Question if ASD can be simply profound ID if it is so severe

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Since Autism is a spectrum, can Autism be so severe to the point where it is now simply profound Intellectual Disability?



If you at least had symptoms of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior that caused you great distress from early childhood, you are considered to have the mildest form of Autism.

A mild form of Autism includes social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior from early childhood.

Moderate form of Autism includes clear deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills in addition to apparent social impairments from early to late childhood.

Severe Autism may include, lack of social skills, extremely impaired communication, repetitive behavior.

Profound Autism may include, intellectual disability (an IQ of 69 or below). Symptoms may include impaired social communications or interactions, bizarre behavior, and lack of social or emotional reciprocity. Sleep problems, aggressiveness, and self-injurious behavior are also possible frequent occurrences.[10] LFA is not a recognized diagnosis in the DSM-5 or ICD-10.

Asperger's Syndrome is often referred to as "High Functioning Autism" ( the mildest form of Autism ), and many experts agree that Autism should be diagnosed on a spectrum.

It can be so obvious that it's diagnosed at a very young age, or so mild that, like some living beings, a living being could largely "blend in" and only be diagnosed after learning, hearing about it or you can have Autism that was never diagnosed for the rest of your life

well no. Autsim isn't simply profound intellectual disability if ti was it'd be profound intellectual disability. But simply said in that case it would be better described as id not autism. Can you stop reposting that, it's misleading at best. Id say it's flat out wrong.

The terms severe autism and profound Intellectual Disability are usually used interchangeably.

Someone who said to have “severe autism“ nearly always has a severe intellectual disability.

Although officially they are separate things.

There are no biological markers so no thick steel walls with autism separating co-morbid conditions with autism.

A lot of the time you’ll find allot of terms used casually.

What’s your story Franz surely you don’t think your that intellectually disabled?

You wouldn’t be capable of writing or comprehending this.

I have borderline intellectual functioning.

The autism label is given to people with primarily social and communication difficulties. ID causes a broad range of impairments. Since ID causes social and communication difficulties, they don't qualify for an autism diagnosis unless their social and communication impairments are greater than other people with the same IQ. That means some people with ID who aren't autistic have social difficulties that are worse than people with mild autism.

Thank you!

It makes sense

I think that Intellectual Disabilities should be a form of ASD, if the symptoms of Intellectual Disability includes history of communication delays, sensory issues or repetitive thoughts and behaviors from early to late childhood.


For example, Fragile X Syndrome is not considered Autism by some medicinal professionals, but I consider it Autism and I will explain to you why.



Symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome includes:

● delayed speech
● delayed motor skills
● repetitive and unclear speech (especially in boys)
● autistic-like behaviors, including poor eye contact, hand biting, hand flapping and sensitivity
to noise and crowds
● learning difficulties
● social anxiety
● hyperactivity and short attention spans (especially in boys)
● shyness (mostly seen in girls)
● large ears
● a long and narrow face
● flat feet
● in boys, large, but functional, testicles
● very flexible joints
● mitral valve prolapse (leaky heart valve); this is seen in about half of all adults with fragile X
● aortic enlargement in a small proportion
● high blood pressure that can be treated with medication
● scoliosis






Symptoms of Multiple Complex Developmental Disorders includes:

● Depression.
● Mania.
● Anxiety.
● Anger.
● Dissociative symptoms such as depersonalization, derealization, deja vu, etc.
● Emotional instability.
● Psychopathic behavior.
● Narcissism.
● Paranoia.
● Obsessive-compulsive behavior.
● Difficulty with social skills.
● Repetitive behaviour and patterns.
● Sensory processing disorder. (Poor motor skills, poor auditory processing, poor depth
perception, etc.)
● Alexithymia. (Difficulty expressing self, difficulty understanding emotions, literal concrete
thinking, etc.)
● Lack of eye contact.
● Intense, singular interests.
● Low interest in dress up games during childhood.
● Learning difficulties symptoms such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula, NVLD, slow
learning, poor memory, etc.
● AD/HD symptoms such as poor concentration, poor decision making, poor judgement,
impulsiveness, difficulty sitting still, etc.
● Synesthesia.
● Neurological sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorder, etc.
● Conditions affecting perceptions and/or cognition, such as agnosia, aphasia, etc.
● Tourette syndrome or Tic disorder.
● Epilepsy or Seizure disorder.
● Parkinsonian syndrome features such as tremors, stiff movements, etc.




Symptoms of Tuberous sclerosis complex includes:

● developmental delays
● seizures
● intellectual disabilities
● an abnormal heart rhythm
● noncancerous tumors of the brain
● calcium deposits on the brain
● noncancerous tumors of the kidneys or heart
● growths around or underneath the fingernails and toenails
● growths on the retina or pale patches on the eye
● growths on the gums or tongue
● pitted teeth
● areas of the skin that have decreased pigment
● red patches of skin on the face
● raised skin with a texture like an orange peel, which is usually on
the back

This is the exact reason why I don't call ALL allistics 'neurotypicals', because of disabilities/disorders like these. Not everyone with Fragile-X has autism but Fragile-X shares a lot of autism traits and it is a life-long condition that can make a person different and even have difficulties fitting in with their NT peers.

I know this because I have a friend with Fragile-X. She has always struggled with making friends (in fact I think I'm her only friend she has), she's 30 but has never had a job because she keeps getting turned down, she doesn't have a boyfriend, and she still lives at home with her parents. And it's not because she's lazy, it's because she struggles with achieving these life goals, just like a lot of autistic people do.
She said that when she first started school all she did was hit other children and have her hands over her ears as much as she could. She wasn't a violent bully-type child, she just didn't know how to handle the social classroom setting and all the noise, so it resulted in her lashing out without really understanding what she was doing.

Thank you!

It makes sense

I don't know. I once knew of a boy who was so severely autistic that nothing could break him away from being locked inside his head, not any medication or therapy. He was completely non-verbal and if any other children came near him he would have a meltdown. So his parents had to make sure he was out of the way whenever me or any other kids came round to play with his sister. All he done every day was leap about in the 'sensory room' that his parents made specially, and do extreme repetitive behaviours like throwing the same object and picking it up, for hours on end. He was still in diapers at 11 years old and he had to go into care by the time he was 13 because he started getting aggressive. He couldn't go to school because he was so locked inside his own head that he just couldn't be educated and no matter how much they tried to teach him to do simple instructions, he just couldn't do it. Some therapists wondered if he was clever in his mind but that the autism was so severe that it just made him completely unable to express anything at all.
I don't think the poor kid was happy. When I went round there I sometimes saw him staring out of the window as if part of him wanted to be involved in the 'normal' world but he just couldn't figure out how to do it.

I often wonder what he's doing now as an adult. I've lost touch with his sister and none of his family seem to be on Facebook. I'd like to know what ever became of him.

Thank you

It makes sense

As this topic is interesting to the OP, I will give comparisons about the autistic boy and a neighbour I know who has intellectual disability (both are severely affected by their disorders).

I did not know the intellectually disabled boy when he was a child but I'm sure he was probably not much different as what he is now. I don't know the autistic boy any more but I will just put what I remember him as.

Verbal skills of autistic boy: Completely non-verbal
Verbal skills of ID boy: Can only say "hello"
Intellectual skills in autistic boy: Nobody knew but he could have had some intellect that he was unable to express
Intellectual skills of ID boy: Completely unable to learn or store much new information that a baby over 2 years old can learn
Physical skills of autistic boy: Very physically able
Physical skills of ID boy: Wheelchair bound, but not sure if he has cerebral palsy too, although he is the average size of a grown man
Emotional skills of autistic boy: His emotions only seem to come out as aggression
Emotional skills of ID boy: He mostly expresses happiness and excitement because he's easily amused, but can cry if he is physically hurt or is startled
Social skills of autistic boy: Completely unable to communicate
Social skills of ID boy: Unaware of subtle or non-verbal language but makes eye contact and says "hello" to every person he sees (but doesn't understand if mean people take the piss; any reaction from other people is exciting to him)
How the autistic boy saw the world: A scary, noisy and unpredictable place
How the ID boy sees the world: A happy, loving, friendly, carefree and forgiving place
Lifestyle of autistic boy: Toys and play equipment for sensory, being totally alone, happy with repetitive behaviours and sameness
Lifestyle of ID boy: Toys for amusement, expressing his only social interaction ability (saying "hello"), requiring constant supervision unless he is asleep

This proves that both are very limited by their disabilities.

Thank you!

It it interesting.


I am looking forward to it.

These diagnostic terms have an important function: they define the problem that needs to be addressed. Mixing conditions because they are commonly comorbid would be a problem as what happens when someone does not have the comorbid condition?

ASD is a specific developmental disorder from birth/early childhood that impacts social communication. By keeping that narrow, you have a framework with which to address the issue. IDs, on the other hand, are related to intellectual development, which require a different intervention or remedy. Think about having a broken bone and the flu, you would want to be able to identify both as each requires a different solution, even though someone with a broken bone may have the flu.

But I also understand your point of view. The experience of these conditions aren't always present with a nice little dividing line. So what is useful for medical professionals might not be so clear cut for those living with these conditions.

Thank you