One Defining Autistic Characteristic

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sometimes people are Misdiagnosed, the fact that the spectrum is flexible doesnt change the fact that you cant leave out traits, there are Similar traits that can be substituted but eliminating traits is ridiculous. for example:

i have sensitivities to Hearing, Textures and Sights but hypo sensitive to taste and smell, that is a substitution, however, if someone says that they dont have any need for Routine and rituals, then they may want to look into a different diagnoses, but there are different degrees: a need for routine, a want for routine, and compulsive need for routine can all be substituted.

Obsessive interests, from my understanding, seems to be consistent.Then there are controversial traits like language issues, Temple Grandin recognizes 3 different types of thinkers: Pattern, Visual and Verbal thinkers, some thinkers are worse at verbal skills while other are better, so it tends to vary. we can all agree, Communication difficulties needs to be present in order for a diagnoses.

for me, i think these basic traits NEED to exists

Communication difficulties
Sensory Sensitivity or Hypo sensitivity
Obsessiveness and compulsion
Immature Emotional Understanding
Extremely strong talents to specific things and not in others
Body movement and cordination issues.

ive said this before, autism has become a Trend diagnoses and really needs to start being taken more seriously.

Autism was defined as a social deficit to begin with so it wouldn't be autism without a social deficit, but it is a pervasive disorder.
Sensory processing problems, executive function problems, repetitive, restrictive behaviors are always present to some degree.

Ah, coordination, how could I forget that one?

And OCD and routines are very different for some then others so you can easily miss that if you don't know how to look. Like for me I have to have routines and I am very stringent with them but it is in things that people can easily miss. For example how I clean the kitchen and wash dishes, it's very specific but an untrained eye might not see it. When I shower, I always wash one part first then the next and it is always in order. I have a very specific way that I clean my skis. I hang laundry on the rack in a certain order. Little things like that. I always straighten up my desk before I pay certain bills. And I sometimes have trouble with subtle changes to my routines rather than to big changes. But I think that sometimes we can miss some of our own characteristics if they are more subtle with us than with other people.

Pick agree with many in the list though I'm not sure how I feel about extremely strong talents in specific things one as I don't think I have any strong talents in a specific area


Thank you everyone for the comments on my profile picture

Yes that is my dog. His name is Aragorn he is being trained at a facility by his breeder and a good friend of mine right now. I will make a separate thread for more info

Diagnosis requires both social/communication deficitis AND repetitive/restricted behaviours and interests (and/or sensory sensitivity) = RRBI.

Social deficit on its own will only get you a Social Communication Disorder - one of the new DSM5 conditions.

Asperger's was called a "syndrome" because it was the co-existence of several characteristics, each of which could exist on its own - and when on its own, it wasn't Asperger's.

ASD is still a syndrome, even if it is not formally called that. It combines social deficits with RRBI.

Without RRBI you are not "autistic", although you probably have the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP).

This is an excellent summary. Thank you,

I think about how utterly clueless I was about my social difficulties - like my social impairments impaired my ability to understand what was going on when social situations went pear shaped.

If someone says they don't have social difficulties, they may simply not know what to look for.

Thankyou for these clear summaries! They help me have a better idea for what the core of the disorder/syndrome actually comes down to, which I was really confused about.

I often wonder why doctors find it so hard to know whether someone is on the spectrum or not.
Maybe it's just because I can see in others what is in me; but it takes me about 3 seconds to tell if someone is or some isn't simply by observing them as they walk past me.

I can't "pin-point" what exactly it is. Maybe it's intuition. I dunno.

I think there might be a difference between someone who get diagnosed late in his life compared to someone with a diagnosis as a child. The first will have learned alot of coping mechanisms because he was not aware of his problem, while the later will have more tools specifically designed to help him with his problem.

Agree with those.
As for extremely strong talents to specific things and not in others IQ tests can reveal big differences in subtests.
The clinical psychologist I go to in autism center is expert in autism, also adult autism, and said, that body movement and coordination issues are a core issue in autistic people as the right and left brain hemisphere have lesser connections than in non-autistic people causing for example an odd gait and coordination issues, issues in motor-skills.

Last edited by Eloa on 21 Jan 2014, 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You are so right about that. I feel the same way about myself. I had no idea how peculiar I can be sometimes until it was pointed out to me by others,

My son was diagnosed with Aspergers according the WHO ICD 10 criteria. His sensory processing issues, which are deemed to be complex, were assessed separately and were not required for the diagnosis of Asperger's.

Asperger's is about deficits or difficulties with social communication. Sensory issues are commonly associated with autism and Asperger's but not always.

Can deficits or difficulties with social communication be due to hyper- and hypo-sensitivity?
Hypersensitivity due due too many sensory stimuli overwhelming the person as in conversation, or hyposensivity due to lack of being able to read non-verbal communication?, just as an example.

I think it can because I have trouble communicating sometimes if I am overloaded with sensory input. When my brain gets overwhelmed my ability to communicate tends to regress.