Severe Asperger's.

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What are the characteristics of more severe Asperger's? Just wondering how you'd define it personally.

Too many variables

For others and the patient, I'd say poor control of anger and frustration leading to lots of bad meltdowns (in addition to such when overwhelmed).

Greater severity of autistic traits is my definition.

Any traits in particular that are increased more than others? How would the person appear outwardly?

Outwardly, more socially deviant behaviors, e.g. appears mentally absent during social interactions, stares at objects while others are talking to you, humming while others are talking to you, bad at faking nt, can't join in group interactions, appears weird to others during one-on-one interactions too.

Inside, more social dunceness, less social cognition, less social interest cause outwards behaviors.

For RRB, probably more rigid and has more RRB traits more of the time, e.g. stimming all the time and in public making person appear weirder to nts.

Perhaps: worse sensory issues, suckier speaking skills, more different emotional reactions from nts from no reaction to meltdown reaction, these are the ones that I can think of right now.

Ok thanks.

Probably lower IQ too. You could technically have an IQ of 71 and have Aspergers. Given that aspies don't have the same language issues as other autistics, anything below 80 for an aspie likely qualifies as a serious intellectual deficiency and probably hinders their ability to cope vs. an autistic with the same IQ.

I was in a supermarket one day and I saw a mother with her son. He was about 13 years old. His autism was definitely extreme. He simply stood there with his mouth wide open staring, without blinking, at some object while his mother was paying for her groceries. When she was done she had to take him by the hand and lead him out of the store.

I think someone can have severe ASD traits and mild ASD traits so what would that make them?

I knew a boy in my elementary school and I think he may have had severe AS. But all I noticed were the social deficits. He didn't talk much, couldn't carry on a conversation, wouldn't answer your questions when he talk to you, he talk at you, screamed when touched, didn't understand anything that was said to him, always needed help with his school work, paced around on the playground, seemed to not care about others and appeared selfish and didn't respect other peoples items. His voice sounded odd so it always sounded like he was whining. I never noticed any repetitive body movements (except for his pacing on the playground and that were where he only did it) nor his obsessions. He may have had some but he didn't talk about them because he was quiet and didn't talk much. But you could tell he had something just by the way he acted. I also think he lacked reading social cues and he took things literal and had a hard time understanding rules. He could have had PDD-NOS.

The characteristics would be the traits. However I don't take the characteristics to be the severity of the condition. More accurately would be how severely your life is impacted by AS rather than how much you show individual traits of it.

Therefore, if you find it more difficult to live your life as a result of it compared to someone with outwardly more obvious traits, you are more severely affected.

Yeah. That. Totally.

The only language delay someone with Asperger Syndrome has is a pragmatic language delay--they have issues with using language appropriately. So, someone with severe Asperger Syndrome would seem very, very similar to someone with severe classic autism, except with the major difference of being able to speak.

In real life, people diagnosed with asperger's, if labeled "severe" in their diagnostic reports, are not at all similar to people diagnosed with autism also labeled "severe". AS is a milder on the spectrum, so severe AS is milder than severe autism.

Like I said, technically, the only difference between Asperger Syndrome and autism is the lack of expressive and receptive delays in Asperger Syndrome, and the presence of such delays in classic autism.

Of course, in real life, Asperger Syndrome is treated as mild autism, so you're probably right.

It is true that AS and classic autism are usually distinguished by language delay or lack thereof, but a language delay is a very significant difference. A child who speaks for communication from an early age does not have the same severity of autism as a child who does not know what communication is and does not speak at all, considering that autism is partially defined by deficits in communication. For me, there was a huge difference between being non-verbal and being verbal.

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Last edited by EstherJ on 30 Dec 2012, 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not all non-verbal people with autism lack knowledge of what communication is. There are plenty of autistic people who rely quite well on augmentative/alternative devices. Also, you are going to witness communication happening, even if you have severe language delays.

However, you have to realize that pragmatic language delays also impact communication, and that language delays are aren't that there is to autism and Asperger Syndrome. Someone with Asperger Syndrome can have profound pragmatic language delays, a lot of repetitive movement, really only think about one special interest, and otherwise be similar to those with severe autism, but the lack of expressive and receptive delays could mean that they find learning easier.