Any High Functioning Autistic people here?

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25 Feb 2011, 11:04 am

I self-label as PDD-NOS. In a few years whatever I have will be called something else, which means that every few years depending on when they update the DSM, I'll just change categories. Maybe in 2013 I'll have AS or ADD or just plain ol' ASD.

I imagine that someday these syndromes will be labeled according to their mechanism and not according to what they remind the psychiatrist of.

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anbuend
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25 Feb 2011, 2:24 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:

cyberdad wrote:

Ok so lets keep the autism spectrum but just have a spectrum gradient.
low functioning - (no speech substantial sensory issues)
Functioning - (speech but coupled with substantial sensory issues)
High functioning - (speech and subject has largely mitigated sensory issues)

If we should not label with pdd-nos, etc, as per your early post, how are these labels any different?

How do functioning levels address impairment? For example, two people could be functioning at the same level, but one with an IQ of 100 and the other an IQ of 150. Which is suffering the greater impairment?

Sensory issues are not required for autism. In fact they are not even mentioned in the DSM.

Presence of speech is not the same as effective communicative speech.

Actually, yes, they are mentioned in the DSM. And they may be more at the heart of autism than anything that's in that short criteria that are all most people read in the DSM. That is, perceptual issues have been pretty extensively researched and some of them are more universal than any single criterion. Note that not all perceptual issues are as "obvious" as hyper and hypo sensitivity which are the only ones most people pay attention to. Autistic people's differences, when looked at by the more scientific branches of psychology (I.e. not Baron-Cohen and the like), seem to mostly be in really basic building blocks of cognition including perception. Not simply in a "missing social module", which would not explain the nonsocial aspects of autism, nor the findings about perception that always crop up when autistic people are studied close up.

Also, they've been in past criteria and seem right now to be in future criteria. The thing about those short criteria is they're always changing. The other thing about them is that they're decided upon more politically than scientifically. If the criteria followed some of the scientific research you'd see a lot less about nebulous concepts like social skills and a lot more about perceptual and cognitive traits that remain the same whether the autistic person happens to be in a social situation or not. So presence in the short criteria doesn't tell you a lot about how important a trait truly is to a condition.

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wavefreak58
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25 Feb 2011, 5:35 pm

anbuend wrote:

Actually, yes, they are mentioned in the DSM.

As part of the autism DSM-IV DX criteria? I don't see it in the current DSM. I understand that sensory issues are almost universal among autistics so I've wondered why its not part of the official criteria.

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anbuend
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25 Feb 2011, 6:10 pm

"There may be odd responses to sensory stimuli (e.g.,a high threshold for pain, oversensitivity to sounds or being touched, exaggerated reactions to light or odors, fascination with certain stimuli)."

That's in the long description which is meant to be consulted as well as the shorter criteria.

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25 Feb 2011, 7:44 pm

anbuend wrote:

Can you post a link to the longer description? I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I've yet to see that.

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25 Feb 2011, 8:20 pm

I've been looking for longer DSM-IV descriptions everywhere because they have details I'd like to know, but so far nothing.

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25 Feb 2011, 8:29 pm

I forgot about the pain threshold stuff. I don't have that but my father has that in spades and has always bragged about it. Sensitivity to touch as well. He has 70%-80% of the AS traits.

Apple_in_my_Eye
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25 Feb 2011, 9:14 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:

Can you post a link to the longer description? I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I've yet to see that.

Verdandi wrote:

I've been looking for longer DSM-IV descriptions everywhere because they have details I'd like to know, but so far nothing.

I think it's called the DSM's "extended text" (if you didn't already know). I've been trying to google for links, but am not having any luck.

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25 Feb 2011, 9:28 pm

I would be unsurprised if Anbuend owns a copy.

The way I research things these days, maybe I should get one of my own.

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25 Feb 2011, 9:42 pm

cyberdad wrote:

I'm new here and notice everyone here is an "Aspie" (or claims to have been diagnosed with Aspergers).
Just wondering how many of you are high functioning autistics? - i.e. you had a speech delay early in life.

A fair number of you (not all) seem to assoicate Aspergers with high function and genius in contrast to ASD and classical Kanners autism which you associate (rightly or wrongly?) with severe impairment.

Our local chapter of the Aspergers Society in Melbourne invited a prominent speaker on autism to give a talk in Melbourne Australia. The talk was on High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Aspergers and surviving school. The ticket was $90 (Aust) but members of the Asperger society recieved a 50% discount. To be a member you or your child must be diagnosed with Aspergers.

I emailed a rather irate letter to the organiser asking why parents of ASD children were not eligible for the discount - surely they should aslo be encouraged to attend given half the talk was on HFAs?. The rather terse response I recieved indicated that since the Aspergers society organised the talk only their members were eligible for the discount (end of matter). So why are HFA's not really considered Aspies? Isn't Temple Grandin an HFA?

Given in 2012 the DSM V will amalgamate Aspergers and HFA in the upper end of the autism spectrum (ASD) and Aspergers may vanish as a label are these societies and their members hanging on to this label as it bestows some sort of vestigal prestige?

I'd like to hear some views for any HFA's on this forum (if there are actually any on this forum)

This just mean their members can have the discount. Their members may have those with HFA. Other people with AS but aren't members may not have a discount.

HFA is not 'aspie' because aspie is short for Asperger's. Yeah I know, I'm a very literal person.

Anyway, I'm HFA and don't feel like I'm like those with AS. There are similarities but there are differences too. I can't really explain it but I can just tell. Usually all the seminars I want to go to about AS/ autism I can't because they are aimed at kids and their parents.

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25 Feb 2011, 11:23 pm

Verdandi wrote:

I would be unsurprised if Anbuend owns a copy.

The way I research things these days, maybe I should get one of my own.

Can be found in most libraries, and almost all college libraries. It's usually expensive to buy, so unless you're going to be referring to it regularly, don't bother--just check it out and xerox the relevant section.

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25 Feb 2011, 11:32 pm

Callista wrote:

Verdandi wrote:

I would be unsurprised if Anbuend owns a copy.

The way I research things these days, maybe I should get one of my own.

This is probably a better plan although I tend to avoid libraries because I do not like to pay fees.

And I always end up paying fees. I still owe a late fee for a book I checked out 23 years ago.

I should do that, though. There are several conditions I could use the references for.

cyberdad
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25 Feb 2011, 11:46 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:

cyberdad wrote:

If we should not label with pdd-nos, etc, as per your early post, how are these labels any different?
How do functioning levels address impairment? For example, two people could be functioning at the same level, but one with an IQ of 100 and the other an IQ of 150. Which is suffering the greater impairment?
Sensory issues are not required for autism. In fact they are not even mentioned in the DSM.
Presence of speech is not the same as effective communicative speech.

A spectrum gradient is a simple way teachers, healthworkers and stakeholders know the level or capacity a child has to undertake mainstream school. Or if the child is attending school to confirm what level of funding assistance toward an integration the child needs. Schools have limited resources and need to be strategic with how they allocate their funds in order to best support kids with disabilities/disorders.

This spectrum gradient is not meant for the real world as I have already posted I connect just as easily with LFAs as I do with nuerotypes. I would never make social decisions on interecting with somebody based on a label.

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25 Feb 2011, 11:49 pm

There are severity scales proposed for the DSM-V (I find them rather questionable as to the focus of where the support is expected to go, but they're there).

An ideal system would identify strengths and weaknesses rather than maintain the expectation that particular labels can provide enough information about anyone.

cyberdad
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25 Feb 2011, 11:56 pm

pensieve wrote:

cyberdad wrote:

Anyway, I'm HFA and don't feel like I'm like those with AS. There are similarities but there are differences too. I can't really explain it but I can just tell. Usually all the seminars I want to go to about AS/ autism I can't because they are aimed at kids and their parents.

Thanks for your feedback. Since joining this forum I have taken the AQ and EQ test. I was somewhat surprised to get a score of 37 on the Asperger test (> 32 you are wither ASD or Asperger). I always suspected I was a pretty introverted nuerotyical but now I'm not so sure. Both my wife and I went through life never making any friends and keeping much to ourselves. No wonder I'm getting obsessed with this subject.

cyberdad
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25 Feb 2011, 11:59 pm

Verdandi wrote:

An ideal system would identify strengths and weaknesses rather than maintain the expectation that particular labels can provide enough information about anyone.

How about a scale....0-100%

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