The different levels of Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

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To start off with the high end of the spectrum:
1. Mild Asperger's Syndrome-These people can generally make friends, get married, have normal jobs and live independently. They can acquire average social skills for their age usually (such as being able to interact with others, greet others and read facial expressions/body language or other things along those lines), but there will be a delay in learning them. They may also come off as awkward, but can generally overcome it. Usually they can learn to express emotions and understand jokes, idioms and sarcasm. They can usually have adequate behavior, but their main issues come from Anxiety. Anxiety is common in these folks, and that's usually what brings them down. Motor coordination delays are present here.
2. High Functioning Autism (this isn't the same as mild Autism)-See up above for social skills, but there might be an even more significant social delay. They may also have a verbal delay. This can range from mild to severe.
3. Mild Autism-They will be over to overcome their deficits like somebody with Asperger's Syndrome could, but there is often mental handicaps associated with this one and a verbal delay. Mild Autism DOES NOT equal High Functioning Autism since there are folks with High Functioning Autism who do not have it mild, and there are folks with Mild Autism who are not High Functioning.
4. Moderate Asperger's Syndrome-They will acquire the social skills of about a thirteen year old at the age of 28, but they will more than likely have decent verbal skills. These are commonly the ones who talk nonstop since they may struggle with reading facial expressions or other non-verbal delays. They can interact with people usually, but they may not make many friends due to fact that they may have severe OCD-like obsessions that they may never shut up about. Tantrums are common in this disorder, as are unusual behaviors. They often grab unusual jobs and live alone, but they may not get married. There's no disconnection with the world here.
5. Moderate Autism-These people may have a more severe verbal delay, and they probably will struggle with reading facial expressions and using them. This range is the most commonly associated with other learning disabilities (not just the commonly known ADHD that's a common comorbid). Usually they can develop the social skills of about a twelve year old at the age of twenty seven, and the independent living skills of a thirteen year old. They might be able to get a job at some point in their life, but it won't be one that requires anything more than the basic social and communication skills. These people are not completely disconnected with the world, but neither would they have a perfect connection. They could probably learn how to drive a car, and self harm is rare in this level of Autism. Marriage is a possibility for these folks, but it may never happen.
6. Severe Asperger's Syndrome-They may have a decent vocabulary, but understanding jokes and sarcasm may never happen. They will probably have the social skills of a seven year old at the age of twenty seven, but they will at least be verbal. They may not ever make friends, but are more than likely to have some sort of job that doesn't require much communication. They can probably live alone, but don't expect them to leave their home often or to get married. The obsessions will often be OCD-like obsessions that impact the function.
7. Severe Autism (this isn't the same as Low Functioning Autism since Severe Autism doesn't always make you low functioning)-Want to know where self harming is common? It's in severe Autism, and these people may never get jobs. They aren't always non-verbal for life, but delays are nearly guaranteed in this range. At the age of twenty seven, they may have the non-verbal social skills (as in being able to interpret body language, facial expressions and to hold a conversation) of a four year old and no verbal skills at all (although it's not guaranteed). This is the one level of Autism where it's often non-verbal>verbal skills, although that's because of the fact that the verbal skills are so severely impaired to the point where the severe non-verbal social cues delay isn't even as impacted (which says a lot about how impaired the verbal skills are). These people may have other learning disabilities, may never get a job, will probably never live alone and will probably end up in a care home. Independent living skills can sometimes be taught to these guys though, a long with the other deficits that they face.
8. Low Functioning Autism (this is profound Autism, and the type of Autism that is often a comorbid with Down's Syndrome)-See up above, despite the fact that the social skills will be at the level of a four year old. Some in this range have been misdiagnosed due to the fact that they are non-verbal however and have expressed profound verbal skills through a type writer.

Generally a source would be nice.

However I would place myself in the "moderate Asperger's" category.

I probably best fit the "mild" category there, though I'd consider my social skills to be below average. Lack of eye contact, difficulty with timing in conversation, engaging people in social interaction/conversation seem to be my biggest weaknesses there.

Oh my God this is exactly me. I was diagnosed with mild AS, and it's not so much the AS that lets me down, but it's more so the high anxiety I suffer with and also the extreme shyness. The extreme shyness comes from suffering from Social Phobia that I also have, where I am so afraid of a social faux pas that I just tend to stay quiet in a group to avoid any social faux pas, and I can just focus on non-verbally expressing social vibes, etc. And I am afraid of a social faux pas because I am sensitive to what other people think and feel, and it just affects me and it always will. A bit like an average NT, my social status is important to me, I don't want to be thought of as ''nutty'' or ''weird'' or ''stupid'', and I fear humiliation and rejection.

Although it doesn't look like it now, but I know I do have a fairly good chance of settling down and getting married in the future. I have a job now, what I am doing very well in. It is only part time, so I still have enough time off in the week to myself if I do want a bit of solitary. I probably can live independantly, but I am hanging on at home because I am afraid to move out because of the change and upheaval of moving out. Also it's finding somewhere suitable too. And anxiety doesn't help either.

Yes I can acquire average social skills for my age too, and I am good with age-appropriate joking or banter, and I can read non-verbal cues like facial expressions and body language, even when I was a small child.
I can come off as socially awkward. Some people notice it, especially those of my age or older. Kids don't recognise any social awkwardness with me so much, and neither do elderly people. Middle-aged people can vary, some notice, others don't. I think all adult agegroups can notice my shyness and my anxiety traits, but that's not enough to make them guess that I am an Aspie. After all, not everyone's the same, you can get NTs that are noticeably shy and/or anxious.
I can express my emotions, I don't keep them bottled up. I always open up about how I'm thinking and feeling to people, in fact I do it too much that I turn into a whiner.

So yeah, all of that describes me well. I just hope you don't get people here arguing saying ''all ASD people are different, a person with Asperger's Syndrome is not always high-functioning blah blah blah blah....'' What's the good of having a seperate label for Asperger's Syndrome if it can be defined anywhere on the spectrum for Christ sake?

Last edited by Joe90 on 21 Jan 2013, 5:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well I have HFA and there is not much to say about it how it seems...!

I was diagnosed with mild Aspergers.
Though I think that I may be somewhere in-between mild and moderate.

I think that I come across as more mild than I actually am, because it's in my nature to mimic those around me. I do it almost without thinking.

By your scale I would be in the severe level. Interesting seeing as most would guess me to be higher functioning.

I don't really like dividing the spectrum into subgroups. More of us don't fit into them than do.

For example, me:

Usually they can learn to express emotions and understand jokes, idioms and sarcasm (1). Motor coordination delays are present here (1). These are commonly the ones who talk nonstop... Tantrums are common (4). Usually they can develop the social skills of about a twelve year old at the age of twenty seven, and the independent living skills of a thirteen year old .... They could probably learn how to drive a car (5). The obsessions will often be OCD-like obsessions that impact the function (6). Want to know where self harming is common? It's in severe Autism, and these people may never get jobs (7).

So where do you put me? You can't really say any particular level of autism because some traits are stronger than others.

If I want to classify myself more than just "autistic", I might say, "I have a GAF in the 40s and need limited support." That is more concrete and doesn't make assumptions about which traits I have; just how well I'm coping right now in my current environment, and how much help I need.

I'm between mild AS and moderate AS but mostly mild. But I hate sub types, I never fit into either one. If I had to pick, I would go along with mild AS.

Yeah this is pretty ambiguous but from your criteria I have mild autism because of speech delays, and some cognitive problems. This would be more or less accurate.

I agree.
I'm in between mild and severe. Depending the area of symptoms and also the surrounding, how well I can cope.
Also when I have trouble in my life to come along, I can't decide if this is because of my autism or because of my comorbidities!?

I am not sure how well these categories apply to me. Overall I would say I am quite mild and high functioning but then I can and have had problems and behaviours seen more at the lower functioning end.

Where would you put PDD-NOS in this hierarchy? I only see "AS" and "autism" there. I'm only half-joking.

This issue aside, I also have problems to place myself in one category. I think I'm less sensitive to people's verbal and nonverbal signs/cues than the mild AS group, but it may have something to do with my slowness besides other autistic traits. I can compensate for many of my traits by experience and intelligence, though I still have general issues with anxiety, emotional regulation, overload, sensitivities, inertia, attention deficit, and executive functioning. I have two friends and a couple of acquaintances nearing the fourth X, but I'm a failure at romantic relationships, have no own family. So, overall, I think I'm somewhere between mild and moderate AS, but I like to think of myself as someone with very high functioning autism.

Wow, this is exactly me too. I fear making a mistake so much I'm anxious all the time. Also nothing (positive social experiences) seems to help it.

I don't care what other people think though which makes this weirder. I just feel stupid making a social mistake when with other things I'm really intelligent and intelligence matters a lot to me. I know there's different types of intelligence but I just hate feeling stupid and so I'm riddled with anxiety about making a mistake.

Hmm. If really anxiety is the main issue I'd recommend trying out some medication. A smaller than normal dose might help a lot with anxiety, according to Temple Grandin, who also suffered a lot from irrational anxiety before taking any.

Oh, I've tried. They don't work. I've tried (benzos) at doses that knock everyone else out and they knock me out if I'm not anxious, but if I am they have no effect. I'm also on an SSRI, but I've noticed no difference in anything and it's been a few weeks. We're trying to approach the issue with my psychiatrist. I think what I need really is some constant reassurance that I'm doing things right to counteract all the negative reactions I've experienced. But my family doesn't even begin to understand. They think forcing me into a situation will fix everything and that I could improve if I just had a bit more will. I might be able to do it that one time and it might come out right but next time I'll be even more fearful, or I might just freeze, not do it, and things will get even worse.