Following from the 'Missing Teen' thread, does anyone have experience of Asperger's?

Luckily the story from Oz has a happy ending but this teenager would have been incredibly vulnerable while he was cycling his way to Sydney. I was chatting with my mum last night on the phone about the tale as there's a history of Autism Spectrum on her side of the family. And wondered if anyone else had experience of Asperger's? Something that seems to have been in the media more frequently in recent years (remember reading ages ago about Gary Newman and other, often creative, celebs coming forward saying they had been diagnosed with it). Here's an online test on Wired (appropriate as it's also known as 'The Geek Test'):

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html

Please bear in mind that all interweb tests are officially official, and the real truth, forever. Amen.

My score 37. Hmmm.

i work in a special school for Autistic and Aspegers kids.
you want histories??

Missing teen?!? I've only been off the bike for a week!?!
IGMC...

i work in a special school for Autistic and Aspegers kids.
you want histories??

Must be interesting, but sometimes difficult I imagine, work. Not really sure what histories would entail, just interested in the subject.

Just finishing that survey would probably indicate you have mild aspbergers..

It's very interesting, as it's hard, but very rewarding.
I will recomend a week working in the school to anyone, just to understand better autism

Beware of internet self-diagnosis. Im sure with the aide of a few online tests and a couple of hours i could diagnose myself with all sorts of weird and wonderful personality disorders quite easily. as it happens i reckon im pretty average, maybe verging on the edge of kinda weird (but arent we all?)

Ive known many people with varying degrees of Aspergers Syndrome, and to be honest if your a pretty well functioning adult, then its probably no where near bad enough to be worrying about.

the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum is something that can take months to a group of psychologist, so don't worry because you score 37 in a 5min test

Just finishing that survey would probably indicate you have mild aspbergers..

Yeah, especially the constant repetition of the questions:

can you imagine/play/visualise?
can you socialise?
do you like remembering sequences?
do you like repetition?
do you like repetition?

I got a 12. My gf's always telling me I'm on the spectrum. So it must be a crap survey. I can't imagine why any journalist would bother repeating this nonsense that has 7, 422 words in it. Which is divisible by the number of questions wierldy enough.

I got a 12. My gf's always telling me I'm on the spectrum. So it must be a crap survey. I can't imagine why any journalist would bother repeating this nonsense that has 7, 422 words in it. Which is divisible by the number of questions wierldy enough.

Hah! :)

Just finishing that survey would probably indicate you have mild aspbergers..

I take it you finished it then?

;p

22 for me.

I helped out at a school for autistic spectrum children during a course to gain an TA qualification from the govt. I haven't completed it, as Uni work quickly filled up my time.

From this I can echo Riks posts. Amazing time, probably some of the best days of my uni experience so far.

I also know for a fact that the incidence rates at my university and on my course are higher than the national average. (some psych expts done by uni)

However, on that test I score somewhere around 11.

No, I answered 10 or so questions, scrolled down, thought "fuck this I'm supposed to be busy, looked at debugger waiting for me to give it some love, looked at screen again, quit, thought of joke about repetitive questions, went to thread about old London, came back here having lost interest in the code, now typing just because my brain has shut down and I just wanna go home.. "

14 here

we always said in the school that everybody is in the spectrum, and in part it is true. If to be autistic you need to tic 20 boxes, everyone of us tic at least 4, some maybe more...

My gf's always telling me I'm on the spectrum.

Does she tell you at the same time every day. Does she have to do this before she can get on with the rest of the day? Does she mumble it whilst avoiding eye contact?

Can she count cards?

heheheh

Aspergers is something the experts don't everything about yet, let alone a journalist. Its a very wide syndrome that often covers people who cannot pigeon holed into 1 category of mental illness.

As I mentioned in a previous post I have in my mind some fairly relevant experience of living with AS (as do others above) and am more than happy to answer questions.

For me it is interesting to see people taking an interest and not just taking the piss out of something that has affected me and my family for the last 33 years so I suppose another positive to this community.My brother if he understood would be happy. :)

That survey cannot be right. It appears that I am a normal functional person when I have spent a lifetime learning to be a sociopath.

not just taking the piss

Now I feel really bad.

Mac

Have you read The Curious incident of a dog... and if so, how accurate do you think it is?

Now I feel really bad.

I wouldn't worry , there is taking the piss, and then there is really fucking taking the piss.

On the subject of mental health the first is fine imho ( just ask my little bro) , its all part of life. The second is not as could affect someone who doesn't understand through no fault of their own.

Mac

Have you read The Curious incident of a dog... and if so, how accurate do you think it is?

Haven't read yet but has been recommended to me by others. A/S , autism etc are all wide ranging threads of the same problem but can be massively different. For example my brother struggles to add up even simple numbers but can recall instantly the capital cities of the world.

It is a very good book but one wonders how someone without the syndrome could accurately place themselves in the position of someone with it.

It is a very good book but one wonders how someone without the syndrome could accurately place themselves in the position of someone with it.

As I am working from home today or in other words , "avoiding work today", I am going to go and find it in Waterstones now and see what I think.

How's the bruising by the way??