Adults with [Kanner's] Autism

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I have a few questions:

Do you appear to be socially aloof? This means that rather than interacting in a one-sided and eccentric manner, you avoid social contact for whatever reason; you appear uninterested to observers.

Do you do stereotypical motor mannerisms (rocking, swaying, flapping, spinning, pacing, etcetera), and are they often?

Is your receptive and expressive language "normal" (neglect monotonous and singsong type speech)?

These three above are the common presentation of adults with Autistic Disorder (those with a more severe impairment, or those who've improved as they develop will manifest differently, of course); I'm socially aloof (as in, I don't interact with people at all out there and in person); I do frequent and stereotypical motor mannerisms, and my speech is fine, albeit monotonous (lacking in emotional inflection, I sound the same no matter how I am feeling inside).

In the terms of Lorna Wing, as a child I was the perfect mix of the 'active/odd' and the 'aloof' group. My brother didn't speak until he was almost 4 (before that I spoke for him; told my parents what he wanted, etc.) and he also didn't interact with or even pay attention to anyone until then.
That's probably the reason I was diagnosed with AS and my brother with HFA (even though we're very much alike).

I also have several of the "classic" stereotypical movements (handflapping/-twisting, rocking, pacing), and pretty "normal" speech most of the time, even if it's a little pedantic and/or monotonous at times.

The kind of "blunted affect", when your emotions don't show through very much, that you might have in any kind of Autism Spectrum Disorder, is something that sometimes makes things difficult for me.

This is especially bothersome when I'm in pain of some kind; people don't seem to believe me when I tell them I am, just because I don't show it.
I don't know, it just doesn't come naturally to me...

What counts as an adult? I'm 19 (so only just an adult according to most countries), but I'm more mature than the majority of my peers by a long way.

I have no idea if I appear aloof, but I suspect that I don't. I had a good group of friends in secondary school that I communicated well with, and they taught me to "merge", at least with them even if they weren't exactly normal themselves. I possibly do to some of my "friends" at university, but that was a concious decision not to allow myself to become proper friends with them because I spend the majority of my time in Cambridge, and therefore have no time to spend with them out of class.

I used to hand flap when I was a kid (I think), but I mostly stopped while I was at school. I've started chewing on my sleeves/nails/hair again though recently, which is annoying and I need to stop.

I don't have much of a problem with speech either. I do have a tendency to speak loudly when I shouldn't, and I've started stammering recently, but I did have delayed speech as a child (which was the main reason for my diagnosis as HFA).

I am fairly outspoken and mature though: I had serious problems as a child (my parents were going to send me to a specialist school if I failed my 11+ and didn't get into the school I did because they didn't think that I'd be able to cope anywhere else), but I've learnt to conceal most of the outward signs of my autism except for when I'm seriously stressed or ill.

Depends on who I'm talking to. The more comfortable I am with the person, the more likely I am to talk my head off (especially if we share a common interest. I'll clam up if I convince myself that they won't be interested in what I have to say). The less I know someone, I'm very likely to be almost completely mute...only to mutter a "yes" or whatever other monosyllabic response is required. Sometimes, nothing comes out at all =/ Sometimes I try to practice being social, and I'll force myself to ask "How are you?" or whatever, but I'm sure it sounds as forced as it really is.

Though I suspect this might just be a case of social anxiety I've picked up, I'm pretty sure I've always been this way towards adults. Now that all of my peers are all adults, this only makes things all the more difficult. Idunno, it's a theory.

The more I hear you describe Kanner's, the more I think I have it, and not Asperger's. I've tried researching the differences, but it seems like none of the articles I check up on have very concrete descriptions. Half of them might as well just say "All ASDs are exactly the same."

Maybe it's just one of those things that you really need a professional diagnosis to find out?

Hmm...apparently, if you develop speech early (as I did), it's very likely that you don't have Kanner's...but it says this is not always the case

The more I find out about the "differences", the more I just want to stick with general ASD.

In some cases I appear to be, to people who can't read me too well (which in all fairness is most people). But whether I want to avoid contact when I look that way is not always the case: I can want contact and either (a) be unable to act in ways that show it, or (b) not even know how to act in ways that show it, or even (c) not even know I am not acting in ways that show it. (I can also not want contact, not be aware of the possibility of contact, not be able to perceive the people involved, etc etc.)

Which is why I don't like the word "aloof" to describe that: It predisposes observers to not look any further for clues a person might want to communicate or socialize.

And I can make unusual social approaches. (Of course, some of them are so unusual they don't get noticed, hence, again, bothered by the term "aloof".)

However, I have most of my life fit mostly into the category named (or potentially misnamed) "passive", in which a person will interact if someone starts the interaction but not beforehand. (And often have the motor planning problems I have, and are AFAIK more likely than any other group of autistic people to experience an increase in those problems later on.) Generally I need something to cue me into action, whether it's a person or an object or an animal. Then I can also have trouble stopping.



Yes, and they're a fair amount of the time. They're less easy to hide than they used to be, as well. But I also have long periods of looking just plain inert.



Receptive is harder for me than expressive, but I have some serious difficulties with expressive as well, which at this point include close to no expressive speech (whereas I used to have what passed for good expressive speech, and prior to that had lost speech in infancy and regained it as echolalic, although the "good" stuff wasn't always what I meant because of the huge gap between expressive and receptive). I also have trouble with expressive typed language but obviously not nearly so much as with spoken. Receptive went (even when I had speech) from not even being recognized by me as meaningful, to being able to pick out a few words here and there, to understanding a fair portion of what is said to me, but I rely on a lot of tricks to keep that appearance of understanding up.

In all areas of language I am better on my specific topics than any other, and can talk about one thing while being completely incapable of talking about something more important.



Where do you get your information on this matter? (And by this I mean studies.)

I always find it interesting when people do splits between autistic people based on Wingian names for apparent social styles, given that they almost never take people who mostly fit passive (and many of the stereotypes of passive fit me to a T, I hate to say) into account.

yes.
the stereotype is auties are supposed to treat others like theyre part of the furniture due to not having the level of connection with humans that non auties have,this is what it's like for am-am do not have that connection,am have had pity off some staff and medical professionals for being disconnected and uninterested,as if am have lost out,when am never think or care about it.am have a profound connection with cats and horses,and would like those who pity auties for their aloofness to try and be the only one a young and regulary bucking/impulsive galloping off thoroughbred x id [a type often found in horse racing] stays calm for.

yes.
the most often one am do is rocking,it's constant and it happens whether sitting or standing or lying down,when wake up or when trying to sleep.
if am not doing something with them,am constantly stimming with hands,hand flapping,bending,twisting etc,also head bang quite a lot or punch head as a stim though they are not always part of stimming,they automatically get classed under meltdowns by staff and the ignorant ones even say it's all behavior to manipulate them because if they see it as a stim they see am stopping and starting it and being in a 'normal state' during it unlike when its in meltdown.


dont know about the last one,dont understand what it means.

The book, The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry By Robert E. Hales, Stuart C. Yudofsky.

To shorten it: Socially aloof, "normal" speech (speaking to a professional one on one is "normal", apart from the lack of nonverbal cues, of course), plus repetitive behaviours is the most common picture of adults with Autistic Disorder (stereotyped motor mannerisms are just one way the repetitive behaviours can manifest).

Perhaps the passive and aloof terms are a good line to determine severity in social interaction; I've been passive before, especially during primary school, and this period was when I was at my "best" in academic and social performance. I started to become aloof in high school, and then I moved to where I am now (totally aloof to people; except my mother and sister).

KingdomOfRats,

Expressive and receptive speech is the ability to express yourself verbally (expressive speech) and understand what is said to you (receptive speech).

No one,

The above picture of adults with Kanner's Autism is in stark contrast to people who say those with such are usually nonverbal, or can't speak without a mechanical aid (I had a psychologist say to me that since I can talk, I can't have Autism, I have Asperger's instead).

I'm not the most social person in the world, most of the time I do anything to avoid interacting with anybody.

Yes i'm stimming often, rocking, swaying, pacing, spinning, flapping, head shaking, i also sometimes walk and flap but do a weird type of flap like flick my hands back and forth as im walking, or ill open and close my hands a lot as im walking.

My voice actually isnt monotone or stay the same, well actually i do know, that i dont always have emotion in my voice, but my voice is def not near monotone or anything like that. My verbal iq though is on the lower end.

I might've had Kanners when I was younger, as I liked to flap my hands, bang my head, had (and still have) strong obsessions, and I wasn't able to speak until I was 4. Plus I was regarded as mentally ret*d. I also had the voice that tended to fluctuate in volume.

I am not mentally ret*d anymore, and I am able to speak, though sometimes I stutter. I also don't have the fluctuating voice, though my mother claims that I still have a "monotone" voice sometimes.