Where do you have most problems?

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For me it's behaviour is were I have the most problems with.

Sensory means "sensory issues". For example, certain sounds might hurt someone's ears, or someone may get headaches in strong sunlight. Those would both be examples of sensory issues.

"Functioning" is how well you do in everyday life, with things like keeping yourself fed, clothed, clean, paying bills, things like that.

I also have problems with social interaction and functioning.

ok,Sensory:I don't like loud noises
Functioning:I get alots of help

I don't know really. It used to be behaviour when I was a child. Now it's emotions. My emotions are too overpowering; I worry too much, obsess too much, too sensitive (extreme low self-esteem), and suffer with depression. All that makes it harder for me to go out and enjoy myself, and even go to work. If I chilled out a bit more, I would probably be more emotionally and socially functioning.

But out of the list what the OP done, I'll say social interaction, because I am very shy and am afflicted by social anxiety.

Functioning
Sensory sensitivity
Behaviour
Social interaction

Interaction and sometimes function.

Interaction: Kind of hard to get your point across if you cannot instantly do so via speech. Typing, though it takes longer is about the only way to effectively communicate. My writing has always been bad, but has gotten much worse in recent times.

Function. I easily get lost in my work or in my turnery and neglect eating, drinking or sleeping. I do manage to shower many times a day (who wants to be covered in swarf and coolant? Not this guy) and clean my teeth, but that's about it.

Behaviour was more relevant when I was a child, but my parents pretty much trained that out of me. I was a pretty impulsive little hellion.

Functioning and sensory issues. These two are the most difficult for me, although which one is the most can change. Right now functioning is #1, but a couple of years ago sensory was #1. My sensory issues are currently not as severe as they were then, but my functioning issues are more severe.

Social interactions - I don't know. They don't seem to me to be that big a deal, but I have psych evaluations that indicate I have noteworthy social impairments. In at least one evaluation, those impairments are rated as higher than my functioning issues.

Not sure about behavior, although the brief for my current SSI appeal emphasizes how much I stim as indicative of impairment. That was written by someone who read my medical records but has not met me, however.

functioning
behavior and sensory
social interaction

Behavior and sensory are too closely linked. Sensory confusion quickly worsens behavior, but often I am reacting by hurting myself for sensory input.

Last edited by Lumi on 19 Jan 2014, 12:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I would say behaviour and social interaction.

My behaviour has got better over the last couple of years though, but I have to really police myself.

My functioning has improved too, but I priorities things like personal hygiene, work, and paying bills. I think that as long as I've done all that, then I'm ok.

Social interaction is and always will be a fine line for me.

I chose 'Functioning', because if you can't function to begin with, everything else is kind of irrelevant.

Next I'd say sensory issues, because overstimulation causes me a lot of misery.

Third would be social interaction... I have no social life, but I don't really want one, so it's kind of a non-issue to me.

I don't think I have a problem with behavior. Unless you call melting down and crying a behavioral issue, in which case yes.

Functioning. Interaction a close second.

What I have noticed is that my Executive functioning and general competence goes up and down. This always seemed more or less random to me until I researched ASD. Now I realize that these things are all interconnected: a bad nights sleep means a day of sensory issues the next day. A day of sensory issues means a day of bad functioning. If I go to a party with friends on Sunday, I may not be capable of much on Monday… Issues in one area lead to issues in another.

The one that I always notice and have to worry about is functioning: being late, or slow, missing details, having trouble estimating something that was easy the day before… it's where things go wrong. The other stuff is bearable or I have effective coping strategies. The functioning stuff can have lasting consequences and is very hard to explain.

Social interaction. It's very hit or miss for me. I'm much better than I used to be, but I had an incident in December 2012 that really set me back in my social confidence.
I was at the ship Christmas party for my husband's ship and he was introducing me to various people. I was being polite and friendly, smiling, doing everything (I thought) right, but then he got to a couple of people he wasn't too fond of and he still introduced me to be polite. I recognized the guy's name as the person he had said was in the bunk above him, so I said, "Oh so you're [husband's name]'s bunkmate?" And apparently that was the incorrect term. So the guy literally bent over laughing, then called over other sailors, whispered in their ears, and they all stood there laughing uproariously at me. Doubled over, even literally pointing. It was horrendous and probably the most embarrassing moment of my adult life.
I also had a less embarrassing, though still very uncomfortable, experience when I went to the wives group during his first deployment (back in 2012) and I again misspoke and used the wrong term and all of the wives laughed, not kindly-- the kind couple of women were quiet and shot me sympathetic glances. Then every time I spoke after that at the meeting, women literally rolled their eyes and whispered to each other, giggling.
Those two experiences really, really set me back as far as socializing with his coworkers goes and now I'm much more hesitant and careful about it. Guarded, I guess would be a good word. They were reminders that I'm different and I'll never be "one of the wives"-- I'll always be "that one wife". I hate feeling alienated-- I just want to be accepted as different, but still a valuable and beloved part of the group. So it's...hard to see that reminder crop up again and again over the course of my life.
But I mean, we all carry our crosses, right? This is just what mine manifests as.

I'll have to say that I have the most problems with social interaction. Most times when I am in a group of people, I tend to stay quiet. Plus, I tend to have social anxiety, because I tend to get nervous when I make arrangements to spend time with my friends. I am trying to work on this, though.

I also have some issues with behavior. I tend to get stressed over change or if something bad happens in my life. It was a lot worse when I was a child.

Sensory sensitivity tends to bother me at times, especially loud noises. I do not like the sounds of balloons popping, dogs barking, or people yelling. I usually wear earplugs at night to so I wouldn't be bothered by noise when I sleep.

I think I have the least trouble with functioning. I can handle most things independently, like hygiene, eating, drinking, sleeping, and many other things, although I am not afraid to ask for some help every once in a while.

Easy: Sensory overload is #1. But I need to define what I mean.

For me "sensory overload" includes any input into my brain that causes anxiety and rumination and depression.

For example (and this happens all the time for me) just one piece of "data" entered into my head can magnify and catastrophize itself and overload and my whole brain for a whole week. It feels like sensory overload because everything else: function, behavior, social interaction -- these fade into the background when my mind is obsessed with something.

Oh sure, I'll get all my work done. I may not brush my teeth, but at least my hair will be presentable and I won't stink. But I'll essentially be a walking zombie, until I come to my senses, or until that one piece of data that started it all is balanced by another piece of data.....

Functioning. But the other three are definitely intrinsic to how well I function.

Social interaction is very stressful. I don't really socialize much other than on the internet, but the every day stuff like interacting with people at work and store clerks and that kind of thing really wears me down. And trying to have actual friendships with people is torture. People just confuse the hell out of me. It has a huge affect on the way I function because I spend way too much time trying to figure people out and understand what is going on with them. I function a lot better when I can just put other people out of my mind and forget about them.

Sensory overload is also a big problem. It is exhausting for me to go places and be around too many bright lights and noises and smells. It doesn't have to be extreme, just taking in "too much" in one day can really bring me down.

But even when I stay home, keep things quiet and limit my interactions with people, I still have trouble functioning. I have a lot of trouble keeping a regular sleep pattern. I need extra sleep to recover from sensory overload and social overload, and I feel like I never get caught up.

I don't have much trouble with my behavior, unless something really upsetting or unexpected happens, then I can just fall apart and temporarily become a raving lunatic, but that is unusual. But I think the energy it takes to regulate my behavior also negatively impacts the way I function, just as much as the social and sensory stuff, if not more. I would probably FEEL better if I just let it all out but I wouldn't be able to keep a job at all if I did that.