My husband had autism testing last week and just got his results yesterday. Yep, he’s autistic! He just turned 31 years old. He’s always been “different” and got bullied for it. So, he tried hiding his “weirdness” all his life because of that. He started questioning if he was autistic a few years ago. He still has noticable communication problems and he gets overstimulated by noise and people. We always have to leave family visits and vacations way early and come home so that he can reset. If we are on vacation for 3 days, he needs 1 extra day off work to stay home, for example.
Do any autistics here have advice that I can pass along to him? Like advice on how to live more comfortably with the autistic traits and advice on how to cope with work stress and socializing stress while being autistic?
Asperger’s dx at 62. Previous trust I was under from 1975-1984 and 1988- 2017 had ignored all mentions of autism by me . I should have had the diagnosis in 1992 , when Asperger’s was first an official dx in the UK . Incompetence meant I didn’t .
I wonder if schizophrenia and autism are comorbid? Because what you just described sounds A LOT like me. Maybe I should seriously get some testing done
Does your husband have any insight into his autism?
@Blossom was teased a bit at prep school (8-13) and badly verbally bullied at public school (13-18) . Such bullying is all too common an occurrence for those of us who are later found to be on the autism spectrum .
I suggest you ask the question at https://wrongplanet.net/forums/ . Many on the spectrum 'mask ’ as your husband has been doing .
Diagnosed with Asperger’s after my SZ diagnosis. Was disclosing some ongoing symptoms that I thought were SZ and doc was like, no, that’s classic Asperger’s. Looking back it’s obvious it was a problem for me as a kid. Never fit in with the other kids and being an Aspie was likely a huge part of it.
Same here . I think it’s par for the course for those of us who are later found to be on the autism spectrum . Prep school - fairly mild teasing . Public school - bad verbal bullying . Was a fish out of water there . I think it would’ve been the same though if I had gone to a state school .
He went to the hosptal and had testing there. Also his family went with him to answer questions. And then they diagnosed him. But I’m not sure exactly how they test.
The characteristics of autism vary from one person to another, but in order for a diagnosis to be made, a person will usually be assessed as having had persistent difficulties with social communication and social interaction and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, activities or interests (this includes sensory behaviour), since early childhood, to the extent that these ‘limit and impair everyday functioning’.
There are several ‘diagnostic tools’ available, and diagnosticians aren’t obliged to use a specific tool. The tool is likely to involve a series of questions about your developmental history from when you were a young child (for example, about language, play and cognition).
Nooooooo! Did the snake finally eat the hamster?!! Say it isn’t so! Ummm… Snakes eat out of necessity and take weeks to months to properly digest a meal before eating again. Funny fact.
For my husband, the doctor asked a lot of questions about work interactions, social life, and home life. She had him describe what he saw in very detailed and chaotic picture, had him read a picture book and describe the pictures of what was happening in them, had him act out a scenario, and had him create and act out a story from random objects. That last one was the hardest for him. He’s extreme literal, so he could only describe a block as a block instead of pretending it was a building, for example.
The doctor took notes about everything my husband did and answered with for the testing. Afterward, he filled out a questionnaire. I filled one out, too, separately. He got the results exactly 1 week after testing.
