How autistic is your kid?

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Mine has HFA (plus ADHD and epilepsy) - generally very autistic.
School for high functioning kids on the spectrum. We have to quite vigerously structure and visualize his day (we use a version of "TEACHH")

What about your's?

(I think a lot of your kids function better than mine... just interested! )

11 yr. old son has Asperger's - he's gifted, high functioning and on no medications (except melatonin for sleep issues). He is in his 2nd year of homeschooling and his current preoccupations are the TV show "24" and Marvel comic books.

"autistic", most people use the term "high functioning" but when he was diagnosed at 5, they said "almost on the border of not being autistic". Interesting, the border is not Asperger's, it's "not autistic". At 3 when he was first evaluated by a team of experts, he was considered "severely affected".
He doesn't seem to stim anymore, he has the eye roll thing that almost no one ever notices. He repeats himself and others a lot, he still mimicks. He's still quite behind on receptive language, but has now picked up on people teasing him. So, he gets paranoid.
He's at and above grade level with academics. We're fighting the school to supervise his special needs. I just don't think they can do it.

I dont have a kid.

My son is 100% autistic.

Autistic is a yes or no question.

He is pretty high functioning for receptive language, but he cannot speak very well. He does not understand sequence of events or time, he is extremly sensory seeking, and has frequent meltdowns when we don't pay attention to his need to stim constantly

It's hard for me to compare my son to other children. He's not a little professor as some people describe a child with Aspergers, but he's very bright. On an IQ test, his highest subtest (tested above average) was in the area of perceptive reasoning. I see that he's perceptive in many ways, but other people miss that because of his autistic behaviors.

He's so bright, yet he struggles to read. I have a hard time understanding that sometimes. He's well-above grade level in science, history, and social studies.....as long as you read it to him. He's in the 3rd grade, but tests at high school level for science.

I have to homeschool him. He is atypical enough that the school system did not have a program for him and I didn't want to litigate it.

Your son sounds a lot like me... 154-157 IQ on the old scale here... I hate to read because my mind does not work like that. I am extremly adept at perceptive reasoning, and abstract problem solving. It takes me SO LONG to read. I hate it and don't have the patience. I can actually read aloud faster than I can read "in my head" but when I read aloud, I read flawlessly and understand 5-10% of what I read. I can write a novel faster than I can read one.

I always tested very well and read aloud very well, so none of the educators, or my parents really figured out my difficulty with reading. Once we switched to lecture format vs book work format I excelled in school... Most teachers attempt to explain long enough for me to get it, then expect the book to reinforce it, but I would just use their lectures alone to do all the work.

Homeschool sounds like a great option for you and I am glad you have that ability! My kids are homeschooled as well.

that's weird because my son can read better than he can listen. I can read fast and for pleasure (fiction, creative nonfiction) I have good comprehension. My husband reads slowly, especially fiction. He's dyslexic. However, he can read nonfiction and prefers it (reference books, text books)
Before my son could read, he could infer what stories meant by the pictures. He understands stick drawing and caricature better than fully detailed pictures. It was a point of contention when we were making picture stories for him., My husband would draw a car with color and detail, Pop wouldn't understand the point of it. I'd draw the ugliest line car (no perspective, proper detail or dimensions) and Pop would understand it was a message and that it meant we were going into the car.

Which brings me to another point. I can draw a story better than I can tell one.

My daughter and son are both high functioning. Some days their behaviors are very minimal and other days they get fairly intense.

Our daughter, 18 has autism with adhd and mr, her IQ is 66..but her artistic talents are amazing! I took art for years, but the way she sees the world is well beyond the IQ of 66, her drawings leave me in wondrous awe......

That's very good to hear. It gives me some insight on the reading thing.

How autistic? I'm not sure exactly. J is 9 and was given the offical diagnoses of aspergers plus visual memory disorder on the 10th of Dec, 07. We are still sifting threw J's issues and trying to sort out whats what. I will explain;

J was born 5pounds 13 ounces natural birth very quick delivery
dx'd with hypospadius at birth.
1st stage repair done at 5months (post op bleeding started just after,my concerns about the bleeding were poo who'd)
by 5 1/2 months bleeding so sever he needed transfussions and we nearly lost him- The transfussions weren't given when they should have and he had a stroke.(apparently no last damage) he has been tested for every type of bleeding disorder several hospitals could think of, know one knows why this happened.
By age 4 he'd under gone at least 3 more surgical repairs. Didnt bleed again.
For his 5th birthday he got chicken pox
Around his 6th birthday he got full blown glandular fever
at about 6 1/2 was dx'd with adhd then also capd.
By age 7 he needed quite a lot of dental work, but the dental clinic wouldn't touch him because of his undiagnosed bleeding issues as a baby, which meant more surgery , root canal work,fillings and extractions. Why so much work I dont know, I thought he was lacking in vitamins. His teeth were just crumbling. They suggested tooth grinding?
This whole time there still appears to be stuff going on in regards to his hypospadius repairs.
By age 8 I was asked by his new peaditrician if J was in a special school?
By 8 1/2 J is now being evaluated for autism.
J has sensory issues, ie lights sometimes bother him,crowds bother him, noises bother him,smells can make him feel like passing out,he seeks out touch stimulants but is tactile defensive we are finding out. Gross and fine motor problems, visual memory problems, is being evaluated for asthma. needs orthopedic inserts for his shoes, again needs to be looked at by urology dept for ongoing issues. Is great at picking up facts is extremely verbose, has social issues big time, is very quick with pc games/playstation/xbox/ds games. Goes into shut down mode when uncomfortable. Has emotion regulation issues. Has poor self esteem every where except home. He is obsessive about ideas, germs,games,new information,lights being turned on,plus more. I am learning new stuff everyday about my son.
J is like a game, each time you think you have reached a new level and can conquer it there are sub levels to get threw first.
J is J I dont know how autistic he is, he just is. Probably what I thought was just my special very different little boy, is autism traits. But the bottom line is he is my boy, and we will wade our way threw each thing as it comes to light.
Sorry I have a tendancy to ramble, I think because I have no where else to off load. I will stop now lol.

My daughter was diagnosed with high function autisim , but the Dr. told us to continue taking her to regular school. I was reading here that the school system will not have a program and advise you to do home school ? Did I miss understand or how does this work? She is only in preschool now.

Odrixs, you read someone's personal experience where their school doesn't offer what that child needs. It's true that many if not most school districts are woefully undertrained for teaching autistic kids. But needs and availability vary from district to district. even within districts and counties. So, you'll have to determine what your child needs then find out if the school you live near provide that.

I don't agree at all! By "autistic" I mean the whole spectrum including Aspergers Syndrome.
Some kids with AS/autism are quirky and eccentric, but can manage mainstream schooling. Some, just as intelligent, can't. When I say my son is "very" autistic, I mean, as you say, that he has lots of sensory issues, problems sequencing events, ect. Some kids with AS have the same difficulties, others seem to manage better.

I agree with Shaggydaddy with his point that you can't really quantify how autistic a child is. I don't think Asperger's is any more mild or extreme than what my son is like and I don't think he is less autistic when he is having a good day. Its a point of contention because at school, it's the professionals that should be providing services all the time, not just when my son is having a bad day.

We (the autism parent community as a whole) end up quibbling over who is more or less autistic and what it means, and how to deal with it. It becomes a political issue and breeds division where there should be unity. Among Aspies there is a lot of debate as to whether Asperger's is part of autism or not and is it milder.