CoolBeans
New Member
Hello everybody, im paul. I am in my mid 30s and have suspected of being on the spectrum for over 20 years, and got an official diagnosis as an adult. just like the title says, I am a natural loner joining a community. Social institutions never felt right for me and never felt like I fit in with other or rejected group think ideologies all together. Im very analytical and mechanically and electrically inclined. My job is an industrial mechanic repairing machines at a factory and I absolutely love working on machines and getting covered in grease.
I had a small speech delay as a child and once I stated to talk I spoke in gibberish and had to be in speech therapy for 5 years. when it was time to move to kindergarten I had not made enough progress in speech therapy and the public schools wanted to place me into a non verbal school and they suggested to my parents to get me evaluated for aspergers to determine if I go to regular school or not. I received my evaluation around the time the DSM4 was released, and the clinician didn't see aspergers but diagnosed me with "ADD". I entered kindergarten with an IEP and continued my education receiving support and eventually a 1:1 aide in every class that followed me from middle school to high school. unknowing to me at the time the school suggested several times that I should be in classroom environments better suited for students on the spectrum, but my mom fought hard for me to stay in neurotypical classrooms. parents did not understand why I was socally withdrawn and sent me to a childrens theripist who could not figure me out and according to my dad I pissed off the therapist. I started to suspect in that I had more than just "ADD" and my teachers and aide agreed, but when I brought it up to my mom I was shut down, and the second time I brought it up mom asked "who is telling you this?" after saying nobody, its my own conclusion she said "you have been tested for other things and only have ADD. dont bring it up again.", so I didn't. my aide helped me manage not only school, but many aspects of life and challenges that came my way. She would work with me when I would get thrown off from switching tasks or passing periods and came up with statagies to recover. I moved on to community college where I recieved 2 associates degrees. I became a successful adult, and even though Im a factory worker I am able to afford a house and live independently all by myself. I started to go back to school and started to struggle again and suggested to my theripist that I might have a learning disability in math, and he sent me to a clinician to get evaluated. During the entry interview before testing the clinitian noticed something about me and pried a few things out which were observations my theripist made, which she gave a "no" asnwer. after a few of those the last one being ASD which did not get a "no" but spent a lot of time asking me questions about. two weeks later I recieved the diagnosis of an SLD in math and ASD lvl1.
the diagnosis answered so much as to why I still have difficulty communicating: forced eye contact is painful, shut down at times, misunderstand things that are not literal and direct and sometimes ask for it to be presented that way. still find myself in my own world and im nothing like everyone else around me. Getting stuck and thrown off when things abruptly change, but not as badly as I used to. making repetitive movements like rocking or swaying, or for hours on end listen to repetitive noises like alarms or 6-12 second loops clipped from part of a song to calm me down. I like all of the lights dim, or spend some nights in complete darkness, and am sensitive to sound frequencies, smells, and textures: no hard fabrics for me. Have odd and intense interests where I can't think of anything else, and would last between 2 years to lifelong. Getting mesmerized by moving objects or enamored by light: christmas lights and exit signs are my favorite, they make me feel so happy.
Anyways, hello everyone.
I had a small speech delay as a child and once I stated to talk I spoke in gibberish and had to be in speech therapy for 5 years. when it was time to move to kindergarten I had not made enough progress in speech therapy and the public schools wanted to place me into a non verbal school and they suggested to my parents to get me evaluated for aspergers to determine if I go to regular school or not. I received my evaluation around the time the DSM4 was released, and the clinician didn't see aspergers but diagnosed me with "ADD". I entered kindergarten with an IEP and continued my education receiving support and eventually a 1:1 aide in every class that followed me from middle school to high school. unknowing to me at the time the school suggested several times that I should be in classroom environments better suited for students on the spectrum, but my mom fought hard for me to stay in neurotypical classrooms. parents did not understand why I was socally withdrawn and sent me to a childrens theripist who could not figure me out and according to my dad I pissed off the therapist. I started to suspect in that I had more than just "ADD" and my teachers and aide agreed, but when I brought it up to my mom I was shut down, and the second time I brought it up mom asked "who is telling you this?" after saying nobody, its my own conclusion she said "you have been tested for other things and only have ADD. dont bring it up again.", so I didn't. my aide helped me manage not only school, but many aspects of life and challenges that came my way. She would work with me when I would get thrown off from switching tasks or passing periods and came up with statagies to recover. I moved on to community college where I recieved 2 associates degrees. I became a successful adult, and even though Im a factory worker I am able to afford a house and live independently all by myself. I started to go back to school and started to struggle again and suggested to my theripist that I might have a learning disability in math, and he sent me to a clinician to get evaluated. During the entry interview before testing the clinitian noticed something about me and pried a few things out which were observations my theripist made, which she gave a "no" asnwer. after a few of those the last one being ASD which did not get a "no" but spent a lot of time asking me questions about. two weeks later I recieved the diagnosis of an SLD in math and ASD lvl1.
the diagnosis answered so much as to why I still have difficulty communicating: forced eye contact is painful, shut down at times, misunderstand things that are not literal and direct and sometimes ask for it to be presented that way. still find myself in my own world and im nothing like everyone else around me. Getting stuck and thrown off when things abruptly change, but not as badly as I used to. making repetitive movements like rocking or swaying, or for hours on end listen to repetitive noises like alarms or 6-12 second loops clipped from part of a song to calm me down. I like all of the lights dim, or spend some nights in complete darkness, and am sensitive to sound frequencies, smells, and textures: no hard fabrics for me. Have odd and intense interests where I can't think of anything else, and would last between 2 years to lifelong. Getting mesmerized by moving objects or enamored by light: christmas lights and exit signs are my favorite, they make me feel so happy.
Anyways, hello everyone.