Sorting out the spectrum

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I think our community agree that ASD is too broad of a label, it has several dimensions.
What are your views of the said dimensions? What do you think to be separable conditions that fall into this label?

My own thoughts are:
1. Lack of a "natural social intuition", as my therapist named it. I think of it as the core of Asperger's, it's enough to present Asperger's when you have this and no other issues.
It may be something imprinted deeply into one's brain, I wouldn't like a cure for it but I do welcome research on it. I think of this issue as a part of healthy diversity and opt for acceptance of this.
2. Sensory issues. I don't really know how they form, don't know of any good research on the topic (do you?)
I sometimes speculate that they come from the above, as ones with no "crowd thinking hardware" do not naturally regulate their sensitiveness by learning "normal" and "disturbing" states of senses from their societes.
But that's just a wild guess.
3. Number of dys-somethings like dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, prosopagnosia, auditory processing disorder, etc. I doubt there are cures for them but why not try to search. Also, technology can help living with them.
4. Psychological effects of being different from the early childhood. Include anxiety, depression, traumas, history of abuse, mental illnesses. Should be treated and prevented whenever possible. Understanding of the difference between them and the neurological differences needs to be developed.

I know there are symptoms like speech delay or something but I think speech delay may be caused by number of causes and I'm very strong for switching from looking at symptoms into looking at causes. You know, there can be billion of causes of a knee hurt so your knee hurt needs one of a billion of possible treatments. Why psychiatry didn't come to this yet?

In general, I have found professionals hopelessly confused by even two co-existing conditions. I think the whole model for diagnosis should not be a vast switchboard with one plug misplaced, but a vast mixing board, with sliders for everything that can be changed.

We are very "individual" in our presentation.

People should be treated on an "individual" basis, rather than merely on the basis of a diagnostic manual.

The diagnostic manual is useful as a framework----but not necessarily for individuals.

This is not quite what you are asking but below are my thoughts on assessment from our perspective. In terms of the spectrum one of the biggest problems I have is how it is just a big lump on one side ASD and a big lump on the other NT - it doesn't seem right at all, are there people in the middle with one foot either side? Is it that finite a cut off point? Doesn't it make more sense that the traits are found across humanity but in some individuals they are found in certain clusters and in more extreme ways? I am unsure. But I agree with above posters that looking at individual traits is the way forward and maybe that is the way it is going. We didn't get a specification level but were rather told there is no way all the different traits could be summed up by one level.

(1) What is autism and what is mis-managed autism:
I guess one main thing I have noticed from our own scenario is that the extreme symptoms and externally visible factors (like behavioural problems, extreme demand avoidance etc.) that eventually lead people to seek a diagnosis are not autism per se. They are burnout or stress from having autism. I think very many parents or professionals wait for those symptoms to get totally out of hand before they seek help / or before GPs offer help. In particular with regard to girls where things have to get so severe to even be referred on. Professionals need to be aware of the subtle differences and changes that they might expect to see in someone at the high functioning end of the spectrum. For example, keep an eye on high performing individuals, people with social struggles, anxiety, and eating disorders etc. look for clues before things get too much.

(2) Offer occupational therapy as standard for people with suspected autism, to sort out sensory issues and get a full sensory profile early on as it can make such a huge difference.

(3) Give people help when they need help not only once they have a diagnosis. The hardest period for people (in particular parents, but also individual adults seeking help) might be the period before diagnosis. I experienced rudeness, ignorance, distrust etc. as I sought diagnosis for my daughter. Alongside a general sense of just feeling like I was drowning everyday trying to get on top of her behaviour and sort out her anxiety and demand avoidance. Diagnosis has made life easier for me and her. I have got a grasp of things now. It was harder before and that is when I was all alone fighting the stupid system every day - the system that should have been working with me and helping me!

(4) Get more information into the public domain about what high functioning autism/asperger's looks like, in particular in girls. My daughter talked at 6 months and was exceptionally early in most things, all the public information out there is geared at very typical symptoms of autism and given that everyone is different and an individual this is unhelpful.

So you propose a map of traits for every human, not just ASD. Traits instead of disorders. Do I understand correctly?