What to do when you don't get a diagnosis ..?

Hi,

I agree that many parents battle against huge odds. I don't mean to criticise them but there are some that aren't aware of themselves and there are some where their autism makes every fight into a battle because people with undiagnosed autism are often very poor at diplomacy (mea culpa! particularly before I was diagnosed)

My own childhood was actually pretty good and I only discovered my autism as I clattered around in jobs where I kept getting into arguments. This lead to me working out why there had been unfortunate incidents in my family history in previous generations. I am slightly sad to have discovered my autism only after my children grew up. Perhaps things might have gone more smoothly if I had been more self aware - I don't really know and there is not much point beating myself up for things that I wasn't aware of until later.

There is an interesting article in the guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/26/autism-hidden-pool-of-undiagnosed-mothers-with-condition-emerging which is worth reading. This article resonated with a lot of things I have read on this forum and elsewhere. My own mother was not affected, my autism comes from my father's side of the family, so it doesn't so directly apply to my own case but I think the whole context of an individual with autism (and, indeed, any child in any family) needs to be thought about and reconsidered if autism is found or suspected.

I tried to use the word "might" in my earlier post to suggest that there are possibilities that need to be considered. I was trying, perhaps not successfully! to get the OP to look at the wider environment of the child.

Hi,

I agree that many parents battle against huge odds. I don't mean to criticise them but there are some that aren't aware of themselves and there are some where their autism makes every fight into a battle because people with undiagnosed autism are often very poor at diplomacy (mea culpa! particularly before I was diagnosed)

My own childhood was actually pretty good and I only discovered my autism as I clattered around in jobs where I kept getting into arguments. This lead to me working out why there had been unfortunate incidents in my family history in previous generations. I am slightly sad to have discovered my autism only after my children grew up. Perhaps things might have gone more smoothly if I had been more self aware - I don't really know and there is not much point beating myself up for things that I wasn't aware of until later.

There is an interesting article in the guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/26/autism-hidden-pool-of-undiagnosed-mothers-with-condition-emerging which is worth reading. This article resonated with a lot of things I have read on this forum and elsewhere. My own mother was not affected, my autism comes from my father's side of the family, so it doesn't so directly apply to my own case but I think the whole context of an individual with autism (and, indeed, any child in any family) needs to be thought about and reconsidered if autism is found or suspected.

I tried to use the word "might" in my earlier post to suggest that there are possibilities that need to be considered. I was trying, perhaps not successfully! to get the OP to look at the wider environment of the child.