Rodger wasn't ever diagnosed with autism. It was just "suspected" by his parents.
It turns out that Rodger was never diagnosed with autism, even though he had been seeing therapists since the age of 8. But based on his symptoms, his parents suspected he was on the spectrum.
Since the social cognition symptoms of autism and pre-schizophrenia or schizophrenia largely overlap, it could be that he never had Asperger’s at all – just the early symptoms of schizophrenia. Another possibility is that he had both; the research says there can be co-morbidity.
Even his parents will probably never know, since he had been refusing in recent years to speak to therapists or to take the anti-psychotics they prescribed.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-isla-vista-suspect-bought-guns-despite-mental-health-problems-20140526-story.html
His family suspected he was somewhere on the autism spectrum, and he had been in therapy since childhood. Rodger was prescribed psychotropic drugs but declined to take them, he wrote in a statement before he killed the six students and apparently took his own life.
Dr. George Woods, a San Francisco psychiatrist who lectures on mental health and the law, said Rodger appeared to have been in an early phase of pre-psychosis. The ability to mask symptoms is common, he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10857021/Elliot-Rodger-may-have-used-machetes-and-hammer-to-murder-house-mates-in-killing-chamber.html
Simon Astaire, a family friend, said their son had been seeing therapists since the age of eight, including virtually “every day” while at high school.
He said: “What more could they have done? They are going through indescribable grief dealing with the loss of their son. His parents were conscious and concerned about their son’s health. They thought he was in good hands.”
Mr Astaire said Rodger, who was believed to have Asperger’s but had not been diagnosed, was “reserved to a daunting degree” and “fundamentally withdrawn”, but seemed to have “no affinity to guns whatsoever”.
Other friends of Peter Rodger said he was “heartbroken” and “did everything he could”, including engaging top specialists, but his son turned his back on therapy as an adult and refused to take medication.
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/86468588/relationship-between-aspergers-syndrome-schizophrenia-adolescence
Asperger's syndrome (AS), a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), has nowadays been widely advocated in media. Therefore, psychiatrists treating adolescents frequently meet patients as well as their families reporting of symptoms resembling those of Asperger's syndrome. It is known that symptoms of Asperger's syndrome have some overlap with those of schizophrenia, but less is known about comorbidity between these two syndromes. We describe a sample of 18 adolescents with early onset schizophrenia. Diagnosis of schizophrenia was based on assessment with Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. The diagnostic interview for Social and Communication Disorders version 11 was used to assess autism spectrum disorders. Ten adolescents fulfilled symptom criteria of Asperger's syndrome after the onset of schizophrenia, while only two persons had Asperger's syndrome before the onset of schizophrenia, a prerequisite for diagnosis. 44 % of the adolescents fulfilled the diagnosis of some PDD in childhood. Most of them were, however, unrecognized before the onset of schizophrenia. On the other hand, all 18 patients had one or more symptoms of PDDS in adolescence. Adolescents with schizophrenia have often symptoms consistent with AS, although only few of them have fulfilled the diagnostic criteria in their childhood, a prerequisite for the diagnosis of AS. There is a risk for misdiagnosis of adolescents with autistic symptoms if detailed longitudinal anamnesis is not obtained.
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