Where am I on the autistic spectrum (diagnosed)?
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?
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.
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.
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