is a bit late.