Diagnosis

[Stubbrn]

Hello! So to make a long story somewhat short, I came across the possibility of being autistic on social media, however I am always one to take social media with a grain of salt so I went down the rabbit hole that was figuring out if I could potentially be autistic Year and a bit later, I have done the research, done all the online quizzes and they have all said the same thing. I am most likely autistic. However, as a child, I only showed a few autistic traits so to speak such as a speech problems. My parents never saw any autistic traits in me etc. So my question is, has anyone been diagnosed with autism that didn't necessarily show all the autistic traits at a young age such as toddler?

Lol see this is why I said somewhat short story as I am incapable of making anything actually short

Thanks so much in advance!!!

 

[Thinx]

Hi and welcome. With ASD1 others often won't notice it as autism. We often manage pretty well, and hide our confusions. I self diagnosed after a lifetime of experience of myself, and plenty of research and reading. And doing online tests! But autism is not well understood, unfortunately.

We often will not become in need of support or maybe will seek help in specific areas, I did a lot of therapy on relating and coping with the challenges of that, without ever knowing part of what I was up against was autism. The core for me was not being able to do unstructured social interaction, and this is often a challenge for people with autism.

Diagnosed or not, you may be able to find strategies and ideas here that are helpful.

 

[AutistAcolyte]

i had occasionally suspected that i was autistic at different times in my life, but always brushed it off as just a hunch that wasn't worth looking into. it wasn't until a couple months ago that i went to a psychologist and she has me do a bunch of screeners with results pointing to adhd, autism and alexithymia.
she's told me that it's not about exhibiting *all* autistic traits, as it's a spectrum and each person will be different. that's been helpful to me when i have doubts and want to go back to old ways of thinking (things like "there's nothing wrong with you, you're just not trying hard enough")
hang in there!

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Although not entirely diagnostic, these may give you some insight as to where you might be "on the spectrum". Typically, if you score rather "high" on these, there's a better chance of being autistic,...makes sense. Others may fall into that "grey area" on these tests and need further evaluation from a professional. Keep in mind, these are subjective,...not objective tests,...and as such are subject to some degree of bias. Furthermore, sometimes people may read a question, interpret it in a way it wasn't intended, and answer inappropriately,...or,...someone's "strongly agree" may be someone else's "moderately agree". So, like I suggested, having a professional look at these things, ...interview, cognitive performance testing, etc. is more helpful.

https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient
https://psychology-tools.com/test/raads-14

 

[Aspychata]

If you have traits already associated with autism and you raise a young child also with autism, it can seem that they are normal. I gave her a lot of alone time because l needed a lot of alone time. But l was always there for her when needed. She definitely hyperfocused on lots of things. I always took her to high school and picked her up because high school can really drain you. I was very overwhelmed with high school.

 

[AutistAcolyte]

Thanks, @Neonatal RRT ! I went through a bunch of these tests with a psychologist, and i scored consistently enough that we are both comfortable saying that i'm autistic and have adhd. i think that's good enough for me, as it gives me a frame of reference and access to tools to help me understand my own behavior as well as how i can think about interacting with others.

i definitely agree that looking through these with a professional is extremely valuable help!

 

[mollusk]

Hello! So to make a long story somewhat short, I came across the possibility of being autistic on social media, however I am always one to take social media with a grain of salt so I went down the rabbit hole that was figuring out if I could potentially be autistic Year and a bit later, I have done the research, done all the online quizzes and they have all said the same thing. I am most likely autistic. However, as a child, I only showed a few autistic traits so to speak such as a speech problems. My parents never saw any autistic traits in me etc. So my question is, has anyone been diagnosed with autism that didn't necessarily show all the autistic traits at a young age such as toddler?

Lol see this is why I said somewhat short story as I am incapable of making anything actually short

Thanks so much in advance!!!

Hey! I'm in a similar situation- based on tests and stuff I'm also most likely autistic, but as a toddler, I didn't have that many traits either... I mostly just had trouble reading social cues, and walked on my toes a lot.