Diagnosed With HIGH FUNCTIONING AUTISM: Someone Help me!

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Hi thanks again for the responses, there is one little detail i forgot to mention. The profession im studying doesnt focus on 1 subject but is a allaround teaching profession for kindergarden and pre-primary school.

Have you heard of Donna Williams? She's a person with autism who's written a number of textbooks and autobiographies. I mention her because she has a Diploma of Education to teach primary school, and she wrote about studying to become a teacher in one of her autobiographies--"Somebody Somewhere". If you haven't done so already, maybe reading about her experiences would help you figure out whether teaching is right for you?

Donna Williams also published an interview that she did with a woman named Geraldine Robertson--another teacher diagnosed with autism. The interview is mostly about Geraldine Robertson's experiences as a teacher. You can read it online if you think it might be helpful. Here is the link http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/03/20/an-autistic-teacher-geraldine-robertson/

Animalcrackers: This is really great, thanks a lot for the Recommendation. I will definitely read through this book through.

One thing I definatly would not do is stress over the fact that you have been diagnosed with HFA. I am 18 I have known I have had Asperger's for a long time. From what you have posted you seem to think kinda like me, as far as the whole music goes I love music though I honestly can't read it xD math is my strong suit however I do have and extreme lack of a short term memory. I would definatly try to find a job teaching music if it is what you are passionate about. Many people with HFA and Aspergers tend to turn their interests into careers. I wish you the best of luck in teaching. also welcome to WP.

OK, first question: are you registered with your university's disability services office? (It may not be called exactly that, but will probably have either 'disability' or 'accessibility' in its name.) Some of the issues you describe may be helped by accomodations they provide. For example if (like me) you have trouble taking notes, you can get a notetaker, which basically means one of your classmates volunteers to anonymously give you copies of their notes.

I have the same problem. I learnt from a young age to just act like I know anyone who talks to me. I won't use their name or refer to any context I knew them from because I don't remember that, but instead just say the kinds of generic things people say to people they know, such as 'how are you?', or else talk about myself. I also figured out to try my best to befriend highly recognizable people, such as physically disabled people.



Is it possible for you to leave early, so that you have time to spare wandering around lost? Bring something to study (eg your textbook) in case you find your class earlier than you expected you would, you can sit in the hallway and study (I often see university students doing this, autistic or no).

Also, since it's only the first two weeks of class, you may find this gets better with time. Also, when I'm learning to navigate a new place I tend to pick a 'starting point' and learn how to get anywhere from that starting point. (In my new university it's the library.) That way I get the same route every time I go to or from a class, because I'm always going between that class and the starting point.



How fast do you read? I've heard that can be a common problem for people who read very slowly, because the longer it takes to read a sentence, the more time you have to hold the first half in short term memory.

Are you better with understanding spoken sentences than written ones? If so, ask the disability student office to allow you to record your lectures, and check if your class has online resources that may be audio or movie materials.

You could also look into getting yourself a neuropsychological assessment. This is the 'gold standard' for diagnosing learning disabilities, a psychologist will test you on a variety of cognitive tests and give you a detailed description of your strengths and weaknesses. (Did you already have one of these when assessed for HFA? If so, you should get the report for it and see what it says.) It may help you figure out what specifically you find difficult about reading comprehension - whether it's a reading problem, memory problem, or language problem, or some mix of two or more of those.



Do you use a cellphone? If so, try entering every number you need to remember into your address book. That's what my Mom does.



Ask people to either write it down or give you one step at a time.

Does this problem contribute to you getting lost, due to an inability to follow directions? If so, then follow the first direction and then immediately find another person to ask directions from. That's what I do.



Firstly, how comfortable are you with telling others that you have a disability? You could say 'I have a disability that affects my social skills. I tend to be very blunt in how I say things. This is not because I'm trying to be offensive, it's because I don't know how people will react to what I say and I don't know any other way to say the same thing.' (Or whatever your specific difficulties are.) Most people will be a lot more understanding of someone with a disability than of someone who's just plain weird.

Secondly, if you find group work very distressing, talk to the disability student office and your professor about whether you could be excused from group work or allowed to work alone on group projects. That's not an unreasonable accomodation for a student on the autism spectrum.

Lastly, see if your disability student office or your local autism society knows of any social skills groups for high functioning autistic/Asperger Syndrome adults. You can get training in how to socialize with other people effectively. Or you can study on your own by some combination of: taking drama classes, sitting and watching random people interact, getting some social skills book such as What Does Everybody Else Know That I Don't? (though that book is written for ADHD adults, most of the issues it describes are present in autistics as well).



Do you feel no empathy because you don't understand? In other words, if someone tells you very clearly what they are feeling and why, can you empathize with them?

If not, that may indicate an additional problem other than autism. Particularly if they describe a situation where you would feel the same way if it happened to you, but you still aren't affected by what they're feeling.

If you do feel empathy when someone clearly explains what they're feeling and it's the same thing you'd feel in their situation, but that's the only time you feel empathy, then there are two things you can try.

Firstly, you should work on learning how to recognize subtle cues regarding how someone is feeling. There are online self-training resources for autistics to work on this, such as this one. You could also try watching the show Lie To Me, it's a detective show involving a team of experts in nonverbal communication, and often they'll freeze and highlight certain expressions and the main characters will explicitly point out facial expressions/body language and explain what they mean.



When working through a math problem, write down the result of each and every step so you don't have to remember them.

You could also try seeing if you could get the math requirement at your university waived, or else get tutoring for any math classes you are taking.



You express yourself better in writing than in speech? That's common for autistic people. You can use this to plan conversations in advance. Write down what you want to say in an upcoming conversation, then practice saying it until you can do so fluently. For example if you're planning to ask for something from your professor, write down what you're planning to ask for. You can also carry the page you wrote this stuff on and glance at it occasionally if you're lost for words.

Lastly, remember that you've been high functioning autistic all your life - the only thing that's changed is that now you know what you're dealing with. This diagnosis is not something to despair over, it's an opportunity. You can rfind solutions for things you've been struggling with all your life.

I found associating names with adjectives can help memorising names. Once I really got over it being ridiculous, I found it's somewhat easier for me to remember a "long Lars" (tall or a long face), a "clumsy Christine" or an "orange Odette" (orange jewellery, orange hair...).

That is a very interesting gambit. I'm going to have to think about it. And it just might work!

(now, what I learned from poker is that we're looking for the higher percentage plays. nothing flatly nothing works all the time. I'm looking for things, and this might well be one of them, which have less downside and more upside)

I like that this is relatively brief, could perhaps even be briefer.

And I like that it's vague. I'm not saying what disability, I'm saying how the disability affects social interaction which in the context of interacting with the other person, are the relevant, pertinent facts.

Thanks for those others answer as well. I will try out all the tips you guys give me.

About answering ettinas question, no, i really dont feel any empathy and, i really mean in all circumstances. Nothing is able to induce such empathy. If friends die, or tell me they are sad or whatever it is, i really cant feel any empathy, and many times i just dont understand why even though they tell me the reason. Same with family members, however, i would feel upset if they would pass away and i would do anything for my brother but, as for everyone else, even my girlfriends, i dont feel any empathy at all for them. It is kind of complex whats happening.