Most autistic people are high functioning
A small percentage of LFA may not be as mentally ret*d as they are measured to be due to severe dyspraxia, but they are not representative of most LFA.
The definitions for low/high functioning seem to shift, there's current DSMV related levels 1-4, older DSMIV lables i.e. Aspies versus auties and "unofficial" definitions LFA, HFA etc... I don't pay too much heed to such labels.
As a parent there's two very specific distinctions
- whether you can live independently
- whether you rely on others to live
The first group may as well be NTs.
In the second group there's those who require ongoing assistance but can live in shared accommodation and those who require institutional care. My own goal is to make sure my daughter can at the very least be semi-independent. What she's called is the least of my concerns...
btbnnyr
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I don't believe in unofficial definitions of autism as relying on others, not passing as NT, not having a job, not having friends, not having romantic relationship, any combo of these, etc.
I go by autism as officially defined and autism as defined in research, which splits clearly into LFA vs. HFA by IQ on standard IQ tests due to autism/mental retardation conflation in LFA.
People defining autism as whatever they want is bizarre and should be avoided.
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- whether you can live independently
- whether you rely on others to live
The first group may as well be NTs.
In the second group there's those who require ongoing assistance but can live in shared accommodation and those who require institutional care. My own goal is to make sure my daughter can at the very least be semi-independent. What she's called is the least of my concerns...
Ironically, many high functioning autistic people have trouble living independently. In this study, the high functioning group scored an average of 63 on the VABS - a measure of adaptive behavior that's normed like IQ. In other words, despite having an average IQ of 93, their independent living skills were what would be expected for someone with an IQ in the 60s (mild cognitive disability range). In fact, it wasn't much different from their lower-functioning sample (they called them low functioning, but many were what I'd consider medium-functioning instead) who had an average IQ of 53 and VABS score of 50.
There's a stereotype that only LFAs have trouble living independently, but really there are plenty of autistic people with average IQs and no language issues who still struggle with independent living. Interestingly, autistic people with cognitive disability often have adaptive skills on par for IQ, while those with average IQs have adaptive skills well below the level expected for their IQ.
Some years ago I followed the court case of infamous Australian mass murderer Martin Bryant in 1996. While incarcerated (pre guilty plea) Bryant was examined by court appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who diagnosed Bryant with Aspergers syndrome. Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, also examined Bryant and also diagnosed with him with Aspergers. What was strange was both psychiatrists measured his full scale IQ as 66?
It would appear (based on the case of Bryant) that the old DSMIV definition of Aspergers as IQ>70 was not followed.
btbnnyr
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Some years ago I followed the court case of infamous Australian mass murderer Martin Bryant in 1996. While incarcerated (pre guilty plea) Bryant was examined by court appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who diagnosed Bryant with Aspergers syndrome. Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, also examined Bryant and also diagnosed with him with Aspergers. What was strange was both psychiatrists measured his full scale IQ as 66?
It would appear (based on the case of Bryant) that the old DSMIV definition of Aspergers as IQ>70 was not followed.
1996 is very early time in understanding and diagnosis of AS, so the IQ>70 standard might not have been in place then, as it is now for research studies in which it is most important to separate HFA to avoid conflation with mental retardation on research tasks with neural measures like eeg or fmri.
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Drain and plane and grain and blain your brain, and then again,
Propane and butane out of the gas main, your blain shall sustain!
This is the community I was referring to. The people who speak 'for' low functioning autistic people. Although I would say there is also the 'self-advocates who use AAC' community, and I tend not to have much of a problem with that group.
Yes but that's not an autism community, it's a community of parents...
They call themselves 'the autism community', though.
Some years ago I followed the court case of infamous Australian mass murderer Martin Bryant in 1996. While incarcerated (pre guilty plea) Bryant was examined by court appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who diagnosed Bryant with Aspergers syndrome. Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, also examined Bryant and also diagnosed with him with Aspergers. What was strange was both psychiatrists measured his full scale IQ as 66?
It would appear (based on the case of Bryant) that the old DSMIV definition of Aspergers as IQ>70 was not followed.
1996 is very early time in understanding and diagnosis of AS, so the IQ>70 standard might not have been in place then, as it is now for research studies in which it is most important to separate HFA to avoid conflation with mental retardation on research tasks with neural measures like eeg or fmri.
DSMIV was published in 1994 so the aforementioned psychiatrists (both) stood by their diagnosis in 1996. Given this was recognised by a legal jurisdiction then (at least in Australia) there is at least legal evidence that a formal diagnosis of Aspergers/HFA does not require an IQ > 70
This is the community I was referring to. The people who speak 'for' low functioning autistic people. Although I would say there is also the 'self-advocates who use AAC' community, and I tend not to have much of a problem with that group.
Yes but that's not an autism community, it's a community of parents...
They call themselves 'the autism community', though.
Which is as meaningful as saying my own family (three members) declare we are also an autistic community...people can call themselves whatever they want...
btbnnyr
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Some years ago I followed the court case of infamous Australian mass murderer Martin Bryant in 1996. While incarcerated (pre guilty plea) Bryant was examined by court appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who diagnosed Bryant with Aspergers syndrome. Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, also examined Bryant and also diagnosed with him with Aspergers. What was strange was both psychiatrists measured his full scale IQ as 66?
It would appear (based on the case of Bryant) that the old DSMIV definition of Aspergers as IQ>70 was not followed.
1996 is very early time in understanding and diagnosis of AS, so the IQ>70 standard might not have been in place then, as it is now for research studies in which it is most important to separate HFA to avoid conflation with mental retardation on research tasks with neural measures like eeg or fmri.
DSMIV was published in 1994 so the aforementioned psychiatrists (both) stood by their diagnosis in 1996. Given this was recognised by a legal jurisdiction then (at least in Australia) there is at least legal evidence that a formal diagnosis of Aspergers/HFA does not require an IQ > 70
It is unclear to me that IQ>70 standard was widely used in 1996, as it is now widely used in research, which I am talking about, since the main use of IQ>70 is to separate HFA from LFA in research, so autism can be studied in HFA which has no conflation problems with mental retardation. Sometimes, IQ cutoff is set at 80, as it is in my research project, or sometimes in children, it is set differently to take into account communication problems, like PIQ>70 required, but VIQ can be lower. I don't recall saying that formal diagnosis of AS requires IQ>70. I said that HFA and LFA are distinguished by IQ>70 in research, and regardless of one's level of adaptive functioning in everyday life, if one has IQ>70, they are considered HFA instead of LFA. The distinction is important, as researchers want to be sure they are studing autism not something else to understand autistic brain, cognition, and behavior, and that is only found in HFA, not LFA. HFA with significant manifestations of other mental disorders are also not included, in case the other disorders like ADHD or anxiety or depression are conflated with autism.
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Drain and plane and grain and blain your brain, and then again,
Propane and butane out of the gas main, your blain shall sustain!
ASPartOfMe
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If autistics decided what the definition of high functioning was it would have been literally functioning ability not IQ.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
btbnnyr
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I would still use IQ as the distinguishing factor, since I am interested in understanding pure autistic brain from a research perspective.
In education, distinguishing based on intellectual functioning seems also important, as I think that both HFA and LFA can learn, but methods used would not be the same for someone who is low vs. normal vs. high intelligence.
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Drain and plane and grain and blain your brain, and then again,
Propane and butane out of the gas main, your blain shall sustain!
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