Some bloggers have sitemeters. Some bloggers check their sitemeters to see who is searching what subject, if they are brave. Occasionally I am brave and check. What follows are three pieces upon subjects that three people researched via google.

This is the fifth topic:-

‘How can I tell if I am autistic?’

A worrisome question on so many fronts. My facetious nature prompts me, ‘if you have to ask……’ but clearly this matter preys on many minds. I’m also tempted to ask ‘why do you want to know?’ but I should respect your privacy.

My first pointer would be to examine the "DSM IV." [The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the fourth edition] Many people are of the opinion that it is due for a revision.

It would be helpful to know if the questioner is an adult, teenager or more youthful person. Without that information I feel it best to slip down to the lowest common denominator, simplistic.

The difficulty here, is that there are no simple answers. As I re-read the criteria after several years of neglect, it seems a slam dunk for our family, but if I were a young person trying to match myself to these criteria there is a huge obstacle. The average young person cannot accurately remember how they were when they were two or three years old. Is it likely that somebody didn’t notice? It is possible that someone did notice but failed to act? What if someone did act but was thwarted? Special schools and therapies are not always available or affordable. I can easily think of many hundreds of reasons why someone could have slipped through the net over the years and decades.

Additionally, the diagnostic criteria are modified by the word ‘qualitative’ impairment. Whilst professionals are able to use their objective judgment from years of experience, it is far more difficult for the average person to avoid subjectivity, either over emphasizing some criteria or diminishing other pointers. Many of the ‘symptoms’ of autism diminish with maturation and the development of other coping mechanisms that disguise more noticeable manifestations. As people age there are different choices available to them that may not have been whilst they were in the care of their parents. For instance, if social situations are difficult, an adult can choose more solitary pursuits or follow interests than are less demanding of social skills.

The criteria are unwieldy, have changed markedly over the decades and will probably be altered in the future. Over the years I have met parents who knew that they child was autistic but failed to meet the diagnostic criteria. Their child would be ineligible for services because their child ‘failed’ the test. If you fail the test does that mean that you are not autistic? Apparently it does, but that doesn’t make that family’s journey any easier.

So what to do? If I were you I’d plough my way through DSM IV, then I’d talk to my parents, because I’m a little biased in that department. If this isn’t an option, depending upon where you live, I’d trot along to my pediatrician. Many States permit minors to consult their physician without their parents. I’d make sure that I took along a copy of the new guidelines for health professionals "CHAT." Admittedly it’s for toddlers but it may well be that your doctor has little if any experience of autism. With a bit of luck the two of you can study it together. There are very few resources for older people, but you might want to take a peek over "here."

I recently read a book called “Shadow Syndromes” which makes an interesting assertion. Bear in mind I’m no scientist!

Say you think you have chicken pox, caught them from your pal but you only have two itchy spots. Here, you go to the doctor who gives you a test and bingo, you’re positive. Your partner catches the chicken pox from you. They have so many spots that you can’t put a pin between them, but it’s the same disease. On the other hand you suspect that you might be depressed, a mental disorder. When you drag yourself over to the doctor there is no similar definitive test. You can describe your symptoms and the physician will see if you match the criteria, but it lacks the same concrete result as a test. Shadow Syndromes suggests that there are a great many people who whilst they fail to meet the ‘test’ standards, still suffer significant, if not measurable elements, of any number of mental disorders.

Why do I mention this? Because it may well be that you experience one or two primary characteristics associated with autism or many secondary characteristics or infinite variations on a theme but still fail to meet the criteria. For me, this is the very essence of the tagline ‘spectrum disorder.’ This suggests that perhaps collectively, failure to meet the threshold means that we all may have far more in common than we might otherwise believe.

"Cheers dears"