High-Functioning Aspie working with Low-Functioning Aspies

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unduki
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22 Feb 2012, 3:18 pm

It would be interesting to note the split if you had two topics to choose from for discussion groups.

You could pick two different autistic traits, inform members of the topics in advance and see what happens. If you did this, say... twice a month, and tracked everyone, you would have some interesting data after a year.

Of course, this means you need another discussion leader.

I'm just thinking in print.


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nintendofan
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23 Feb 2012, 2:08 am

I am moderete low functing.


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Dillogic
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23 Feb 2012, 2:27 am

What you're seeing is the couple of different presentations of social impairment. These are:

Active but odd: often talks a lot about the interest in a one-sided manner
Passive: doesn't really talk unless approached
Aloof: they most likely wouldn't be there

It's not really fair to expect them to interact like a long lost family, as they're going to be just as impaired no matter who they're with. You actually need socially normal people there to engage the individuals who're passive, as those who're active will just lecture away without engaging anyone. The active individuals just need someone there to be an audience.



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23 Feb 2012, 11:10 am

nintendofan wrote:
I am moderete low functing.

Have you been to any support groups or social events with "high functioning" aspies? If so, did you ever notice that they tended to ignore you or did you feel just as accepted as everyone else?

Also, do you think you'd like to go to a low-functioning-only group where you could be with other people a lot like you?

Thanks!


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nintendofan
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24 Feb 2012, 2:58 am

AdmiralCrunch wrote:
nintendofan wrote:
I am moderete low functing.

Have you been to any support groups or social events with "high functioning" aspies? If so, did you ever notice that they tended to ignore you or did you feel just as accepted as everyone else?

Also, do you think you'd like to go to a low-functioning-only group where you could be with other people a lot like you?

Thanks!


Yes , natinal autistic society group. , no one realy interacted with me at all I was very diffrent. Was only realy noticed when I started drawing super mario on paper and was asked to draw sonic the hedgehog. Everyone there was very verbal, I'm not very verbal , knowone would talk to me. I ended up having a major meltdown that night , I was on the floor at one point.. Scraping at the carpet with my knuckles repetedly, took a chunk out of one of my knuckles and burned the rest. I aslo ended up. With bruised legs from hitting. I think the staff tried to get me more involved.

And I don't know of any groups like that.


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moderate low functining autistic (i was diagnosed with autism, not aspeger syndrome).
my picture is my ear defenders that i wear all the time. pictured is silencio earmuff, l1 howard leight, i also own 12 howard leight (not pictured) .


AdmiralCrunch
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24 Feb 2012, 11:53 am

nintendofan wrote:
Yes , natinal autistic society group. , no one realy interacted with me at all I was very diffrent. Was only realy noticed when I started drawing super mario on paper and was asked to draw sonic the hedgehog. Everyone there was very verbal, I'm not very verbal , knowone would talk to me. I ended up having a major meltdown that night , I was on the floor at one point.. Scraping at the carpet with my knuckles repetedly, took a chunk out of one of my knuckles and burned the rest. I aslo ended up. With bruised legs from hitting. I think the staff tried to get me more involved.

And I don't know of any groups like that.

Thanks for the honest information, nintendofan. I'm going to see if I can create a special meeting for autistic people who have the challenges that you have.

I think it's incredibly unfair for people to treat you so bad. You deserve to be treated with respect and friendship. I can only hope that our society will get some sense knocked into it soon.


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24 Feb 2012, 1:07 pm

What do you mean by low-function Aspie/

lol I'm not being snarky, I'm just asking.

I know low functioning autistics would be very difficult to talk to , but by low-functioning Aspies do you just mean people who are more visibly Aspie than the high-functioning ones?

I know AS itself is also a spectrum but....I wonder how different the LF Aspies can be from HF Aspies and how wide the sub spectrum is.

Also how many HF Aspies are undiagnosed and how easy they are to distinguish from NTs.


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rebeccadanielprophet
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01 Jan 2018, 4:56 pm

I see myself as, on average, MFA (medium functioning autism). I guess it would be ASD 2. I sense it's easier to be around other people with ASD than with regular people, regardless of the "level" of "functioning". :)


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Benjamin the Donkey
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01 Jan 2018, 6:54 pm

Do you mean low-functioning autistic? Aren't aspies, by definition, high-functioning (equivalent to autism level 1 in the US)?


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auntblabby
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01 Feb 2018, 8:09 pm

I guess i'm medium-functioning as well, at my aspie meetup I generally got along better with the LFAs then the HFAs, the latter were too fast/sharp/demanding for me.



xatrix26
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02 Feb 2018, 2:28 am

I think what you're doing AdmiralCrunch is wonderful and it really helps both low-functioning Autistics and high-functioning Autistics to socialize but especially with each other. I'm sure you found the HFAs are the ones who usually initiate conversations with the LFAs and maybe that's the way it should be.

I myself am HFA and I grew up in a foster home and I was surrounded by many different LFA girls. Over the course of 30 years we probably took care of about a dozen different girls. And at times we had two at a time in our household. Many of these girls' parents simply needed time away from their Autistic children because taking care of Autistic children is a monumental task and one that most people won't consciously sign up for. It simply gets thrusted into their lap and they have to deal with it.

This situation happened many years before I was personally diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome only 3 months ago and I always had this odd feeling that I had something in common with these girls but I couldn't quite place it. I was born in 1975 and Asperger's Syndrome was not accepted into the psychiatric DSM manuals until 1994. So I knew in a way that I was Autistic but I couldn't account for the fact that I could speak quite well. And often. Now that I know so much more about Asperger's I know that that is exactly what we are: highly intelligent and mentally disabled at the same time.

My observations of these LFA girls were that they were highly anxious, impatient, with virtually no speech and most were still in diapers but also and often, sweet, adorable and non-aggressive.

Kimmy had only one phrase that she could say and that was "more cows." She said this when she wanted more margarine on her bread because there was a picture of two cows on the side of the margarine tubs then.

Leslie often shyly, but surely took my hand when she wanted to spend time with me. She'd simply lead me into her room where she would try to express herself and often paced back and forth as if attempting a conversation with me. She was a master of subtlety.

Chera made the best effort to speak but never could but towards the end she managed about a 40 word vocabulary. She put a great deal of effort into trying to converse with me. Everyday. She always had a smile on her face every time I would look at her.

And another girl whose name I have forgotten because her situation was so tragic and I tried to forget her because she was always so sad all the time and I felt sorry for her. She had an unusual skin affliction on her fingers where they would always peel skin all the time and we found out later that it was the same virus that causes chickenpox. To this day I still don't know the exact name of the affliction was. She was definitely the cutest but always looking so sad probably because of her skin problem. There were many times where she would make me cry because I felt so sorry for her. Thinking about her now gives me an excruciatingly high amount of pain and that's perhaps why I subconsciously buried the memory of her.

Growing up with all of these girls I had such a strong connection to them and I never could place why until only a few months ago when I was diagnosed ASD. Looking back on the many times we spent together I'm glad that I had such a good relationship with them.


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Nira
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02 Feb 2018, 1:20 pm

I met someone, who is "lower functioning" Aspie than me. Some of his problems are similar to mine, but to a much greater extent and he has some other problems. It was hard to speak with him. I was not sure, if he underestood or not. I wanted help him with something, but i was not sure whether he wanted or didn't want to. On the one side, it was the test of my patience. On the other side, I understand this problems very well. It was an interesting experience, because I never realized how difficult it must be for NT people to speak with me, how I can act on them.


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02 Feb 2018, 6:49 pm

I had been working with LFA for about two decades before I realized I was on the spectrum. In the program I work in, most of the people with autism are low functioning, non verbal, severe behaviors. Some are a bit higher functioning, verbal, ambulatory, able to go to school, and so on.

FWIW: I have noticed in general that my "high functioning" clients have a tendency to not want to be lumped together with low functioning people. It is important to some of them (not all) to be seen as more capable, not in that group.

I sort of fell into working with people with developmental disabilities by accident and found relating to them compelling. I am drawn to sit with those who are considered nonverbal or noncommunicative and see what ways we can connect. It requires a willingness to be vulnerable and observant. If a person is on the floor, or in a wheelchair, I sit on the floor. If someone wants to smell my hair, or lick my arm, I just let them, which drives parents and behavior analysts nuts because they are trying to teach NOT to do that stuff because it isn't socially acceptable. I keep thinking - what if that is the only way they can communicate? the only way they can perceive the world? So I let them grab my hands or whatever they want to do to get to know me. Sometimes I am rewarded with a word or a smile, frequently as they turn away.

Most people, even with autism, want some kind of a connection with another person. So I think what the OP is doing is wonderful, great, and a loving thing to do.

FWIT: many autistic clients who are nonverbal can use tablets for communication. So although computers may be beyond their use, tapping icons on a tablet can really open doors.

Good luck!


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auntblabby
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02 Feb 2018, 6:54 pm

^^^ :wtg:



cyberdad
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02 Feb 2018, 7:11 pm

It's interesting the change in perception from 2012 to 2018 given the changes to DSM



Sofisol612
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03 Feb 2018, 9:27 am

Nira wrote:
I met someone, who is "lower functioning" Aspie than me. Some of his problems are similar to mine, but to a much greater extent and he has some other problems. It was hard to speak with him. I was not sure, if he underestood or not. I wanted help him with something, but i was not sure whether he wanted or didn't want to. On the one side, it was the test of my patience. On the other side, I understand this problems very well. It was an interesting experience, because I never realized how difficult it must be for NT people to speak with me, how I can act on them.


I had a very similar experience last year, with an aspie classmate at college. He wouldn’t be considered “low-functioning” by most people because he has no language issues, but everyone could know he was different with only looking at the way he walked or stood. A teacher told all the other students about his diagnosis in order to make us feel sympathetic and help him, but it had little effect on the others, who still didn’t bother to talk to him. As the only other aspie in the class, I took it upon myself to start a conversation with him and help him to know what he was supposed to study for the exams (he also had issues with attention and often didn’t even know when the tests were). I didn’t know at first if he wanted my help or if he was embarrassed by it, but after a while I think he was fine with it: he started saying hi to me everyday (and he never greeted anybody else), he laughed in some of our conversations and at the end of the semester he passed most of his subjects. As for me, I was happy to help him and it was interesting to find some of my quirky traits slightly magnified in another person (and some of these traits I hadn’t even acknowledged in myself before seeing them in him). I guess it was a good experience overall, and I wish more aspies could help each other.


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