How many traits can a person be lacking and still have ASD?

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You're being strangely vague again. And I get that you're talking about the word "mainline" but not explaining what those traits are.

I find the way people are using "traits" and "symptoms" to be very confusing.

To me, "symptoms of autism" and "autistic traits" refer to the exact same set of things... it makes no sense to me to say that one causes the other.

Symptoms are a direct and sometimes general result of the auitsm such as Sensory Sensitivity or Social Impairments

Traits are the resulting behaviour of symptoms, like hand flapping, rudeness, lack of eye contact, covering ears in the presents of loud sounds,

All of the symptoms required for diagnosis of autism are behavioral. A behavior can be a symptom.

And if you look up "trait" in a dictionary you'll find something like this:

(From Collins Dictionary:) "a characteristic feature or quality distinguishing a particular person or thing"

(From Merriam-Webster:) "a distinguishing quality (as of personal character) <curiosity is one of her notable traits>"

So sensory sensitivity and social impairments can both be called "traits" of autism.

"Mainline" traits? What does that even mean? I didn't "miss" anything. I know what the diagnostic criteria are. Meeting the diagnostic criteria gives a diagnosis of ASD. Not meeting the criteria does not.

I have never seen anywhere a list of "mainline traits" And they are mentioned nowhere in the diagnostic criteria.

Regardless of how "mainline" a trait may be, one trait is not enough for a diagnosis.

For instance:

Having the major trait in section A, which also consists of 3 subcategories:

"Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts"

...will not be enough for a diagnosis of ASD. It will only be enough for a diagnosis of social communication disorder, which is not autism.

Having the major trait described in section B, which consists of 4 subcategories:

"Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities"

...would not in itself be enough for a diagnosis of ASD. Those showing the various symptoms described could be diagnosed with OCD, ADHD, other anxiety disorders, or sensory processing disorder, among other things.

Those are two major categories described in the DSM-V criteria, and even simplifying things to that extreme still will not result in a diagnosis of ASD.

No matter what, a single trait, no matter how "mainline" it is, is not going to be enough for a diagnosis of ASD.

We aren't stupid and we missed nothing. You are just deciding what autistic traits are and what constitutes autism according to your own rules, which is not supported by the medical community.

Trait theory described on Wikipedia is interesting:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_theory

I've read all about those theories. They really aren't very scientific, and many contradict each other. Many trait theories have already been found to be inaccurate at describing the various personalities and accounting for all the differences.

I have PDD-NOS (Atypical Autism)

I think currently a person can miss 2 of 7 categories of traits to be diagnosed with autism, something like that.

If anyone's curious about how close to the borderline you can get without quite qualifying for an ASD diagnosis, I'll offer myself as an example. My aspiequiz score is 145 ND and 45 NT, my AQ score is 37, AQ-10 score is an 8.

My traits:

• I used to be a complete moron socially, but I have obtained a lot of book smarts about social skills--this might be what they refer to as "following scripts"? I have become very good (better than most NTs?) at imagining another person's point of view.
  
• Difficulties interpreting body language and facial expressions, but I can usually figure out what people feel or want by imagining their point of view (see above about book smarts).
  
• Somewhat flat affect.
  
• Social problems aren't as bad as what most people on this site describe, but they were that bad or worse when I was a kid.
  
• Trouble thinking of what to say, makes it very hard to communicate verbally, communicating in writing can be a bit slow even though I can type quickly.
  
• Some kind of communication problem where people tend to only get the gist of what I say. Small difficulty understanding speech, difficulty retaining information from verbal discussions, can't remember verbal instructions.
  
• Sometimes people get weird first impressions of me. Some people think I'm a snob but later decide I'm nice.
  
• Very uncomfortable with direct eye contact with most people, but it seems most people where I'm from don't make such direct eye contact, so it doesn't cause too much problems.
  
• No trouble with taking things too literally, and I can usually "read between the lines" as long as secret meanings aren't buried TOO deeply.
  
• Very introverted and untalkative, aromantic, asexual.
  
• Brain fog, can't focus (even on things I'm interested in), easily lose my train of thought in the middle of something.
  
• Executive dysfunction including "autistic inertia," trouble initiating or switching tasks, trouble planning and organizing correctly, easily "get stuck" on activities even if I don't like them very much.
  
• EF issues are bad enough that I can't quite live independently. Adult life is just too complicated.
  
• Multiple strong interests which I'm upset when I can't pursue (at least one of which most people would consider "weird" or worse), but no maladaptive overpowering obsessions, other than the above inertia issue.
  
• Hypersensitivity. Repelled by a lot of sensations others find acceptable or pleasant. Sounds are the biggest problem. I don't like people touching me. Very prone to overstimulation.
  
• Social anxiety, mostly around new people, cripplingly unassertive.
  
• A lot of repetitive motor movements (stimming), did toe-walking when I was a kid, learned a lot of stimulation-based techniques for feeling better.
  
• Clumsy, always bumping into things, sometimes lose my balance when changing direction, difficulty learning motor tasks.
  
• Fondness for consistency, e.g. eat the same lunch every day for months at a time--I don't like surprises. I don't like spontaneity when it's caused by other people. New situations stress me if they require ANY social interaction or EF skills.
  
• I want to know what to expect. I recently won a trip to Vegas, and my first thought was to be disappointed and stressed. After a few days I was able to get used to the idea and look forward to it.
  
• No impulsiveness, very inhibited
  
• Not hyperactive, unless you count the stimming
  
• Gastrointestinal problems, difficulty sleeping
  
• Somewhat high IQ (above average, but not a super-genius or anything)

The two they're missing have to be from section B.

EDIT: bullet points don't work, argh

In the US, the DSM V is what psychiatrists and psychologists use to diagnose "Autism Spectrum Disorder."

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria.

It mentions Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder. It used to be that this was not recognized in the US.

Since the laws and regulations are so far behind the scientific data, having certain diagnoses could mean the difference between receiving educational services, behavioral health services, Social Security Disability, etc. and not receiving help. As far as I'm concerned, labels are meaningless. I would use the label that would best help me get the services that I need. I would check with a good advocate familiar with ASD or an attorney familiar with ASD to make sure which one is most beneficial.

I don't think one can choose what one is diagnosed with. They do tests, like the ADOS (the "gold standard" in diagnosing ASD), an IQ test, personality tests, and interviews with the patient and parent interviews, if possible. Then they make a decision based on their observations and the information from the tests. There's also a certain amount of interpretation involved, which is why it's important to find an experienced and competent clinician.

I didn't get to choose what I was diagnosed with. Some previous diagnoses were eliminated because they were better explained by ASD, and others were kept.

I guess if someone had multiple diagnoses, they could choose which to use to get services, but there is no choice between ASD, and social (pragmatic) communication disorder. It's one or the other, and the diagnosis is based on symptoms and tests. I would be very suspicious of a psychologist/clinician who would be willing to let a patient choose his or her own diagnosis.

Back some years ago I had a psychologist ask me what I thought my diagnosis was & at the time I was going through a harsh depressive mod & after looking at the DSM4 I said major depression which in fact was accurate for the symptoms I had & still have along with what I now know to have PDD/NOS which is on the ASD spectrum which my current psychologist agrees with . At the time that diagnosis that I got through that psychologist was what was used by him to help me get on disability through the state & later federal government (SSI). I was on disability for 10 years.

I know that in theory this should be true. However, I have seen situations where, for whatever reason, a person was given an ASD diagnosis, because it was more palatable to the parents than saying that their child had personality disorder or whatever. I knew of one kid who was very a very manipulative liar who was being treated in an autism group. He should not have been there. There was something going on with him, but since people with autism don't tend to purposely lie or manipulate, I suspect this kid was misdiagnosed.

I've also seen the reverse. There are psychologists or psychiatrists out there who are less than competent who will say that a person with ASD has a personality disorder. I know of a situation where someone with Asperger Syndrome who was told that he had a personality disorder because he gave very odd answers to questions.

Treatments for ASD and personality disorder are very different. If that professional were in a school setting, the student probably would not be given speech therapy as a service on his IEP if he had a "personality disorder." He'd probably be thrown into an emotionally disturbed setting, where he would be very vulnerable.

I also know of an agency that was so desperate for people to work with kids with autism, that they hired anyone with a masters degree in even a slightly related major. In one case, one of the "behavioral specialists" decided to overturn a very successful autism treatment into one that he made up. The kid started to regress because the man didn't know what he was talking about. I think that he had a degree in teaching English or something. Another master's level person was a gym teacher. She told the parents to wash their walls and have dinner together and that would cure the kid. Yet another one said that a child didn't have autism because he didn't match the cases she read about in the textbook. I think that this person had a degree in school counseling. None of these people administered an "ADOS" or "gold standard test."

So all that I am saying that sometimes it is the roll of the dice as to what kind of diagnosis is received. There are a lot of uneducated, unknowledgeable "professionals" in the autism world who don't know what they are doing and shouldn't be working with people with Autism. They don't give the ADOS or other testing. They just base the diagnosis on their own personal interpretation of presenting symptoms. A person who actually has been tested with valid testing and then gets one of these quacks should make sure that they are careful about people like these.

I wish there was better filtering of professionals, but unfortunately there isn't.

I guess a better way to say what I was trying to say was that one should get the label (which I think is rather meaningless in ASD because everyone is different) that most matches their needs.

I also object to certain tests for individuals with autism when they haven't been normed in an autistic population. IQ tests are notoriously unreliable for kids with ASD. Here is a link to what I'm talking about.
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/Standardized-Tests-and-Students-with-an-Autism-Spectrum-Disorder

Oh, OK. I was inspired to ask this by the "Asperger's and social conventions" thread, in which Cavernio said, "Oh you are definitely asd of some sort". This thread was by a guy whose only Asperger's trait was breaking social rules. (And WRITTEN social rules at that.) There seems to be a fair number of people here who agree that one trait can make a fiagnosis.

WoW_Wow says: Wow! It's hard to believe you got diagnosed! I'm more of the typical Aspie: shy, nerdy, unable to make friends, a very strong special interest, unable to read body language, etc.

I'm a 33 on the AQ Test. What score did you get? At least a 32?