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

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A question that came to my mind from the "Asperger's and social conventions" thread over on the GTKEO board.

How many of the big Asperger's characteristics does a person have to be lacking before we can say the person doesn't have Asperger's?

Suppose we have with person named Mark. Mark doesn't make eye contact. But suppose Mark doesn't have a special interest, can hold a long conversation, doesn't have meltdowns, doesn't stim, doesn't have sensory issues, has no problems with taking things literally, is flexible instead of rigid about routines, doesn't experience social anxiety, and is good at making friends. Let's also imagine that Mark can read body language as well as anyone when he DOES look people in the eye. Is it possible to say Mark has Asperger's or any type of ASD because of the eye contact thing? Or does his overwhelming no-check-offs on the big Asperger's traits mean you have to say, "No, Mark doesn't have Asperger's"?

I know some people who have very strong interests, but have none of the other Asperger's features...

You have to have most of the traits to be autistic, If you have one autistic trait that is it. Most people have one or several autistic traits. That does not make them autistic.

It doesn't work that way. There must be a certain amount of symptoms present in each category to meet the criteria. And those symptoms must cause difficulties in functioning.

Just having one or two traits is not autism, and won't be enough to receive a diagnosis.

I can read body language easily from instinct, make eye contact naturally, do small talk, hold conversations, be tactful at the right times, get jokes and sarcasm, lie, don't have a blank face, don't stim, follow social trends, love company, love being touched, can hold down a romantic relationship, can express my feelings well, have ToM, and a few more things.

But I still qualify as ASD because I used to have outbursts before I went on antidepressants, have weird obsessions with certain people, get easily anxious at work, can be flexible in routine sometimes but other times sudden change can make me have an anxiety attack, don't make friends as good as the average NT, anticipate sudden loud noise, be quite odd in personality, and a few more things.

But I have always been highly anxious, with typical social anxiety too, and attention issues.

Traits are irrelevant- they are the result of symptoms

All symptoms of autism need to be present in some way shape or form in a disabling form to qualify for a diagnoses.

1. Inability to or great Difficulty communicating and socializing
2. Sensory Processing Disorder (either Hypersensitive or Hypo sensitive)
3. Repetitive,Obsessive, Routines, and Rituals
4. Executive Functioning Disorder.

All symptoms need to be present by the latest age of 18 months and all need to be impairing to some degree.

You can also look at it in a MUDA criteria

Maladaptive (behaviour is destructive to oneself and others)
Unjustifiable (behaviour occurs without rational basis)
Disturbing ( troublesome for others)
Atypical ( is not normally occurring behaviour in others)

No offense but how exactly do you qualify for ASD...?

ASD manifests in women differently, women tend to be more accustomed to social interaction and are more expressive than their male counterparts.

This explains it a lot better than I ever can: http://www.willowhope.com/pages/asperge ... s-in-girls

Here is the diagnostic criteria used in the USA. (It describes a different condition first; scroll past that.) It doesn't say how many things you need in section A, so I assume you need all of them.

Fun fact! It mentions nothing about executive function problems, meltdowns/overload aren't mention (meltdowns may be relevant if they are caused by one of the other problems), and the only sensory issues that count are hypo/hyper "reactivity" to input. Sensory issues were only added to the most recent revision.

I wonder how many adults who were diagnosed as kids no longer fit this criteria. I'm not diagnosed, but I know I would have fit that criteria when I was a kid, but I don't now. (Diagnostic criteria can be "by history," but that only counts if they believe what you say about your history.)

Guidelines in other countries are different, but I think they're along similar lines.

I feel like it's diagnosed based more on behavior (traits), because the psychologist doing the evaluation cannot actually see the symptoms directly.

That's why you have people forcing their kids to stop doing things like repetitive motor movements and feeling like that's some kind of improvement.

Like the Sonic person said, That doesn't sound like ASD maybe just SCD, but not ASD..
Accirdubg to this link I don't have autism, I'd be in the Catagory one I have Extremly Mild SPD, I have a lot of social communication issues but if I'm comfortable enough with the topic, there'd only be mild issues, Though I can sense a bit better than NTs, In these charts I'd be about 1 or 2, Though I don't have ASD, but I have a PDD-NOS Diagnossis (Abnormal Autism).
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autis ... c-criteria Warning It's A$

Like the Sonic person said, That doesn't sound like ASD maybe just SCD, but not ASD..
Accirdubg to this link I don't have autism, I'd be in the Catagory one I have Extremly Mild SPD, I have a lot of social communication issues but if I'm comfortable enough with the topic, there'd only be mild issues, Though I can sense a bit better than NTs, In these charts I'd be about 1 or 2, Though I don't have ASD, but I have a PDD-NOS Diagnossis (Abnormal Autism).
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autis ... c-criteria Warning It's A$

Hi ZBXD. I hope I'm wrong but your description of autism as relates to the rather negative MUDA criteria disturbs me because if I was a bank robber or serial killer, MUDA would still fit me to a 'T'.

I guess what I'm saying is I've been trying my best to show how being an Aspie can be a good thing.

Aspies are known for their extreme dedication and focus to a narrow subject. This is good because everything that was ever created by man requires some dedication and discipline. And among Aspies that's a very good thing to have. It's why there are great visionaries like Mozart, Einstein, Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Temple Grandin, etc. You can even add our own Alex Plank to the list because, well, that's why we're communicating here now.

I also try to show that, sure, we don't fit in with this society, but that's okay because we have other things to offer the world other than kids and office parties.

MUDA is whether something is a disorder, not ASD specifically. It's the difference between being a little shy versus having social anxiety disorder, or the difference between misplacing your car keys occasionally versus having ADHD. Bank robber or serial killer might be something like antisocial personality disorder. Autism and Asperger's are types of disorders, and someone generally has to be disabled in order to be diagnosed in the first placed (although they might improve enough that MUDA no longer applies).

I'm all for some kind of personality identity for what you're talking about (there's broad autistic phenotype, sort of), but I don't think it's a good idea to conflate it with Asperger's or especially ASD. Being dedicated and disciplined doesn't make someone disordered. Having narrow focus and interests doesn't necessarily make someone disciplined either. (My obsessive interest has been pretty useless... mostly because I lack the discipline needed to do anything productive regarding it.)

Yes but you cant just ignore the fact that its a real disability and causes a lot of problems.

Beleive it or not every mental disorder and disability is all bad, although it certainly seems that way sometimes

I am a girl and i know it can appear different in girls but it doesn't mean that entire symptoms can just absent, then that means they dont have autism, they probably have something else.

Even i have Social problems and im considered a VERY mild girl but i still have a ton of social issues.

Lol i like it, i wish everyone called me The Sonic Person,

I would ask, how many traits can be lacking to the point where having ASD doesn't really matter?

I mean I also have schizophrenia, but it's so mild it doesn't really matter.