Where am I on the autistic spectrum (diagnosed)?

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c700
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24 Jun 2015, 5:16 am

I was told that according to the DSM-5, I have an ASD. However, I have no idea whether it's Kanner's autism or not. Here are the characteristics which I have:

-often not responding when being called, especially when overstimulated

-having huge "break downs" when overstimulated - to the point of being unable to walk without assistance, and not understanding anything happening around me (no, it's not epilepsy, nor MS, nor a brain tumor - my tests came out normal). These break downs are like being unable to process anything, you only hear vague sounds when others are saying something to you.

-unable to fold clothes, put them back on the right places

-unable to care for oneself completely - if I will try, I will get overwhelmed very quickly

-repetitive questions, drifting the conversation to the same topic (according to others)

-often getting so overwhelmed that speech begins degrading and I begin to be unable to understand what is being said

-huge fear of unfamiliar things, rigid routines

-some routines lead to friendships being made, others once led to me being isolated for 10 years

-social ability is bad but not horrible; however it's maintaining the socialization which is the most difficult - very quickly, I become overwhelmed and start isolating myself completely, and shutting off the outside world

-narrow interests, good memory (can recall thousands of objects in the correct order), good mental calculation abilities (able to divide up to a trillion or so)

-taking about 2 hours to complete a test at school which normally takes 45 minutes for others to complete

-learned to eat by myself from 6 to 12 years old
-put clothes on around 12

-can't look at the sky as it's too bright for me to look at it

-speech delay, no babbling at all

-stimming which is very severe now and got worse as time went by and stress accumulated (ex: rocking, turning around, etc.)

So, where do you believe I am on the spectrum? Is it Kanner's autism/classic autism? Or HFA? Or Moderate FA?



iliketrees
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24 Jun 2015, 6:21 am

The speech delay does mean it is "classic" autism (Kanner's, autistic disorder, whatever you want to call it)

However, that is dependent from severity - can range from low functioning to high functioning.

If you've been diagnosed recently (2013 or after) under the DSM V (which is sounds like you have - diagnosis of "ASD") then you should have a "level" - either 1, 2 or 3. 1 is "high functioning" and 3 is "low functioning".

I don't think everyone has been given a level though.



c700
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24 Jun 2015, 6:39 am

It's very hard to measure severity, though. For example, I may be high functioning in some environments - when there's not much change and everything is more or less predictable, and be moderate to low functioning in unpredictable, stressful and overstimulating environments.



iliketrees
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24 Jun 2015, 7:28 am

Yeah, that's the problem with ratings sadly. That's probably why not everyone has them. They're pretty subjective. And also there's the difference between severity of autism and ability to function - the levels measure your functioning and independence (correct me if wrong) but not how severe. There'll probably be improvements in the future.