This section outlines the procedures for testing and evaluations for Asperger’s in adults. Some of the steps will be required, but we may be able to skip others. It will important to determine if your symptoms are the result of a Asperger’s or if you are experiencing neuropsychological symptoms for other reasons like anxiety, depression, sleep deprivation, or from another neuropsychological condition. We can’t begin to treat the symptoms until we fully understand the cause.

My patients with Asperger’s tell me, “If you have to be in a club, I prefer being in Asperger’s.” What they mean by that is that unlike most other conditions, people with Asperger’s have neurocognitive strengths as well as deficits. In most cases, Aspies (Atypicals) are exceptionally gifted and talented in how their brain processes information. It is unfortunate, however, that the non-Aspie world (Neurotypicals) forces them to focus on their “differences” which usually causes them to experience anxiety on a daily basis, and sometimes even depression periodically. My patients tell me that they “do not suffer from Asperger’s, they suffer from people”. When you have time watch some of the videos on the Asperger’s pages.

I am sure your concerns about a neuropsychological difference deserve exploring — to what extent, will not so much depend on your budget, but depend more on how much your day-to-day life and relationships may improve, as well as your school or job tasks and career objectives.

The most significant symptom that many people mention is the suggestion that they may not be as smart as they thought they were, or they feel they are not achieving their full potential. The most severe impact of a neuropsychological difference can ultimately have on a person is on his/her self-esteem. Throughout their lives, their mistakes prompt others to react to them as if they were “lazy, crazy and stupid.” Without investing the personal time and money required to get properly diagnosed and treated, they eventually incorrectly conclude that, at least in some areas of their lives, they actually are lazy, crazy or stupid. This would normally not be so bad, but it inevitably leads to individuals suffering from the feeling that they are not fulfilling their true potential, not only in their careers, but as a wife, husband, mother, father, friend, daughter or son, and it ultimately impacts their social, family, and personal lives as well as their academic success or career objectives.