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Sun 15 Jul, 2007 09:20 am
Someone was talking about this in another post. I was talking to a friend about it and i did some research online (but i dont trust google at all)
Wow, im almost 90% sure i have it. This sucks. Iv'e always thought i had a disorder like add or something, but then i brushed it off as being paranoid.
But what caught me off guard about aspergers is talking about a "hidden language", or something to that effect, and i was like wow, i mean the description , after i read it, i mean it felt like a BULLSEYE.
But then again i have a lazy eye, so i could have ocd or add or someshit but have a learned aversion to making eye contact.(one of the symptoms is eye contact avoidance)
But i mean it doesnt explain how i felt when it was talking about this hidden language, i mean i have absolutely no idea what it means, which leads me to believe that i dont speak this , language as they call it. i just got this weird feeling.
I would like to talk to people with aspergers experience if possible, to try to figure out what it means when they talk about not understanding this language, and about aspergers in general.
(no i wont be seeing any sort of professional, simply beccause im broke. this is just an informal inquiry anyways , i might go see some psych doc later on)
but i am sorta freaking out, i mean i cant understand what this language stuff means, im hoping i dont have it and i just have add.But it sucks, it just fits so well into what i have always felt, from trying to figure out social situations logically, to very colorful speech , when i was in elementary my teachers would always comment on how vast my vocabulary was.
anyways im hoping i dont have this minor form of autism. heh. But any info is appreciated.
Answer this honestly: would such a diagnosis alter your life in any way whatsoever?
Back in the olden days when I was a kid they thankfully didn't offer this label or I'm sure my parents would have been under intense pressure to "fix" me. Instead, they adored their "quirky" daughter who was "quite focused" and "preferred her own company".
Thanks mom and dad!
you're right boom.
I think this society has gone label happy.
Well, on one hand, if there is something wrong that is keeping you from functioning in life, it is a relief to have a name to put to it, rather than just thinking you are "crazy", but that name should not define someone.
OGIONIK....are you sure you just don't have ass burgers?
went googlin for asperger's & "hidden language". turns out i have AS too, but for the fact that i don't engage in rituals. WHEW!
My daughter is diagnosed as Asperger's, but I don't know anything about any hidden language.
Her only problems are with person to person social interactions, focusing (staying on task) and immaturity. However she IM's, texts and chats non-stop on the computer so there's no focus problem when it comes to that.
Ogionik......can you give an url for where you found this hidden language thing?
I certainly do not recall such a criterion from DSM IV R, or any of the other accepted diagnostic tools, although odd tone (eg flat) and speech are there.
Aspergers, btw, isn't a diagnosis you give yourself after reading stuff online.
While it ends up being a matter of clinical judgment, there are clear guidelines, and it should only be diagnosed by people with experience and skill (here, it requires an expert panel to diagnose, or two concurring qualified people...eg a child psychiatrist and a paediatrician...and there's only SOME of such pairs I would trust)
It IS, in my view, when properly diagnosed in children and adults, often a diagnosis that people find helpful....(and parents).
Little kids because they can qualify for help in school and such, and because there are beginning to be useful ways to help them get along better, and older kids and adults because it often relieves them of such a burden of self blaming misery...they often have an "aha" experience, and feel heaps better, and can often, also, find some useful ways of dealing with life more easily.
If you believe you may have it, (and people are prone to believe they have anything they are learning about) and want to know, go to a properly qualified place and find out.
Boomer, many Asperger's kids lead lives of terrible misery.....they are frequently a target for the most awful bullying and harassment...a number of kids I have treated with it I have treated for PTSD from the social exclusion and bullying... There is no "treatment" for Aspergers, btw, it looks like a dinky di neurological condition, of various grades of severity....but where a kid is really suffering educationally or personally, there look to be lots of things people can do to help them manage things more easily, and be less targeted.
happycat wrote:My daughter is diagnosed as Asperger's, but I don't know anything about any hidden language.
Her only problems are with person to person social interactions, focusing (staying on task) and immaturity. However she IM's, texts and chats non-stop on the computer so there's no focus problem when it comes to that.
Lol! Chatting online is made for people with Aspergers....lots of them seem to be computer geeks.
There are lots of "Aspy" sites for young people, btw...they have a thriving online subculture.
Not that you'd want a little kid anywhere near most of the ones kids have told me about... adolescents are born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards...
I realize there is a broad spectrum of aspergers.
I base my comments on the fact that I am totally clueless in face to face situations. I can be very comfortable with people I know that I will only spend a few hours with but I am not good at all at making friends.
Growing up I never really realized that about myself but as I've gotten older I've come to understand that I don't interact in the way most people do.
As you know I'm a huge believer in therapy for problems and have been in therapy for various ... er.... situations.... but for me, the lack of close friendships is a relief instead of a problem.
boomerang wrote:I realize there is a broad spectrum of aspergers.
I base my comments on the fact that I am totally clueless in face to face situations. I can be very comfortable with people I know that I will only spend a few hours with but I am not good at all at making friends.
Growing up I never really realized that about myself but as I've gotten older I've come to understand that I don't interact in the way most people do.
As you know I'm a huge believer in therapy for problems and have been in therapy for various ... er.... situations.... but for me, the lack of close friendships is a relief instead of a problem.
Yeah....I don't think anyone tries to therap Asperger's kids into having close friendships if they don't want 'em (though lots go through a terrible time when they realise other people have them, and they don't), it's more around helping them negotiate the world with less painful bruises for all concerned from bumping into it.
Not my specialty, anyway.......
As a matter of fact, i was subject to years of bullying and i could possibly have PTSD too.
At first i thought i was prone to think i had things i was learning about, but i highly doubt it, PTSD, ADD, Depression, and now aspergers are the only things that fit. But ADD and PTSD only accounted for some of the symptoms, as soon as i started reading aspergers i waslike OMFG they are describing me! And I have noticed the ease in which i hold online conversations, compared to the fact i cant talk to you unless ive known you for a month or two in person.
I think the language they are talking about is physical expression of my emotions, i.e. facial expressions etc.
untreatable? that fuckin figures.
OGIONK - you can not self diagnose this problem.
Or, rather, you can. But, it isn't official. You can't help yourself attend to the bits that are fixable. If you think you have this suit of issues or one of them, go see some one who can a) diagnose you professionally, and b) help you deal with it.
to bad that stuff costs money huh? hehe thanks for the replies guys.
When I said my daughter has face to face social problems, I really meant that she is just "too much" sometimes. She doesn't believe in those quiet moments or lulls in conversation. I guess that's why online chatting is so perfect for her.
When she entered middle school, my husband and I had a meeting with the principal prior to the start of the school year. (This was before we had an actual diagnosis.) We told him all of her quirks, moods and obsessions.
He assured us that he'd "been in teaching for 35 years and there was nothing new to him anymore."
Around mid-year he confessed to us that our daughter was "a complete enigma." LMAO!! We tried to tell him!
She is smart, pretty, loving, kind to small children, the elderly and animals, but she has problems with kids her own age. Either she couldn't put up with their crap, or vice-versa. That's always been the crux of her Asperger's; she's out of whack age-wise. She wows people with her intellegence, yet sometimes she acts so immature. She can carry on an intellegent conversation about environmental science (she got all A's) yet getting her to fold the clothes before she puts them away can lead to utter frustration and crying.
Asperger's is the weirdest thing, and it's such a broad spectrum!
OGIONIK - How old are you? My daughter is eligible for social security disablility now that she's 18 (since her Asperger's limits her employment abilities) so that might be something you want to check into. You would need to get an actual diagnosis though.
im 22 this month. Hmm i cant lie i have a hard time holding jobs, and getting them. i like the one im at because i dont deal with customers and i get to cruise the internet with minor filters though but i dont care.