Asperger's after 30? (counselor, therapy, woman, college)
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I hate to be a jerk but what was the issue? My insurance covered mine, without so much as a fight or phone call. All I had was a twenty or fifty dollar cover charge. Health Alliance.
There were a few issues. First off, there was only one doctor qualified to do the testing involved (rural state and it's really a specialized field). At that time we had no idea what we were looking at and that doctor could only be seen by referral, not to mention we had no idea what kind of doctor we needed to see until someone we were friendly with at the school let us in on the information on the sly.
Second, at the time we did not have insurance.
Third, his psychiatrist was only interested in pushing pills (amphetamines) and blaming our parenting for his issues, he was not interested in actually figuring out what was going on other that ADHD and making sure he collected a check after each visit.
Fourth, we were dealing with the school and the SPED department trying to figure out his IEP so he would succeed in school. They were only interested in spending as little time/money as possible to get us to shut up.
We've found out over the years since that this scenario sadly enough is not uncommon. If you've got no idea what Aspergers is, have never heard of High Functioning Autism etc then you've got NO idea what to look for.
All you know is "something" is off because the treatment is not really working, your kid is miserable and failing and you have no idea what to do.
I taught special education for 30 plus years. School personnel have to be very careful about suggesting any testing that we can not do with school staff, such as psychologists, because then the school district may be obligated legally to pay for the testing and possibly additional private treatment (which can be thousands and thousands of dollars). At least in my state, a school psychologist can give a school diagnosis of autism. So why should the school district pay for your child's outside of school testing?
The teachers were probably wondering why in the world you did not take your child to the doctor yourself using your health insurance. Especially delaying the assessment for 12 years. Sheesh!
Many of my students had private outside evaluations done, in addition to the free psychological assessment by the school psychologist and the most that any parent had to pay was a small co-pay ($20). Several parents told me that they did not even have to pay anything for the private assessment.
There was no school psychologist to listen to, only the SPED department of 2 people, small district. Free anything was not available unless the school provided it. Let me put it this way, it took a complaint to the state office that handles discrimination/rights violations to get the school to put in a power opening door to the BRAND NEW SCHOOL so wheel chair bound kids could get in and out and handicapped accessible parking for disabled people. But the office staff could park right up front by the doors.
Amazingly enough it was the same at the district offices.
Weird. I always thought schizophrenia was like dementia. Several years ago, I lived with someone who had it. She couldn't really function normally. She lived with family who took care of her and wasn't really "present." She also couldn't read or write very well. I guess she took away the attention from my problems, though.
It's good to know that ASD can improve with age. Hopefully that's what happened.
I'm sorry to always be Debbie Downer, but I do not think your Asperger's got better or is going to go away as you get older. I think you might be in a period where you feel better, or you may be practicing things that are getting easier due to habit formation (such as taking showers daily) but I do not see how you suddenly and magically over the past few weeks learned how to be social competent, learned how to tell if your clothes smell or fit properly, learned how to relate to your students, or learned how to discern non-verbal cues.
Can you give some real world examples from your classroom where you have been able to connect due to these magical overnight improvements?
If I recall, you have made similar posts in the past, followed later by more posts that make it clear you are still struggling.
Are you autistic? I wish it would have existed as a diagnosis when I was much younger. As it stands, people just thought I was trying to cause trouble, and I was treated accordingly.
(snip)
Sadly, autism did exist as a diagnosis when you were younger. Even before that time. When I was an education undergraduate in the early 1970s, we learned about autism in our classes and the local school district had special classes for children with autism.
While high functioning autism was not well know, or commonly diagnosed until later in some school districts in others school districts it was being diagnosed. The first child that I personally knew who was diagnosed with autism, and was very high functioning, was in 1975, my first year of teaching.
I started teaching in a public school district in 1979. We were using Skillstreaming to teach social skills to children way back then.
Kmb, I am sorry that your parents and your school district did not recognize that you had autism when you were a child and that you did not received any type of services that would help you. But, I did want to clarify that many children who are your age were recognized as having autism, or recognized as needing special education when they were children. Somehow, you slipped through the cracks, or your school district/or state was not very progressive or knowledgeable or something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmb501
I attended an education conference recently where an autism expert was presenting. After the conversation, I walked up and introduced myself as a sufferer of ASD. The speaker told me it looked like I had ASD, but he didn't want to ask me and upset me. Apparently my problem is/was obvious to everyone except me.
(snip).
For people with a background and experience in autism, it can be pretty obvious at times. But, one of the characteristics of autism is that someone with autism may lack the ability, or have great difficulty with observing & recognizing the small patterns & nuances in themselves that others may notice immediately.
I had to do research myself as I received no help either, I then had to fight for years to see the specialist. After giving up I started to lie like crazy and it worked. I lied about everything all the way up until seeing the specialist, then I told why I was there and argued what I wanted done. To be fair I'm not very healthy so I have done this many times before, it took me twenty years to get my tonsils out, but I did it the same way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
Second, at the time we did not have insurance.
That is a major disadvantage. They fight all the time to make healthcare affordable, but I haven't heard one debate on making healthcare functional.
I believe you don't outgrow a neurological condition like Asperger's, but some (not all) can learn coping skills to the point where they no longer qualify for a diagnosis of Asperger's.
I believe you don't outgrow a neurological condition like Asperger's, but some (not all) can learn coping skills to the point where they no longer qualify for a diagnosis of Asperger's.
Good article, very salient point about behavioral interventions. I hope OP will explore this, as I believe specialized professional help is the most important prognostic indicator of function. I also believe however these things are much harder to learn when you don't realize you need help until adulthood, versus the kids who have been getting help since babyhood before habits have been formed (the kids referenced in above article)
From the linked article above:
“All of the kids I have personally seen who have moved off the [autism] spectrum have received some form of behavioral intervention.” Numerous studies have found that behavioral interventions can be effective in improving things like social function and cognition in children with autism, but Fein cautioned that parents should keep the new study in perspective.
“This is not a common outcome,” she said. “We don’t know what the percent is — it’s almost certainly under 25 percent, and it may be significantly lower than that.”
Good article, very salient point about behavioral interventions. I hope OP will explore this, as I believe specialized professional help is the most important prognostic indicator of function. I also believe however these things are much harder to learn when you don't realize you need help until adulthood, versus the kids who have been getting help since babyhood before habits have been formed (the kids referenced in above article)
There are a LOT of blogs out there by adults with Aspergers -- as well as pages and groups on FaceBook. These can be helpful for support and ideas for coping. I agree with professional help -- but I'd look for a therapist with a lot of adult Asperger's experience rather than or in addition to experience with children. The OP and others can look for an experienced therapist in their areas here:
There are a LOT of blogs out there by adults with Aspergers -- as well as pages and groups on FaceBook. These can be helpful for support and ideas for coping. I agree with professional help -- but I'd look for a therapist with a lot of adult Asperger's experience rather than or in addition to experience with children. The OP and others can look for an experienced therapist in their areas here:
I gave OP several links from that site in a previous post, as well as looked for other resources for her over the years. In fact, I still get e-mails from the Alabama Autism Society and I have never even been in Alabama.
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