Granta_Omega
Well-Known Member
I was tested for pervasive developmental disorders this past Thursday, and I am gonna give a summary of how it went for others to read and share their thoughts if they'd like to. To start, I'm 26 and male.
He said he would look at Asperger's most specifically, since I asked him about autism in general, and even though it was lumped in with ASD, it is just a new diagnosis name for the same thing.
I told him I was wanting to know, and would like to get a thorough diagnosis, and would rather be told I have a disorder such as that, so my communication problems can be explained by something other than I'm an asshole, or I'm immature.
He first asked questions about my language development, and I said I knew a few of them because I did a project on language autobiography for a class last semester, and the first two years of my life verbal communication was typical. So he said what would rule out classic autism.
Next, he asked me what kind of toys I played with growing up. I had a hard time with this one, because I don't specially remember playing with toys growing up. I told him a couple times I played with some remote control cars, and maybe some sports related objects, but that was probably about it for when I was really little. I was 2-3 and liked playing with a chalkboard that I got for Christmas one year. When I got older I played games by myself, usually shooting hoops or something, and maybe sometimes with a friend. He then asked me if I got along well with the few friends I had. I said sometimes, but other times we had some arguments about stupid things a lot and wouldn't play for a few days, and this happened almost all the time in a period of a couple years. The other activities I did growing up consisted of art related things, and I drew a lot of pictures.
He asked about watching television shows and movies, if I can understand the humor when others are laughing. I said that generally I have no problem with that. I am a theatrical person and can understand humor and things like that. What I generally had a hard time understanding were idioms until I heard them over and over. For example, I didn't understand what the term pot calling the kettle black meant at first, but when hearing it a few times, I gathered it was related to hypocrisy. I also got really confused in 5th grade when my teacher used the phrase "apples to apples" when comparing fractions. I didn't understand what apples had to do with any of it, and would think about that for a long time every time he said that.
Then he asked me about sensitivity to touch, sound, light, and taste. I remembered bright lights bothered me a lot, and still do sometimes. Sounds can really bother me too. I would cringe at sounds construction paper made and feel sick to my stomach, and noises such as a ping when someone was speaking on a microphone would bother me. He then asked about feeling of texture and parts of objects. I didn't recognize what he was speaking of, and then he elaborated more saying sometimes people feel the need to hold onto and rub and object for hours at a time, and will have a melt down if interrupted. I was thinking about couldn't recall anything, and he said since it was a struggle for me to think about it, the answer was no.
He asked about understanding emotions and if I knew how someone was feeling by their behavior. I told him generally when they made it obvious such as someone bawling their eyes out I knew that they were sad or upset, and someone throwing a tantrum I can tell that they were angry, or if someone was really happy, but I didn't know else to really say.
He asked about my history of behavior problems in school, and how early they started and how long they lasted. When I was in private kindergarten (I went twice because I was pulled due to a verbally abusive teacher) I dug my nails into a girl's face because she made fun of me. I also got sent to the office in public school a lot for hitting and anger outbursts. When I was 6th grade, I had a few times where I went to the office for hitting, but the intervals between incidents got longer, and by 7th grade I didn't get in trouble the whole year, but had an incident at a theatre camp where I hit a girl just before 8th grade, but in 8th or 9th grade had few behavior problems.
I mentioned in the middle of my sophomore year, I switched to an online high school, and he asked me what my feelings were at the time after I left my traditional high school and went to a virtual school. I said I was just very relieved, because I couldn't go down the halls at school without getting picked on or made fun of, and I woke up every morning not wanting to go to school because I hated all the in class work and since I was doing work around my schedule after leaving traditional school, I got it done faster, and I had only a couple friends anyhow, so I didn't feel I was leaving anything.
He asked about social situations at school, and I told him often I would sit by myself, because every time I tried to start talking in a group I got teased because of some of the weird things I talked about such as historical figures such as Elvis Presley and the detailed history, mathematical stuff, or other things nobody cared about, and when I tried to joke around in conversations with others, they would get offended, so often I just sat alone to avoid that.
The next thing he said was talking about my greeting when he came to meet me in the lobby. He said I shook his hand, and it appeared natural and without thought. He said that typically with autism disorders, people have awkward and forced handshakes, and wondered if I had any kind of social skills training. I said, that on handshakes generally not. In school, I was in some small guidance groups where they addressed how to talk tot your teacher with respect when there is a problem, or how to approach a friend who said something you didn't like, and other scenarios.
He next asked me to describe the most recent anger episode I had. I told one that happened recently, along with one back in January, and was very emotional and angry when describing it. He cut me off and asked if I realize how I sound to others when I talk about emotional things. He mentioned that I got very loud, and my tone started to sound almost threatening, and asked if I was aware of how others might feel about that. I said no, because I generally speak loud without knowing I'm talking loud.
He then asked if he could talk to my mother sometime over the phone to discuss any developmental issues since I wouldn't be able to really remember anything from when I was around two or three years old related to that. Now, the issue is, I have no problem with him talking to my mom. However, I had a hard time understanding what he was implying throughout the test. He didn't seem to ask a lot of questions about any of the specific symptoms of Asperger's except for a few. At the beginning he said that he can generally tell within five minutes if someone had autism, so he wasn't going to go through a grueling 8 hour test. I read, but may have mis-read his implications as saying I didn't really have it because he seemed like he was asking me a lot of symptoms I didn't have over ones I did have, and it seemed as if he was saying not having handshake difficulties made it look like it was eliminated. So anyway, I asked him if an interview with my mom was necessary or if it would make any difference in the outcome. He said yes, because he had to ask some basic questions that I wouldn't know, and I still had a puzzled look on my face, so he asked if I was understanding what he was saying. I just said I didn't understand what he was saying, if he was ruling it out or what, or if it was necessary, and asked if he had any thoughts on the whole discussion we just had. He said he did have thoughts, but wanted to wait to share any of them with me.
I was just kind of confused, because there were many topics we never even discussed, such as my repetitive hand flapping motions and stuff, although he said he noticed some frequent shaking that I told him was typical, and not a response to anxiety. We never even got into the issues I have about speaking differently to different audiences and the social appropriateness of everything, and some more things.
I was just kind of reading into some of his questions, such as the hand shake, and the question about the need to feel texture or objects for hours at a time was eliminating me. He checked off some things at the first part of the interview, but then he put his clip board down and just talked one on one after about 20 minutes. I thought he was making implications of I didn't have it and it was just anger management, or I was just an asshole, or something.
Thanks to all those who actually read all of this, because I know it is long. I'll be glad to read anyone's thoughts or opinions.
He said he would look at Asperger's most specifically, since I asked him about autism in general, and even though it was lumped in with ASD, it is just a new diagnosis name for the same thing.
I told him I was wanting to know, and would like to get a thorough diagnosis, and would rather be told I have a disorder such as that, so my communication problems can be explained by something other than I'm an asshole, or I'm immature.
He first asked questions about my language development, and I said I knew a few of them because I did a project on language autobiography for a class last semester, and the first two years of my life verbal communication was typical. So he said what would rule out classic autism.
Next, he asked me what kind of toys I played with growing up. I had a hard time with this one, because I don't specially remember playing with toys growing up. I told him a couple times I played with some remote control cars, and maybe some sports related objects, but that was probably about it for when I was really little. I was 2-3 and liked playing with a chalkboard that I got for Christmas one year. When I got older I played games by myself, usually shooting hoops or something, and maybe sometimes with a friend. He then asked me if I got along well with the few friends I had. I said sometimes, but other times we had some arguments about stupid things a lot and wouldn't play for a few days, and this happened almost all the time in a period of a couple years. The other activities I did growing up consisted of art related things, and I drew a lot of pictures.
He asked about watching television shows and movies, if I can understand the humor when others are laughing. I said that generally I have no problem with that. I am a theatrical person and can understand humor and things like that. What I generally had a hard time understanding were idioms until I heard them over and over. For example, I didn't understand what the term pot calling the kettle black meant at first, but when hearing it a few times, I gathered it was related to hypocrisy. I also got really confused in 5th grade when my teacher used the phrase "apples to apples" when comparing fractions. I didn't understand what apples had to do with any of it, and would think about that for a long time every time he said that.
Then he asked me about sensitivity to touch, sound, light, and taste. I remembered bright lights bothered me a lot, and still do sometimes. Sounds can really bother me too. I would cringe at sounds construction paper made and feel sick to my stomach, and noises such as a ping when someone was speaking on a microphone would bother me. He then asked about feeling of texture and parts of objects. I didn't recognize what he was speaking of, and then he elaborated more saying sometimes people feel the need to hold onto and rub and object for hours at a time, and will have a melt down if interrupted. I was thinking about couldn't recall anything, and he said since it was a struggle for me to think about it, the answer was no.
He asked about understanding emotions and if I knew how someone was feeling by their behavior. I told him generally when they made it obvious such as someone bawling their eyes out I knew that they were sad or upset, and someone throwing a tantrum I can tell that they were angry, or if someone was really happy, but I didn't know else to really say.
He asked about my history of behavior problems in school, and how early they started and how long they lasted. When I was in private kindergarten (I went twice because I was pulled due to a verbally abusive teacher) I dug my nails into a girl's face because she made fun of me. I also got sent to the office in public school a lot for hitting and anger outbursts. When I was 6th grade, I had a few times where I went to the office for hitting, but the intervals between incidents got longer, and by 7th grade I didn't get in trouble the whole year, but had an incident at a theatre camp where I hit a girl just before 8th grade, but in 8th or 9th grade had few behavior problems.
I mentioned in the middle of my sophomore year, I switched to an online high school, and he asked me what my feelings were at the time after I left my traditional high school and went to a virtual school. I said I was just very relieved, because I couldn't go down the halls at school without getting picked on or made fun of, and I woke up every morning not wanting to go to school because I hated all the in class work and since I was doing work around my schedule after leaving traditional school, I got it done faster, and I had only a couple friends anyhow, so I didn't feel I was leaving anything.
He asked about social situations at school, and I told him often I would sit by myself, because every time I tried to start talking in a group I got teased because of some of the weird things I talked about such as historical figures such as Elvis Presley and the detailed history, mathematical stuff, or other things nobody cared about, and when I tried to joke around in conversations with others, they would get offended, so often I just sat alone to avoid that.
The next thing he said was talking about my greeting when he came to meet me in the lobby. He said I shook his hand, and it appeared natural and without thought. He said that typically with autism disorders, people have awkward and forced handshakes, and wondered if I had any kind of social skills training. I said, that on handshakes generally not. In school, I was in some small guidance groups where they addressed how to talk tot your teacher with respect when there is a problem, or how to approach a friend who said something you didn't like, and other scenarios.
He next asked me to describe the most recent anger episode I had. I told one that happened recently, along with one back in January, and was very emotional and angry when describing it. He cut me off and asked if I realize how I sound to others when I talk about emotional things. He mentioned that I got very loud, and my tone started to sound almost threatening, and asked if I was aware of how others might feel about that. I said no, because I generally speak loud without knowing I'm talking loud.
He then asked if he could talk to my mother sometime over the phone to discuss any developmental issues since I wouldn't be able to really remember anything from when I was around two or three years old related to that. Now, the issue is, I have no problem with him talking to my mom. However, I had a hard time understanding what he was implying throughout the test. He didn't seem to ask a lot of questions about any of the specific symptoms of Asperger's except for a few. At the beginning he said that he can generally tell within five minutes if someone had autism, so he wasn't going to go through a grueling 8 hour test. I read, but may have mis-read his implications as saying I didn't really have it because he seemed like he was asking me a lot of symptoms I didn't have over ones I did have, and it seemed as if he was saying not having handshake difficulties made it look like it was eliminated. So anyway, I asked him if an interview with my mom was necessary or if it would make any difference in the outcome. He said yes, because he had to ask some basic questions that I wouldn't know, and I still had a puzzled look on my face, so he asked if I was understanding what he was saying. I just said I didn't understand what he was saying, if he was ruling it out or what, or if it was necessary, and asked if he had any thoughts on the whole discussion we just had. He said he did have thoughts, but wanted to wait to share any of them with me.
I was just kind of confused, because there were many topics we never even discussed, such as my repetitive hand flapping motions and stuff, although he said he noticed some frequent shaking that I told him was typical, and not a response to anxiety. We never even got into the issues I have about speaking differently to different audiences and the social appropriateness of everything, and some more things.
I was just kind of reading into some of his questions, such as the hand shake, and the question about the need to feel texture or objects for hours at a time was eliminating me. He checked off some things at the first part of the interview, but then he put his clip board down and just talked one on one after about 20 minutes. I thought he was making implications of I didn't have it and it was just anger management, or I was just an asshole, or something.
Thanks to all those who actually read all of this, because I know it is long. I'll be glad to read anyone's thoughts or opinions.
