My DD wasn't diagnosed until age 17, her dx was very "borderline". The diagnostician was reluctant to give the DX saying she really felt my DD's issues were more ADD related anxiety. The diagnostician commented that she can usually tell within 10 minutes of meeting someone if they have ASD and she didn't get that from my DD. The DX was based purely on a questionnaire, so I don't know how much experience they had with gifted aspie females. My DDs symptoms are well hidden in public and other than freezing up in a panic attack during the writing portion of the IQ testing, there was nothing to highlight her difficulties during the day long one-on-one testing, which DD enjoyed.
We really didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until late middle school when it just seemed like she was a bit of a late bloomer. She was so different from her classmates intellectually, we attributed her other symptoms to boredom and frustration with the terrible school fit.
Once diagnosed however, and after reading everything I could find on it, I see now that it fits, and also that both my mother and father are definitely somewhere on the spectrum. Major "AHA moment" for me.
It's great that you are getting your answers early, there are so many great programs out there to help younger people. I wish we would have known earlier, we would have done things very differently.
