Aspergers misdiagnosis

Hey everyone, I'm trying to find out if my son should even bother trying to get into the military. Here's the situation. When he was around approximately 12yo he was diagnosed with aspergers. Shortly before this I had two children diagnosed with autism and frankly with as much research i did as a mom i could see autistic traits everywhere. I was devastated when I found out my two had autism and felt for sure everyone else had it as well. When I took him to the doctor he literally only saw my son for about an hour and never did any other formal testing and diagnosed him with aspergers. Over the years I have come to really doubt he has it. He went to a private school and had friends. He did go to high school for 2 years public school and took ap classes. He to the history ap test and passed keeping him from having to take it in college. He homeschooled the last 2 years not because he had issues but because he homeschooled most his life and wanted to finish early. He took a 3 month condensed course for welding which usually is more spread out over 3 semesters. He worked at Walmart as a cashier and did fine with the customer service aspect. In fact, he was always on time, respectful, and no one ever had concerns with him. With all this knowledge I seriously doubt he has aspergers which is no longer even a diagnosis in the new dsm-v. I recently took him to a psychologist who specializes in autism and she said he does NOT have aspergers and likely never did. She said that the doctor should never have diagnosed him after only 1 time of seeing him. I have a report with the new information stating he does not have aspergers and would likely excel in the military. My question is would this be enough to allow him to be in the military. I thought of taking to one more doctor just so I could show that 2 out of 3 says he does not have it.

Thank you for your time

Asperger's has been removed from DSM-5 but not because it is no longer a diagnosis. AS is part of the autism spectrum on the lower end. I had a student in my biotechnology class this year on the high end of the spectrum. He was very intelligent but prone to inappropriate comments and was very anti-social. It doesn't sound like your son got a fair look at being diagnosed. I will say though, there are not "autistic traits" every where. Kids today scare me sometimes with how sharp they are. Not all are medicated and doomed to mama's basement. You state you have two others with the diagnosis of autism. The literature shows it is hereditary. Your son may have been the subject of a quick and inaccurate diagnosis because of that. I don't know but wish you the best.

Quite a few old threads on the topic. If you don't apply you have 100% chance of a no.
Keep in mind that the DoDMERB process is two steps:

1. DoDMERB (in Colorado gives a Q or DQ based on the questionnaire and exam
2. The SA or ROTC program then decides if the DQ person can be issued a "waiver" or not.

Here are some old threads:
https://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/dodmerb-dq.24535/
https://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/aspergers-add-waiver.12624/
https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...-of-getting-a-waiver-for-this-condition.8268/

I encourage you to have your DS seek an exam from a physician with a MILITARY background or a DoDMERB consultant to get support for a potential waiver.

Of course no one here can say for certain whether your kid has Asbergers or any other condition.

Your post gave me the impression that you have doubts as to whether he can function under pressure. Your comments indicate that he survived tests, and school. Not thrived. He also took the homeschool route, so you know better than anyone whether he has a condition that would hinder him in a rigid, structured environment.

I think you know the answer.

Just for awareness, the above thread was from Jun, 2018....

MullenLE said:

Just for awareness, the above thread was from Jun, 2018....

Click to expand...

Hello Mr. Mullen,

You have been around quite a while. Are you still available for contact?

I may have found myself in a situation quite similar. I am waiting for an upcoming eval to (God-willing) find me ASD free.

If the first diagnosis was a misdiagnosis, what would be my chances of getting a waiver for DoDMERB? No medication, no IEP/504 during HS and fairly good stats in everything. I really would just like to know the % likelihood so I can decide whether I’d rather attempt to fight for a waiver of active-duty or reserve enlistment. Looking into SMP, ROTC

Thank You,
Mattsgg

Mattsgg said:

Hello Mr. Mullen,

You have been around quite a while. Are you still available for contact?

I may have found myself in a situation quite similar. I am waiting for an upcoming eval to (God-willing) find me ASD free.

If the first diagnosis was a misdiagnosis, what would be my chances of getting a waiver for DoDMERB? No medication, no IEP/504 during HS and fairly good stats in everything. I really would just like to know the % likelihood so I can decide whether I’d rather attempt to fight for a waiver of active-duty or reserve enlistment. Looking into SMP, ROTC

Thank You,
Mattsgg

Click to expand...

Mr. Mullen has been away from the forums for many months, dealing with a major IT outage and aftermath at DoDMERB, where he is the Deputy Director. We all hope he will return.

You may want to refer to my reply to your other post on this issue. Based on Mr. Mullen’s history of replies here, I suspect he would advise you to go through the process and provide detailed information. He would very likely not give you a “chances” opinion without full information in hand.

Good to see IEP or Rx are not an issue. If and when you go through the DoDMERB process, the earlier you submit your additional info on your re-evaluated status, the better.

Good luck!