Your collection of toy cars reminded me that I loved Hot Wheels as a kid in the '90s and early '00s. And I would often have to get more whenever we went to the store. Or at the very least see what they had. Luckily they were cheap so my parents were ok getting 1 or 2 each time.
I was also really good at remembering what ones I already had, so I knew at the store what ones I didn't have.
It's been a long time since I counted, but I amassed over 300 cars by the time I grew out of them.
It's apparently a common thing: Kids who are "smart" and are clearly naturally interested in learning, are not followed up usefully. They can read novels and some basic multiplication, but have to sit in school and say the alphabet out loud and add single digits for months. Before proceeding to be told to read basic sentences for another few weeks, etc.
They are not pushed and challenged like their classmates. The teachers think everything is FINE because they are not behind, but the kids spend a full decade not learning to study properly because they don't ever have to. They rather learn that they can fuck around and wing it and it will be passable.
Then at some point, age 15 and up, they are getting to proper challenging stuff. Armed with zero habits, no experience in failing, no experience in planning and organizing and studying methodically... Many drop out, burn out, get depressed, or all of those at once.
a long time without two-way communication, now he can adapt because it's expected of him
mostly uniform "social smile" with little variation
generally a rather uniform and seemingly distant facial expression
social chatting only with family members, not others
little interest in other kids his age, rarely (if at all) being the one to initiate contact
Found this in some doctors notes from a few years back, not sure if it was specifically autism related but it seems close enough :P
It's kinda funny now seeing my smile at the time being described with little variation and sometimes seeming sightly condescending. Makes me wonder how much of that was just me trying to smile at appropriate times
Basically meant a neutral facial expression with little variation, mostly staying the same. And distant as in "this has nothing to do with me" or "whatever..."
His eye contact was variable; at times he avoided eye contact and at times he utilized intense, prolonged eye contact. He was able to communicate his own feelings and showed insight into others’ emotions, though he did not spontaneously label emotions during any of the
activities.
Radicalautonomy showed some insight into the nature of some social relationships but had trouble understanding his own role in them. Generally, Radicalautonomy frequently attempted to maintain the examiner’s attention and made appropriate social overtures. His response to the examiner’s social interactions was limited. Most social communication included some reciprocity (back-and-forth), but he tended to engage in more one-sided or weaving communication (e.g. offering topics, facts, or information).
As a result, the quality of rapport was sometimes comfortable and sometimes stilted. With respect to Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors, which are best referred to as special interests, repetitive actions, or desire for routine and sameness, Radicalautonomy did use echolalia and used some unique verbalizations that seemed to be idiosyncratic or stereotyped (i.e., highly repetitive utterances with consistent intonation patterns).
Man...I know the point of these assessments is to be as critical as possible and the report is supposed to be detailed, but I find that report judgmental af. I wonder why. Am I sensitive to things like that? Is it the tone? Was it that they were critical about certain matters, such as someone judging you because you didn't do things they didnt ask of you and it comes off as them being entitled? Any ideas??
I think the doctor was just being thorough. I didn't take it as judgmental. She really just wanted to highlight every area in which a neurodivergent person might differ from neurotypical people. There were a lot of parts of the diagnosis which stated "[In this area being discussed], Radicalautonomy was unremarkable", meaning I did not differ significantly from neurotypical people in that area.
I am trying to find a place locally to take my assessment, but because I'm an adult, I need to pay for it. It's so hard to get an adult diagnosis, like as if they are trying to prevent you from doing this, because it has no presence in an adult, so you're wasting our time.
I had to pay for mine too. Luckily, I found out that my local state university has a program for autistic people of all ages. I asked them for an assessment. While they didn't conduct the assessments themselves, they gave a long list of psychologists in the area that did. I used that to find someone and was assessed within ~1.5 months. Perhaps there is something similar in your area. Maybe try internet searching for your location and autism services to find a starting point.
Will I haven't read my report. One of the people doing the evaluation said to my mum after meeting my father " Well we can see where it comes from", it is a very fitting description.