RayOfHope: I’d be inclined to suspect that you’re not really on the specturm.
Just as an aside: you mentioned the signs of PDD-NOS and Aspergers, both of which were defined on the last version of the DSM, but are no longer.
I like the new DSM better, because really, I fit into it’s definition better. I never really fit neatly into the Aspergers description. I had alot more of the charecteristics of classic autism, but my communication style, fixated interests and the age at which I started speaking precluded both classic autism and PDD-NOS. Based on the literature put out by the APA (American psychology association), I wasn’t the only one for whom this was a problem. The line between Aspergers and HFA was very blurry and had no clear guidelines, to the point that they decided that they were really just a continuum of the same thing.
They also found that people with poor pragmatic skills were being diagnosed as being on the spectrum, particularly in the Aspergers cagetory, without having any other charecteristic of Autism (Restrictive and repetetive behaviors/interests, sensory processing disorder that disrupts normal functioning). It is no longer possible to diagnose someone as being on the autism spectrum without symptoms from both categories. Because about 10 – 20% of those diagnosed with PDD-NOS and Aspergers no longer qualified for a spectrum diagnosis, they created a new label called social pragmatic disorder which is for people with extensive disruptions in their ability to socialize (basically the 1st category of symptoms for ASD), without the other symptoms and not better explained by ASD. They are unclear about exacly what the function of this disorder will be, but it is NOT on the autism spectrum.
And it is never hopeless. If I could learn as much as I did and be able to communicate as well as I can (although it is far better in writing than in person…), with everything that I had to overcome to get here, then you, who didn’t need anyone to teach you how to make friends or to function around other people certainly will be able to overcome whatever challenges you have.