What Level are You On?

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I'd probably be the same.

There are no sub-levels. I have a copy of the DSM-5 and I have looked extensively for those sub-levels that were originally supposed to be there. I can't find them. I have the autism assessment, psychological, IQ, executive function and adaptive skills assessments, but I am being referred for speech (again) and OT and PT (again) for other disabilities such as DCD and sensory issues.

I was in a day program for adults with various developmental disabilities for over a year, it got complicated, I quit. I'm touring an autism-specific one called Have Dreams with a 1:5 ratio this week. I can't function at 1:5. 1:2 at best. There is another autism-specific day program called Rimland I might tour but I know nothing about it. There's always the Clearbrook Autism Program if nothing else works out.

I also I have Bipolar I Disorder and severe anxiety, which I take medication for.

Hmmm.... this is a rather challenging question to answer. I'd get a 1 on social interactions, but I don't think that my special interests are severe at all (I've too many of them... how many "special interests" can you have??), don't have any repetitive behaviours, and it doesn't bother me if I can't pursue special interests for awhile. So that would be a 0 on special interests and repeditive behaviour. That would be more like SCD from what I've heard.

Back before the DSM-V came out it was said that I had Aspergers. But I'm not sure how well that ever fit. Socially yes, behavourially not quite so much.

But that's a tale for another day...

Maybe you should've got PDD-NOS back then instead.

I've never been good at following or remembering the technical aspects. It gets muddled for me and I forget a lot of it too. So I was probably giving layman's terminology. That within say level 2, there are varying degrees of ablity, aptitude, whatever. It's always seemed to me it's not so much what you have as how much it impacts your life that matters the most.

I have trouble with it too, which is why I bought the DSM-5 so I could refer to it instead of remember. You are quite right that within each level there are varying degrees of ability. Especially level 2. I think level 2 is the most diverse of all.

The DSM-5 is vague. Definitely within those levels, I was not given specifiers really. I have at least 2 disabilities.

Last edited by Lumi on 12 Oct 2017, 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

double post

Probably true TBH, but I believe the main reason why that wasn't given was the following:

If you didn't know anyone with any sort of autism at all (or you didn't have it yourself), and someone said to you "I've got PDD-NOS" what's the chance you'd know what that meant? About as likely as seeing snow fall in Florida. But if that same person said that they're autistic or have Aspergers it's much more likely that you'd have some idea about what they're talking about (how accurate it'd be, that's not something I'd get into now), and you'd be more likely to be less judgemental in social situations (which were, and still are, the one area that I don't do especially well on -- the other's sequencing/working memory).

Bottom line: Giving a diagnosis of Aspergers meant that I'd get any support needed, no questions asked. That's why I go with it (officially) even though it's not truly accurate. Yes, if I'd been diagnosed after DSM-5, it'd be SCD instead. But it doesn't really matter what you call it. Changing what a condition's called doesn't really change what it does or doesn't do.

I was diagnosed at level 2 but my diagnosis thing was a mess and it barely explained anything or what the two parts were and didn't even have the restrictive behaviours, social communication levels. It was just level 2.

So do you think you should have been a different level?