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Question: Asperger's syndrome- why is it said that they can't read social cues, can't make eye contact (continued)?

(Posted by: The Patriarch on 2010-02-14 15:24:12)

I was diagonised with this as a child. i'm 21 now, but i dont exhibit all the symptons that typically characterise 'aspies'. eg, i can read social cues, make eye contact fine, i don't engage in long- winded conversations pertaining to a topic of interest (as aspies are typically known for) - i am conscious of the other listener's feelings, so i can distinguish between when it is and isn't appropriate to drag a convo out. so what gives? are aspies suppose to be characterised by all the symptoms, or are there varying degrees of the impairment? ie, some aspies are worse than other aspies? i also do not exhibit motor clumsiness at all. I do show some symptoms of asperger's, I think, but this doesn't necessarily mean it can be attributed to aspeger's. i'm not too sure to be honest. I will consider a rediagnosis though.

Posted by: undir on 2010-02-15, 03:11:02

The symptoms and severity of Asperger‘s syndrome vary a lot between individuals. Every individual has a different combination of symptoms. Far from everything you read about Asperger‘s syndrome will apply to you. Nobody has all of the known symptoms. There is a certain diagnostic criteria that must be followed when diagnosing Asperger‘s syndrome. You can read this criteria here: aspergers.com/ aspcrit.htm The diagnostic criteria only includes a small part of the known symptoms/ traits of Asperger‘s syndrome, the part that is universal. There is a whole bunch of other known symptoms/ traits that vary a lot between individuals and that the person may or may not have. The severity of each symptom varies too and can be anything between mild and severe. Inability to read social cues or make eye contact or engaging in long-winded one-sided conversations are common symptoms among aspies, but not all of them have them. If you have doubts about whether you have been correctly diagnosed, you can seek a second opinion.

Posted by: ScorpioRising75 on 2010-02-14, 15:34:17

There are varying degrees, yes. Asperger's is on the autism spectrum. It's called a spectrum because there are no clear-cut categories -- people fall somewhere in the spectrum, and few people are exactly alike. A diagnosis of Asperger's requires that you show a certain number of symptoms a certain amount of the time. You can find that information yourself on the internet if you want specifics - look for DSM-IV diagnosis criteria for Asperger's. You do *not* need to show all of the symptoms, as you will find by reading the diagnostic criteria. Based entirely on your self-report here, Asperger's does not sound like an accurate diagnosis for you. If you have no trouble with social interactions, cues, eye contact, conversations, nonverbal communication, and so on -- if you are fine with those things, you're probably not suffering from this disorder. However, you really need to talk to your doctors about it if you feel you've been misdiagnosed. It's not possible to decide this sort of thing over the internet.

Posted by: Lisa A on 2010-02-14, 15:39:40

The inability to read social cues is one of the defining symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. It really sounds to me like you don't have Asperger's at all. You have been misdiagnosed. I would seek a second opinion.

Posted by: Nicole on 2010-02-15, 08:24:05

Asperger's, just like autism, was originally defined around symptoms that a group of kids shared. Since it was discovered by psychiatrists, those kids were obviously considerably "different ". Only over time it became clear that it's not such a "clear-cut " phenomenon, but that any aspect can occur within a broad range; even opposites are common. For example, many autistics are alexithymic and can barely recognize their own emotions, while many others report even very intense feelings. Girls in particular usually do better with social stuff and can often develop skills even above average, because they instinctively train those areas that don't work the normal way by nature, like reading facial expressions. So, you not having difficulties with that doesn't imply you're not on the spectrum. Not to experience grave issues of any kind, though, technically rules out a diagnosis. It's not a disorder if everything is in order. In that case, you might just have autistic traits. See for example okcupid.com/ tests/ the-broad-autism-phenotype-test . But of course, it's possible that it was a misdiagnosis. Though I don't see a reason for re-evaluation if you don't need help.