Machine learning identifies FOUR autism subtypes

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What are the subtypes? "The Expert" "The Sensitive" etc.

I made them up!
Just wanted to give people options if they thought they fell between two types.

So for example, if you had high IQ but also severe social impairment and you were not sure if you fell under type 1 "aspie" or type 3 "alien", you could go with "sensitive".

Mrs Peel. Did you see that I posted the PDF of the actual article from the university a few posts back? Well anyway, here it is again.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypXKHR ... vE7o5/view

That is a brilliant diagram of the types though!

Thanks!

Yes I'm still reading the article, it's very dense. Got as far as the subtypes but haven't read about the genetic links yet.

You're very welcome. I couldn't believe my luck when a bloke in another autism group messaged me that PDF!

That article is way above my head, although the diagrams are helpful. I hope you or others can translate it for us!

Also just to say I love these names for types. I always fitted in the Highly Sensitive Person type so I am probably the Sensitive between types 1 and 3. I definitely have the high verbal IQ and social impairment, I have few repetitive behaviours. I would say my daughter is the Expert between types 1 and 4. She has lots of repetitive behaviours and a high verbal IQ, but little social impairment.

I suppose the 'in-between' types could be described as a mixture with the area they have most traits of being on top i.e.
1/3 or 3/1
2/4 or 4/2
1/4 or 4/1
3/2 or 2/3

Or am I getting too carried away by statistics and putting things into groups

^
It'll be interesting to see if knowledge of the actual paper leads to any modifications of the list, and if so, what the differences are. I'm still scratching my head about which subtype I might be.

MrsPeel, very nice effort rationalizing this. Love the visual. So hard to put a globe flat on paper.

I am considered an Aspie, but my IQ profile is spiky relative unto itself which would make me a Unicorn within that. Example: My visual IQ (my highest) is genius level, but my verbal IQ (my lowest) is average. So verbal is wicked low relative to visual, but not relative to the general population. Despite all measure being Average or above, my evaluator gave me a learning disability diagnosis due to multiple spikes and troughs with wild variance, which aligns with my personal experience (so easy here and so very difficult there). I definitely have sensory issues, not RRB - so towards "Sensitive" there. I suppose start with 4 groups, then 3 groups within each, etc.

Yes, I think we are just making educated guesses now aren't we. Well, Mrs Peel and others are, I'm just watching in admiration!

Hopefully the research will go well and researchers will enlighten us soon!

I've remembered this very interesting thread again and found a very clear description of the 4 types. Hope it is interesting to people. Although they do talk about types of treatment a lot

Groundbreaking brain study uncovers four different types of Autism


https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/g ... -of-autism

To be honest, I'm starting to think that this particular study is bogus. (Even if I was quite proud of my diagrammatic representation at the time!)

I think they may be looking at a natural large scatter of traits and brain connections within autism - then artificially and somewhat arbitrarily dividing it into 4 groups.

If autistics were actually divided into 4 separate subtypes, surely it would be easier to determine which one we fit into?

I came across a better subtyping in another paper not long ago, I will try and find that again and share.

Oh that's a pity! I was quite excited because I love fitting people into types and categorising them, it makes life easier for me because then I know how to deal with each type. If that makes sense.

Yes your diagram is brilliant! I love that sort of thing.

Oh yes, please share it if you find it

Ditto.

If I'm understanding the science, it sounds like the paper is suggesting autism might actually be four similar conditions caused by different brain chemical issues. Presumably an autistic person could have anywhere from just one to all four of these chemical issues.

If autism is rooted in brain chemistry then it should be possible to develop medication for it, though considering how difficult that is to get right with ADHD it may be a very limited "fix" and mostly applicable for people with ASD Level 3.

Regardless of whether you think autism should be cured, medication that could reduce Level 3 symptoms to Level 1 seems like a huge quality of life improvement.

Yes I think it would be good for people to have a better quality of life if they are really struggling.

I probably wouldn't want medication, I'd be too worried that it would affect my imagination. If I took medication and my imagination started changing or reducing, I'd be absolutely devastated. Also my powers of spotting mistakes and imperfections might stop and I wouldn't be able to do the job I love.