Newly diagnosed with autism, hello!

Welcome to our community.

leapingsoup said:

Maybe I feel a bit stuck?

I was late diagnosed about 4 years ago and started off with similar struggles but I found that using a knowledgable psychotherapist was the best investment I ever made.

They are trained to help and so long as they have some experience of helping autists then they can be so useful.

I was able to use basic tools like the emotions wheel to start identifying the emotions I was feeling and through talking therapy could become much more "fluent" with them and spot the in others while being able to articulate my own clearly.

leapingsoup said:

Communication still remains a number one issue

This is a much longer learning curve to deal with in my experience. It helps to read up on the rules of social interactions and understand the dynamics as a background interest as it help you see what is going on in group interactions and, with practice, one-on-one interactions too.

You can learn to spot body language, become confident enough to ask for clarifications and express your concerns and be clear in your side of the communications while having a passable understanding of what the other side is asking.

You will probably never be able to pass as "normal" but can grow to a point to be fluent enough for it not to be an issue.

It all takes mental energy to do and this is where you will ultimately need to make a decision as to whether it is worth the effort. Being able to do it with effort can be a great skill however as sometimes this gets the result you want (think of an interview for a job), gets a point across (think of an important discussion with your family) or gets you a date (assuming you want one of course).

I found a therapist who had several autistic children which gave them a unique insight into the challenges we face, plus her training and experience gave her the experience to apply techniques with us.

All just in my opinion of course.

Welcome to our community.

leapingsoup said:

Maybe I feel a bit stuck?

I was late diagnosed about 4 years ago and started off with similar struggles but I found that using a knowledgable psychotherapist was the best investment I ever made.

They are trained to help and so long as they have some experience of helping autists then they can be so useful.

I was able to use basic tools like the emotions wheel to start identifying the emotions I was feeling and through talking therapy could become much more "fluent" with them and spot the in others while being able to articulate my own clearly.

leapingsoup said:

Communication still remains a number one issue

This is a much longer learning curve to deal with in my experience. It helps to read up on the rules of social interactions and understand the dynamics as a background interest as it help you see what is going on in group interactions and, with practice, one-on-one interactions too.

You can learn to spot body language, become confident enough to ask for clarifications and express your concerns and be clear in your side of the communications while having a passable understanding of what the other side is asking.

You will probably never be able to pass as "normal" but can grow to a point to be fluent enough for it not to be an issue.

It all takes mental energy to do and this is where you will ultimately need to make a decision as to whether it is worth the effort. Being able to do it with effort can be a great skill however as sometimes this gets the result you want (think of an interview for a job), gets a point across (think of an important discussion with your family) or gets you a date (assuming you want one of course).

I found a therapist who had several autistic children which gave them a unique insight into the challenges we face, plus her training and experience gave her the experience to apply techniques with us.

All just in my opinion of course.