What is LOW FUNCTIONING autism ?

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I hope ypeople don't think this is a stupid question. I hear these words a lot - low functioning, high functioning. How do we know the difference ?

My son is 3 and functioning at the level of a 14 to 18 month old. Does this make him low functioning ? He just started SDC preschool and ABA through our insurance company. I have some nasty tongued relatives who kept telling me that he is 'summat odd' and probably will be low functioning all his life. Needless to say, all of them have been cut off but that is a separate thread.

I am very worried about him and his prognosis. He is also pre-verbal and does not say one word, although he was talking last year. Please, is there hope ? TIA.

If I understand correctly High functioning autistics have normal or higher IQs and low functioning have IQs below normal. Since autistics rely on our intelligence to compensate for our lack of (or impaired) social skills and executive function the higher your IQ the better you function (in theory). Many high functioning autistics start off with speech issues but eventually catch up.

Low functioning does not refer to how behind a child is relative to his age. It is a term used for cognitive deficits. I think if you have lower than a 70 IQ. High functioning means you have an IQ 70+. I don't think they could even test a child that young reliably for IQ, but other people who had their children younger for Autism would be a better source for that.

My son is high functioning but he has delays in some areas where he he functions at about half his age.

Nasty relatives is why we keep a lot of stuff secret. Try to ignore them. They don't know what they are talking about.

What others have said above is correct, the "low-functioning" term is applied to someone with ASD with an IQ of less than 70, which is by definition mentally ret*d.

I wouldn't worry much about this at this point, your son is too young to be tested. Mine is 4 and at his school they said there was no way they could test his IQ anyway since he's got a communication deficit.

My son was the same at the same age. Now he's speaking even if not in full sentences and he improved in many ways. It's not easy but neuropschiatrist told me that he didn't know if he would be able to speak when he was 3, so it's getting better.
He's turning 5 and he's still behind his peers of course, but I'm proud of him. He worked hard to reach the ability to communicate even if he's not capable of a conversation.
I was told a month ago that he probably will not be able to read a book, so there are still many unknown things. Different professionals have different point of view so I'm trying to focus on the things I have to teach him. Here in Italy public health services are miserable and some neuropsichiatrists still believe in old theories like refrigerator mum. It's not like France, but it's not the ideal country for an individal with autism. I don't trust doctors and don't believe the things they say, not good things neither bad things. I think we will know their functioning level when they will get older, now we have to work hard to teach them. The most important thing is early intervention

Right now there is not official criteria for low, moderate high functioning. The term is often used to imply levels of support necessary. Some people use it (inaccurately) to imply level of developmental functioning estimated for adulthood (for young children this is very inaccurate). As said before, IQ can be a large factor, additionally so can level of verbal skills. Remember too that measurement of IQ on a person with autism may not be accurate as it depends on cooperation. My opinion is that the best use of these terms is to give quick information about expected levels of support needed for a child right now, remembering that a person with low functioning autism at 3 may be high functioning by age 25 and vice-versa. The new DSM-5 is making the following recommendations for severity levels based on support needed.

http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision/Pa ... px?rid=94#

level 3 would be low functioning
level 2 would be moderate
level 1 would be high

My son is 3 1/2 now but we did the evaluation when he was 3 and he did score about the same as your child on the evaluation. They all said that he had mild to moderate mental retardation. He also had normal communication up until maybe 2 1/2 then it slowly dropped off.

Since then, he has had a special ed teacher, 5 days a week 2 hours a day and we have realized a few things. Because of his language delay, he tested lower than his actual ability. His teacher relized that academically, he was actually ahead (he is able to read, count, recognize colors, shapes, etc). She also informed me that he didn't have a speach delay, he had a communication delay which is a totally different thing. Basically, he wasn't speaking because he didn't know what to say and not because he didn't know how to speak.

Since he teacher has been working with us, we now know that we need to tell him what to say in certain situations and so far, he has been learning and is now able to initiate his requests in a correct full sentence. He has also reducing the echolalia that used to dominate his communication. He still has his jargon, but that is also being reduced.

It's absolutely amazing the leaps that he has made with the right type of intervention. His teacher even encouraged us to make some changes and he is fully potty trained now. He now states he is going to use the bathroom and then does it (though we watch him because he will spray the water in the faucet).

As for unsupportive family members, we also have had our share and our answer is to drastically reduce the interaction we have with them. Any inquire about the kids is answered by, "He/She is fine, everyone is doing well".

I think 3 is probably too young to determine eventual level of functioning. When my daughter was first diagnosed at about 2, she was in the moderate to severe range for autism and they estimated her IQ to be somewhere hovering over borderline intellectual functioning. She remained fairly split from her peers until somewhere between 4 and 5. And now at 6, almost 7, her verbal abilities are beyond most of her peers, as is her reading and pretty much every other academic subject. Her social skills are probably at about a 5 year old's, so probably close to 2 years behind, but overall, she is doing significantly better than I would have ever anticipated based on her initial presentation.

I am not saying that all kids follow this course. Just wanted to tell you not to get too worried about it at this point (ha---telling the parent of a kid with a disability not to get worried....what am I thinking? ) I have also known kids who were not verbal until nearly 5 who were matched with or above their peers academically by the age of almost 7.

There is always hope. I have yet to come across a kid who stopped developing at any magic age. It is not always easy and you should expect many frustrating plateaus where it seems like nothing is changing at all, but the sudden leaps ahead will leave you tingly and goose-bumpy. At least it does me. I always get the inner sense that I am witnessing a miracle, something special that does not belong to the population as a whole. You hold on to those moments and they help get you through the next plateau.

I've always considered low functioning to be those who are either incapable of basic self care tasks or struggle with them.

There is ALWAYS hope, don't give up. You need to be strong, ignore those relatives or maybe try to educate them! Work to make your son reach his potential whatever that is. People may keep trying to tell you what he's capable of (or incapable of), no-one has the full picture of what your son will become. They will tell you where they think he is now, but they don't know how far he can go, how could they? And, if at the end of his life he's still "low functioning" just hope he has been happy and known love and all the good in life. Many high functioning or NT people don't get to experience that, now that is sad.