I am currently seeking a diagnosis to explain difficulties I have had my whole life, mainly social and emotional difficulties I have now.
Since going to my GP 18 months ago, I have had 2 appointments with a psychiatrist. Both times I was referred to have an Autism assessment, despite the 1st test (screener) coming back negative. I felt forced into researching things myself, as I don't feel the psychiatrist knows what to look into.
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When I was a baby, the doctors thought I had a build-up of fluid around the brain, although this was never formally diagnosed. A lot of the problems I had are similar to the symptoms of brain injuries caused by Hydrocephalus. Similarly, they also match with Dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is the only one of the two in which I have seen "hand flapping/clapping when excited" mentioned, something I have done since about 2 years old, and still do to this day (I have learned to control it in public
) (I'll cover this in another post).I was behind in most of my development milestones, although I'm not sure my gross motor skills were too affected - sat up alone at 6 months, crawling at 9 months, walking at 18 months (I toe-walked for the first few months). My fine motor skills were quite far behind - Built a 3-block tower at 3 Years Old, used cutlery at 4-5 Years Old, dressed self at 7-8 Years Old, and learned to tie shoelaces at 11 Years Old. I said my first words at about 18 months old, and started putting words together into sentences at about 2 Years Old. I had poor handwriting in school, lacked concentration/easily distracted, rarely finished work on time and had behavioural issues and was prone to tantrums and lashing out at other kids.
In response to hobbies, I like watching football, watching and playing pool and snooker, playing computer games and listening to rock/metal music (Metallica, Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink-182 ....to name just a few)
