Differences between mild Aspergers and severe Autism?

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Joe90
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28 Oct 2010, 11:26 am

I have Dyspraxia, and I also have mild Aspergers (also learning difficulties), but although they say Aspergers is Autism, I've been thinking that there must be some differences between the two disorders too. I mean, if I sat in a room next to another adult with severe Autism, there will be a difference between us. Will the differences be extreme?
Is there much similararites between a child with mild Aspergers and a child with severe Autism?
If a NT who hasn't got a clue about the Autistic spectrum entered the room with a 7 year old child with Aspergers and a 7 year old with severe Autism, would the NT spot the differences? Although Aspergers and Autism are the same sort of thing, in a way they can be different. I could never relate to a person with severe Autism, no more than a NT can.

It's just when I was 9, I had a friend who had a little brother (who was 7 at the time) with severe Autism, and my friend said that I was completely different to him, even though I was on the spectrum too. He is 18 now, but lives in a special home because his Autism has got no better than what it was when he was a little boy. Well, he has changed, but he still can't do anything for himself - whereas I have accomplished a lot since I was a little girl. Am I making sense here?

I don't really know any other adults with severe Autism (well, I don't know any other Aspies either), and I'll like to know more about grown up people who are really Autistic. I've tried googling it, but it just comes up with babies and children with it.


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Callista
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28 Oct 2010, 11:52 am

The same traits are there; they're just a great deal more obvious for the person who is more autistic. An NT who looked at them might think they were different; but they're the same phenomenon at different strengths.

Two reasons you won't come up with a lot of articles on autistic adults:
1. Many profoundly autistic adults are misdiagnosed as "mental retardation" only.
2. Most "severely autistic" children learn enough that they are generally called "moderate" or "mild" as adults.

Severity levels are, of course, not medical terminology and entirely subjective; in this case, the best I can say is that they reflect how they appear to the doctors.


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wavefreak58
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28 Oct 2010, 11:53 am

The key word here is "spectrum". It implies a range of values, including things like degree of impairment. Autism can be mildly or severely disabling. And among those with Asperger's the degree of impairment varies.



Joe90
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28 Oct 2010, 12:00 pm

Is true, but people with Autism have to be treated differently to general Aspies. I'm not severe enough to go into a special home and practically need 24 hour care, and as a child I was OK enough to stay in mainstream school, and I coped well, and I was never bullied either.
My friend, who is Autistic, is not severe enough to need 24 hour care, but is more Autistic than I am, if that makes sense. He is very a independant adult, and works part-time.

But I'm talking about severely Autistic people here - the type who can't take part in society or lead independant, normal lives. There are some out there, but I've never come across any in public really.


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Last edited by Joe90 on 28 Oct 2010, 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

wavefreak58
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28 Oct 2010, 12:07 pm

Joe90 wrote:
Is true, but people with Autism have to be treated differently to general Aspies. I'm not severe enough to go into a special home and practically need 24 hour care, and as a child I was OK enough to stay in mainstream school, and I coped well.


I'm pretty sure that Asperger's is generally at the high functioning end of the spectrum. The key difference from a diagnostic view is language development. It would follow that since language is much less impaired, an Aspie can communicate their needs better and so in general be more functional.



Joe90
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28 Oct 2010, 12:14 pm

Good answer. Sometimes I complain about being on the spectrum, but my mum says that I am closer to ''normal'' than what severely Autistic people are. I don't spend every day hitting myself in the head in a darkened room (like I've seen some severely Autistics do on the telly or Youtube). I feel so much different and more able than them.


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28 Oct 2010, 1:48 pm

I grew up without a diagnosis. Most people just considered me shy as a kid. I didn't see myself as shy, but I just didn't know what to do to act the way everyone seemed to be acting. I was nearly an adult before I realized eye contact was important and even later to realize that body language wasn't just something you needed to know to pickup women. I used to get screamed at for not paying attention and not knowing how someone was feeling. I wasn't being stubborn; I just didn't know and it felt like most of what people did was random. It seemed like most kids in my age group got that I was different, and some of the parents in my neighborhood gossiped that there was something odd about me, but no physician or teacher noted any problem beyond that I was shy and would grow out of it. Looking back on it, I was really dysfunctional despite working hard not to be and spent much effort trying to please people. I got labeled a troublemaker and after awhile I even threw my hands up and became one for brief periods. Kids seemed more willing to accept me when I was trouble and that felt a whole lot better than constantly not being able to meet other people's expectations.

I still don't get people that well and I view it as a minor miracle that I made it through without any help. I feel young like I missed a whole lot of important stuff that I was supposed to get. I don't really get all the silly rules that people live their lives by. I don't think I will ever get it completely together. And I am supposed to be just mildly affected. The difference between mild and severe may be how well you are perceived by other people, and not anything intrinsic to the disorder. I have seen the words of some low-functioning people who seem to have a lot more intelligence than the average person off the street.



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28 Oct 2010, 1:50 pm

There are major differences between someone with mild Asperger's and severe autism. For example, an Aspie may actually learn to talk earlier than most (in the case of myself), while autistics may be delayed in language development. Other than that, though, they are just normal people with a different neurological way of thinking.



Joe90
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28 Oct 2010, 2:51 pm

The way I see it, all Aspies and Auties suffer the same sort of difficulties, but react in different ways. For example, fear of loud noises is one of them. If somebody with severe Autism experiences a loud noise, they will freak out, whereas someone with mild AS like myself will just flinch or cover the ears if wanted and then overcome the problem, or just know not to go where the loud noise is expected again. That is what I'll do. But, again, it varies from person to person. Although I find it hard to relax in social situations, I still don't show it - I have the ability and sense to just get on with it, because I am more self-aware than a severely Autistic person might be. I don't mean moderate Autism - I mean severe Autism, where the person cannot communicate in the same way as us. My form of communication is speaking verbally, but someone with severe Autism may only be able to communicate by hitting themselves in the head all day. That's an example. Again, it varies from person to person.

When I was 10, a woman used to come in with her 17 year old daughter, who had severe Autism. She couldn't communicate with anyone - all she did was look away from people and walk around like a zombie, only constantly muttering quietly to herself all day long, and fiddled with her fingers excessively. Otherwise, she behaved normally, except for what I've just said. She was completely locked in her own world, and she had very low intelligence too. I used to ask her mum about her a lot, and she said that she has never really had a conversation with her Autistic daughter in her life. She never hit herself, and she was very calm when she experienced a loud noise - she'll just cover her ears until it was finished. She used to have meltdowns if something was changed, but they always lasted no more than 15-20 minutes, then she'll forget and crawl back into her own world again.

Are boys and girls different when it comes to severe Autism?


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28 Oct 2010, 4:06 pm

We know the difference between red and orange. But if you look close enough at the light spectrum between red and orange, you will get to a point where you can no longer tell what is red and what is orange anymore. So how does one decide where red ends and orange begins? You can no longer tell the difference between the two. But tell this to someone who only see's the spectrum from a distance, and they will tell you you are clearly crazy. Red and orange are very different.

To that aspergers and autism are just as different as red and orange and obvious for anyone to see. But to ask what the difference is between severe aspergers and autism is to ask where red ends and orange begins. There is no answer. Even if we arbitrarily draw a line it really doesn't matter because to look closely at those standing on either side of that arbitrary line, there would be no difference.

This is why everything is being reclassified to just be the Autism Spectrum. And this is also why there will always be those who stand back and tell us it is stupid because the ends of the spectrum are very clearly completely different things and should be diagnoses separately.



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28 Oct 2010, 4:38 pm

Yeah, but many Aspies can't live on their own; and quite a few auties can. It's not actually that much different. Yes, you can pick two cases that are obviously different, but in general--the difference is largely due to people being diagnosed as one or the other depending on the doctor's impression of severity, rather than on actual distribution of traits.


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29 Oct 2010, 6:03 am

Both Aspergers and Autism come under the umbrella term of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, and have features that are very similar to each other, but Aspergers and Autism differences has many significant points.

I have read a lot about Aspergers and Autism in the newspaper, and also the internet, and also in many books, and all the different information I have read about it all points to the same thing: Asperger's syndrome is a mild form of autism. People suffer asperger's don't have communication delays as severe as people with other forms of autism have, Aspies are able to function relatively well in terms of intelligence and social functions, and they often manage to go to school, graduate from colleges and live independently.

Judging by the different posts I've read throughout these forums, a lot of Aspies here sound like they're living independent lives as we speak, and have found employment, and have growing families, ect. Even moderate Autistic people can become independent adults, but I doubt there's many really severely Autistic people writing up things on here? If there are any, good for them.


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donnie_darko
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29 Oct 2010, 6:06 am

i dont know if mild is the right word for aspergers. that's kinda like saying aspies have it easier or something which is not always the case, or that they're somehow closer to NT. i think they're just different variants.



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29 Oct 2010, 6:47 am

donnie_darko wrote:
i dont know if mild is the right word for aspergers. that's kinda like saying aspies have it easier or something which is not always the case, or that they're somehow closer to NT. i think they're just different variants.


Easier and harder are such relative terms. There is an expectation that if you are even somewhat 'normal' that you should just suck it up and get over it. A severely autistic person has a different support system. Is it 'better' to be autistic enough to be impaired but not have any support network? I don't know. Sometimes it seems worse to know what you are missing. I am on the outside of the candy store, looking in, not able to find the door to get inside. I wish at times that I had never known that candy exits.

(I'm feeling quite morose today, please accept my apologies)



Joe90
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29 Oct 2010, 6:56 am

Quote:
Sometimes it seems worse to know what you are missing.

That is very true. ''What the eyes don't see, the heart don't grieve'' is the expression what explains what you mean. Someone who is severely Autistic isn't as self-aware as what Aspies are.

Quote:
i dont know if mild is the right word for aspergers. that's kinda like saying aspies have it easier or something which is not always the case, or that they're somehow closer to NT. i think they're just different variants.


That can be true too - it all depends on the person. Personally speaking, I only have mild Aspergers; I am capable of taking part in normal society, just like anyone else. I may suffer with an anxiety disorder, but it still doesn't stop me from being an independent young adult.


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29 Oct 2010, 9:58 am

Does it make you feel better about yourself to distance yourself from people with severe autism or something?

The point of this thread confuses me.


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