Where would Rain man fall on the spectrum today?

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In the 1988 movie “rain man” the character Raymond Babbitt lives in an institution, yet is described as being “high-functioning”.

Inaccurate as this may be, you have to remember that in 1988 autism was a very rare disorder, and only the most severe cases were generally diagnosed. Aspergers wasn’t even an official diagnosis until 1992.

Today, he would probably be what under the DSMV-5 is called “autism level 2”

-He is verbal, but he has a very abnormal speech pattern, and is incapable of holding a normal conversation.

-He is extremely dependant of routines.

-He suffers extreme meltdowns on an almost daily basis over the smallest things.

This is just my take on it. There might be others that disagree wit me, and I would love to read your take on it.

I would think level 2 also. I would be interested in what people who do this for a living think.

The character Rain Man was based on, Kim Peek, was likely not on the spectrum. The current thought is that he had FG Syndrome. So none of the above.

True, he has based on him partly. But Dustin Hoffman also studied actual autistic people in order to prepare for the role.