**rhodesign**

temerityjane

Sorry I missed your question earlier.I was diagnosed in my mid-teens, but repeatedly misdiagnosed beforehand.

rhodesign

thanks for the response. My friend's daughter was diagnosed PDD-NOS (I think) and so far she's doing very well. Other than emotional meltdowns here and there, she's perfectly fine. The spectrum is really broad, yes? I'm trying to learn all I can about it, so thanks for sharing with me.

temerityjane

Yes, it is a very broad spectrum and covers a large range of varying - but very related - disorders. It's very important to pursue a correct diagnosis on or off spectrum - over my teen years, due to misdiagnosis, I was on anti-psychotics, anti-depressants and anti-convulsants. Diagnosed correctly, I am on no medication and doing fine. Kids, being, you know... kids... are often incorrectly diagnosed as on the spectrum when they're not, and off the spectrum when they're on it. As far as emotional meltdowns go, I don't think you'd want to hear the details, but just yesterday I was standing in the hall at my parents' place, where I'm visiting, shrieking at my mother and kicking at a cushion she had in her hands because she was standing too close to me and I completely lost my grip. It just never completely "goes away"...

rhodesign

I can see how that could be a problem with diagnosis. I wonder how many kids are 'just being kids' and get diagnosed with something like ADD or ASD and they really aren't. How do you tell the difference between a kid who throws tantrums and kids who really do have difficulty controlling their emotions?Very tough indeed. Thanks again for sharing. I'm learning a lot!