[QueenOfThePride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShaggyDaddy Secrets are about shame, truth is about power.

SWEET! If I had space in my siggy, I would so quote you! I just 'came out' Aspie on my MySpace, because I'm ready to take control of the truth and fully be myself. I have things I must say to the world that won't make sense if people don't know who I am.

Also, I never listened to music until my early teen years either. I wish I had been exposed to more music when I was little, because I have absolutely no internal sense of rhythm. Like a duck on crack...

 

[QueenOfThePride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by azmomtoone Really?? ... that seems, well, somewhat crazy to me. Maybe not so much in a case like above, where the parents know and hide it from the child, tell he grows up and figures it out himself. But to not have a clue at all??? Is that really commonplace?

That's my story. I didn't realize there was anything wrong with me until a few months ago.

 

[QueenOfThePride]

ShaggyDaddy, today I was thinking....at least your parents tried to help you. No one ever noticed that I had trouble speaking, or if they did, they just figured I would grow out of it or something.

Once when I was about ten, my mom screamed at me, "YOU HAVEN'T SAID TWO WORDS TO ME IN WEEKS!!! GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!"

Me:

: stomped upstairs to my room...

Also every teacher always wrote on my report cards that I need to participate more in class. Like I was just choosing not to participate. Or something about not applying myself, the hidden message of wasting potential.

I never had so much as a referral for speech therapy.

 

[QueenOfThePride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShaggyDaddy youngest you can possibly get an Asperger's dx is age 3, this is one of the reasons PDD-WTF is so common,

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShaggyDaddy The chewing and sign language thing are inter-related I have motor problems with my mouth if I do not properly stimulate and exercise it, if I do not, I tend to slur, studder, stammor, and trip over words. When I was little, I was punnished and shamed for chewing on my shirts, it worked to break me of the habit, but it greatly stifled my physical ability to speak, even though I had plenty of mental capacity for it. I was self conscious about it, so I stopped talking unless absolutly necessary, 3rd grade sign language afforded me a more comfortable means to make my needs known.

I can't remember if I had any chewing stims. I really liked candy necklaces

. It is hard for me to speak, even when I have things in my head I want to say. I don't really know why it's so difficult, I don't studder. But if I'm not slow and careful, I will mix up word order, or even the order of syllables in a word. If I am emotional, my throat and mouth just get tight and closed up and I can't speak. An alternative method of communication would have been helpful.

 

[QueenOfThePride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by azmomtoone ....this is true for me too. I thought that "pretending" was what everyone did in social settings? ... the difference for me, I guess, is that I *want* to be .....well, not introverted I guess....it's just hard. I had a hard time for some of the questions too...some were obvious. Like, "do you often have the urge to jump over things?" Umm, no, can't say that I do. .... "Do you sometimes not know what to do with your arms?" ALWAYS. .....lots of them that were not so clear though; maybe some days yes, some days no.

You're supposed to answer the questions as you were as a child. I loved running and jumping up until adulthood. If I ever got unsupervised access to the school gym, I liked to run and jump onto the play stage.

And I liked climbing onto the roof of the shed, and climbing trees. And jumping hurdles in gym.

ETA: I'd probably still like running and jumping, except now my boobs are too floppy.