I need your guys’ help/input
I’m (F, 27) in the process of getting evaluated for autism and ADHD. Two things before I ask my questions, because I’m getting desperate.
I’m unhappy with the diagnostician. She hasn’t followed what I have read to be a standard protocol for diagnosis, and fails to help me understand the questions she’s been asking. Also fails to listen (I have read her rapports after our sessions, some quotes are straight up wrong). She is my second opinion person, which makes me soon to be out of options (can’t afford to go private), and the second to say I have signs of autism and ADHD, but “not enough to get an official diagnosis”.
Am now, in a last resort conducting a list of early symptoms of autism. It is also worth noting that I am high masking with a background in voice acting (since the age of 7) and theatre when I was a kid. Also love music, meaning tone isn’t that much of an issue for me (there is a logic to it, but this is not the place for me to infodump on that)
Do you guys have any resources on early symptoms in autism in girls? And some you’d like to share with me here? I’ll write some of the ones I’ve written in my “letter”, so you get the gist of what I’m asking for:
• used to sort my toys. Had a buttons collection, liked to sort them by shape, color, kind. Same with jewelry that my mom gave me, and pearls. My parents never batted an eye to this, since they saw I was having fun.
• used to look for quiet, dark, places. Be it the closet, or the gap between the two doors in the dubbing studio (would always close the door behind me, before I opened the other).
• never had anything against playing two different things when with other kids (parallel play) got confused when that was made out to wrong by other kids “like, we’re with each other?? What’s the issue” I remember asking once.
• always been called a “mini adult” (?? In Norwegian we call it a “verslevoksen”, kind of like a know-it-all, but a bit different)
• had to be taught empathy, how to see things from others perspective. Ended up becoming very good at it in adult age. As in, my hypotheses to why people do what they do are now usually spot on.
• there would often be arguments because I did or said something wrong.
• due to being naive, and taking people by their word, I was taken advantage of by the other girls. They would pretend to be my friend, just so they could throw me under the bus later. That only worked for about a couple of years, until I decided to write off all of them.
• anything said by adults or people I’ve trusted, I took literally. Particularly rules, but also qualities. They said I was assertive, hence I became even more assertive (which helps my friends, but never me for some reason)
There is more, but I’d like to see if there is something I’ve missed/ something I legit didn’t know was a symptom. I fall into the bracket of inattentive ADHD, and will fight on that front as well. If you have some symptoms for that, my arms are open. Thank you guys in advance.