The Knowitall Hall of Fame

[Sophist]

sophist- there must be some reason[s] why the doctors can't make the dx other then their all being jerks ? unless they are all jerks, but i can't except that they are all like that. i sure hope not, anyway. i don't acept that my doctirs were all bast**ds. some did seem honestly concerned, even if they did give every evidence of mental retardation.

I definitely don't think they're all jerks. Now some definitely are (see my post above with the pdoc in the hospital). But I can't really figure out why experiences like mine aren't uncommon. I really don't. It does kinda blow my mind and I'd be saying the same things as you had it not happened to me over and over again, had my mother (a retired psychotherapist) not had to deal with psychiatrist after psychiatrist looking down their noses at any opinion other than their own, and continually having to tell adult auties on various ASD forums it's "okay and nothing unusual" when they've had their first run-in with a professional who doesn't think they're autistic because "they understand humor" or "they were never diagnosed when they were younger", etc.

The fact of the matter is, there are just TOO many professionals out there with too LITTLE experience who don't have the modesty and honesty to refer a client onto someone who actually knows what they're doing. Instead, they take a crack at it, so to speak, probably make the person's life horrible and miserable for the time being, and possibly even persuade these undxed auties to never seek a second opinion because everyone seems to trust a "professional".

It's like a GP who tries to diagnose epilepsy. It's not their area.

part of the problem might be that you do not fit the clinical picture that they are trained to expect. for instance, your language [at least as you use it here on this forum] is not the typical excessivly formal presentation noted in the liturature.

you also do not seem to exhibit the normal asd shyness that doctors look for. [at least not while posting to this forum, or to the awares conference]

does this make any sense to you ?

thank you

I'm sure I don't fit the stereotypical Aspie picture. I know Attwood has tried to stress in his writings that female Aspies aren't often the "little professors" or tend to carry train tables around in their pockets. But this shows the inexperience of the diagnostician and that at this point they really should be refering the person on to a diagnostician who is experienced with all ranges of ASDs. They are being irresponsible to their client by not admitting their lack of experience.

And all these reasons as to why I don't seem Aspie only show that those professionals don't have a fluid idea of what the underlying causes are to ASDs.

I know this all sounds a bit unbelievable that THAT many professionals are actually being pretty egotistical but that is another reason I've started this thread. So that people can start seeing just how often this happens.

I think there are probably very few people on this forum and maybe other forums too who have not had a run-in with a diagnostician who takes it upon themselves, inexperience and all, to refuse them a diagnosis.

[adhocisadirtyword]

I got lucky to meet mine through the meet-up group that I was in. I fit the clinical picture even less than many of the females on here, I think. If I hadn't gone to someone who really knew what they were doing, I think I would have my own horror story to tell. You hear a LOT more about the people who have a hard time getting their diagnosis versus those who don't.

[DataRecovery]

I concur with your concerns and analysis.

Do you agree that it is time to present the medical professions with a more comprehensive protocol for diagnosing ASD symptomology?

If No, thank you for your time.

If Yes, would asdgestalt consider a new thread devoted to developing said protocols, refining them into a presentable form, and locating a suitable avenue in which to advance these protocols to the professionals that might be receptive to studying, and eventualy applying them to their work ?

Thank You

[Sophist]

I concur with your concerns and analysis.

Do you agree that it is time to present the medical professions with a more comprehensive protocol for diagnosing ASD symptomology?

If No, thank you for your time.

If Yes, would asdgestalt consider a new thread devoted to developing said protocols, refining them into a presentable form, and locating a suitable avenue in which to advance these protocols to the professionals that might be receptive to studying, and eventualy applying them to their work ?

Thank You

I definitely think it's time for a change in criteria and diagnostic protocol.

One idea which my mother had yesterday, would be to create a professional organization that certifies the diagnostic experience of professionals for ASDs. Kinda like the APA gives their stamp of approval with licensing; this orgnization would do something similar by certifying professionals as being qualified (by experience) to diagnose ASDs.

They would have to do several things before being certified. It's not as if no one else could officially diagnose, but if the organization got large enough and respected enough, it would come to the point that anyone without tihs certification wouldn't be respected for their diagnosis in ASDs.

What they would have to do, for starters, would be to go through a certain number of hours of training in diagnosing ASDs. They would also have to show "continuing education" by attending ASD-related workshops, conferences, etc. And each professional would also have to have separate certification for diagnosing children AND adults.

There would be more. But those two tend to be the most common. My mother had the idea because there are already organizations for other things like that out there, a couple which she was a part of.

However, for something like this, it would need a lot of professional support. I was thinking, if I start working under Dr. Casanova, that possibly he may be interested in starting something like this and he knows a lot of other big names out there who may be good to get to support this.

And then to get stamps of approval from other autism organizations (those which are autie run specifically).

[Sophist]

I've tried to get a formal diagnosis, but so far it hasn't worked out so well... my parents set up an 'evaluation' at school, which was basically a somewhat pointless survey that was designed to see if kids needed special ed or not. The guy who had me fill the thing out said that it didn't make sense that I sometimes "didn't hear people calling my name", and other times "was hypersensitive to sound" (if he had actually let me explain, I could have told him that my sound sensitivity fluctuates- sometimes I can hear the tiniest sound, other times I sort of 'zone out', and probably wouldn't notice if someone came up behind me and screamed).
So, yeah. That failed- they told me I couldn't have AS because my survey results made no sense, and because I 'didn't have the obsessions characteristic of people with Asperger's' (I actually do, but his way of testing this was asking, "Do you have one obsessive interest that you focus on, and exclude everything else?" Plenty of Aspies have more than one 'obsessive interest'; I think there are some that don't have any at all...)
Also, there was another ridiculous lady that was all, "Don't worry, you can't have Asperger's, because autistics don't speak!" ::headdesk:: Someone take away *her* medical liscense.
Basically, I'd like a diagnosis, but the general opinion seems to be, "Oh, just another teenager trying to gain attention by screaming, I HAVE ASPERGERS! ZOMG OPPRESSED!'" Rolling Eyes
[/rant]

[Sophist]

My shrink told me yesterday that all the quirks that are Aspie that I display are really normal. He isnt very ipen tp the idea of aspergers.

[Sophist]

Im glad that you were able to get the dx. My shrink told me yesterday that all the quirks that are Aspie that I display are really normal. He isnt very ipen tp the idea of aspergers.

Argh! I had this done to me too! Made me want to leap over and strangle him!
I think that once some psychiatrists have learnt a certain amount, they refuse to learn any more, especially if it is suggested by one of their patients. It's more than they can take. My psychiatrist in hospital did not believe I have HFA. I felt like saying, "Er, isn't it kind of obvious?" Can't really get anywhere if you are not believed.
Rant over. I think it is never too late to get diagnosed.

[Sophist]

i'm at the start of the road to getting diagnosed. Had a bad experience a week ago with my doctor who said AS doesn't exist and all i need is counselling! So, i'm trying to find another doctor who is aware of AS.
For me being diagnosed will give me the confidence to be myself, as i've spent half my life just trying to act normal and be NT.

[Sophist]

I had almost no luck finding anyone in my area who with work with, or evaluate, adult autistics. I -- and my family -- had no doubt at all that I am an aspie.

Unfortunately, every 1/2 assed GP, therapist, rhuemetologist, et al, thought THEY could clearly tell I was "depressed". I nearly did become depressed from hearing it. There is such a pharmeceutical push to stuff people full of SSRIs that simple flat affect with no other depression symptoms was more than enough to encourage them to want to feed me the latest SSRI.

Luckily, I never got pressured into letting them do it...

The best (and only) sensitive psychiatric help I've gotten in my area was through the University hospital's adult psychiatric clinic. The clinicians there were wonderful and really listened to me an my family (with the exception of one who said I couldn't be aspie because I'm a woman -- grrr).

Rather than feeling a loss at finally having a dx, it's been liberating for me. Sort of finally having societal validation of who I really am, and how I am.

I've only been diagnosed for a couple months, and am still feeling my way through finding a behaviourist, social services, the ADA and what and how to deal with my employer (yay! now I don't have to hide to stim!).

And -- whoo hoo! -- now every pill-pushing GP can keep his SSRIs in his pocket!

[Sophist]

I was seeing a psychotherapist (or whatever you call them these days) on and off for nearly a year. I found out I have Asperger's when I read the wikipedia article about it. I also realized that nearly everything I had been talking to him about during that year was something about having Asperger's. I asked him why he hadn't figured it out, and he said he considered it, but he thought I was too "socially aware" to have it. I told him I wanted to change psychs, and he somewhat reluctantly agreed.

After a year of dealing with somebody who was trying to turn me into an NT, it was a great relief to talk to somebody who knew what she was doing. I gained one insight on our first meeting. She brought up the subject of temper tantrums. She asked me how other people reacted when I blew my stack. I had to admit that I had never noticed.

I still don't have an official DX, but now I'm working with someone who assumes my self-assessment is correct, and it has already made a difference.

[DataRecovery]

re; a professional rating system.

i would sugest that having professionals rateing each other's performance is profoundly problematic. professionals have, almost enmass, agreed not to question, qualify, or quantify each other's producttivity or competance. at least not for the public to hear about.

you might try something like rateMD on the web is doing. call it some thing like AUTRATE.

"if you want some thing done right, then you have to do it your self"

[Sophist]

re; a professional rating system.

i would sugest that having professionals rateing each other's performance is profoundly problematic. professionals have, almost enmass, agreed not to question, qualify, or quantify each other's producttivity or competance. at least not for the public to hear about.

you might try something like rateMD on the web is doing. call it some thing like AUTRATE.

"if you want some thing done right, then you have to do it your self"

This would not be a ratings system per se. It would be a certain list of requirements each professional would have to complete and show their comptency in order to get certified as an ASD diagnostician.

It wouldn't be a perfect system short of hand-picking and choosing the diagnosticians myself, lol. But it would be MUCH better than the current system.

[Sophist]

Update: I altered my first post to include professionals other than just diagnosticians (the school district is rife with knowitallism) and also changed the title of the thread (has a better ring to it).

[goddessoflubbock]

This from my son's english teacher (a "professional") who I talked to today in regard to a test he got a 57 on (with a usual 98 average in the class).

The test was on hyperbole, idioms, and metaphors. As DS explained it, a sentence was provided, then he had to list what it was and also DEFINE what it really meant. What a surprise that he did poorly.

I explained to teacher that he has AS. She says "Oh I know. And I've had lots of kids with a**-burgers (this is how she says it) in my classes so I know ALL about it". I said "Great, so you know that there's no way my son is going to be able to do well on a test like this, and it's really unfair to test him on something he is simply, biologically, unable to do." She says "he can take the test home and fix it". I said - still calm - "He can't fix what he doesn't GET - he doesn't understand these things, it's very common in people with AS, you must be very literal with some of them like my son". She says "He can come in for tutoring so I can teach it to him". I said "Send the test home and we'll correct it and send it back".

Ugh. Clueless.

So, for the first time in recorded history, *I* will be doing my child's homework. Because I don't believe in that kind of thing, but I also don't believe in his grades suffering for something completely out of his control.

[Sophist]

i confided my worries of possibly being AS/HFA to a councler and she said that while i DO have a lot of paqular traits and mannorizms that i COULDNT POSSIBLY be on the spectrem because i emphasize far too well when i reconize the signals(of WHAT, i dont know). it must be something else.is this true? i'm kicked out because i am not lacking in empathy?!even with all the other issues?!?! IS SHE CORRECT? have i really just lost the only logical explanation for all of my differences???!i'm alone AGAIN?!!!