What is low-functioning autism like?

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You should write about how you emerged into the world.

Hi Kraftiekortie,

Do you mean about my life experience of becoming completely non-functional to an independent AS? Funny enough I was requested this by my university I'm working on the script I should finish in about 2 weeks, should I also post it in the forum? My college surely wouldn't have any inconveniences with that.

I'd be interested.

All set then I'll check on the most appropriate place to place it, look forward to it. Two weeks tops.

PDD-NOS/Atypical Autism is used to classify people who present as clinically Autistic but there is insufficient proof of Autism when they were very young

I would take currly kidd's words and my emphasis from the last page. Studies (What Doctors and people THINK, not actually what is really happening) show that 3/4 of people with autistic disorder are intellectually disabled. Furthermore, the doctors and professionals also think that PDD-NOS is less associated with intellectual disability. But what I actually think what is going on in patients with autistic disorder that are disabled to the point that doctors and proffessionals would think and misdiagnose these people as intellectually challanged (until recently the term used to be "mental r#$%@!ation"). If you put someone with moderate to serevere autistic disorder with someone that is TRULEY intellectually challanged in the same room, you would find no diffrence in functioning in terms of self care skills and some symptons as well like epilepsy which is associated with both mod-servere autistic disorder as well as intellectually challanged people. But however, despite these similarities, what currly kid, me and some others said is that moderate to low functioning patients with autistic disorder actually have normal to above normal intelleigence just like Asperger people. But if a doctor or a professional were to recognize this part of the truth but also believe in another misconception of autism, which is that autism functioning is based on IQ, then people with moderate to low functioning autistic disorder would be labled as high functioning autism. to me that makes no sense at all. Another reason why autism functioning should not be based on their IQ. Autism functioning should be based on their self care skills, impairment in connecting with and recognizing the real world around them, comorbid symptons (ie epilepsy; bipolar), and particullary in teenagers and adults at their time of diagnosis, their overall functioning at the equivalent to a NT age (ie a HFA 20 year old man=NT 15 year old;MFA 20 year old man=NT 10 year old; LFA 20 year old man=NT 4 year old). Do, someone with Aspergers Syndrome or HFA could have very few and mild symptons and comorbidities, function normally in society, be fully aware of socirty and yet a general IQ of 125. And someone with servere autistic disorder could have all sorts of symptons and comorbidities like epilepsy and no speech at all, is totally dependent on caregivers and group homes, have absolutley no awareness of the real world, and yet actually have a higher general IQ of 180. That is what makes autism a unique and yet mysterious developmental disorder compared to other developmental disabilities like Down's Syndrome. With Down's Syndrome, IQ would actually test if the patient in high or low functioning. But with autism, IQ certainly does not work in testing functioning. Comparing autism to other developmental disabilities, autism is more of a messed up detour rather than true delay (ie Down's Syndrome, Angelman's Syndrome) compared to NT normal functioning. But as we said, MFA and LFA people actually might have normal to above normal intelligence is just that they are wraped away in their very own worlds that is locking them out of the real world. That is another one of the mysteries and puzzle pieces of autism.
In fact if there was any autism spectrum disorder that had at least some sort of connection and association with intellectual disability, if any, it would actually be PDD-NOS (alongside with Rett's Syndorme and Childhood Disntegrative Disorder), being that a real INTELLECTUAL DISBILITY would compromise the patient from fufilling the criteria for moderate to servere autistic disorder. And that in ICD 10, the criteria for Atypcial Autism (another name for PDD-NOS) includes intellectual disability that resembles autistic disorder to some sort assuming that even if that intellectual disability was caused in the first place by a preventable cause like pregnant mother drinking acohol or lack of oxygen at birth, which these causes have NOTHING to do with true autism.
Source: <https://mhreference.org/lib/more-mental-health-topics/autistic/autism-atypical/>
So in the end, people with autistic disorder, mild, moderate, AND servere, have normal to above normal IQs just like Aspergers. And PDD-NOS can fall anywhere on the IQ scale.

Well I do know this one man with classic Autism. Let's just call him Billy.

Billy can't comprehend language so he can't speak other than saying simple words or phrases. The thing is though is that Billy is actually very intelligent. His non-verbal IQ was once tested to be 140 when he was a kid and he's certainly no dummy at math either. Ask him whats 32 times 8 and he will give you the answer 3-5 seconds later. You can also ask him what's the 16th letter in the alphabet and he could tell you within a second. The problem is, because he doesn't have access to language like most of us have, he will never reach his full potential. He can't even have a conversation with his own mother. And yes he is aware and not as dumb as people think he is. Imagine what it feels like for your whole life for people to call you stupid because you can't speak and you can't express how you're feeling verbally. His mom probably dreams of one day having a conversation with her son. Something that probably will never happen unless a cure happens in his lifetime.

Yes he is still classified as low functioning. He will probably never be able to drive and will live with someone for the rest of his life.

To be honest, I think a cure for those with low-functioning autism would be okay. I mean many people with HFA feel like it's an insult to have a cure because it takes away who they are. People with low-functioning should have access to a cure though. I mean imagine if Billy had access to language, he would probably tell a whole bunch of stories and finally be able to express how he feels.

Yeah, it's very sad for me to see me and all the other NTs and high functioning people grow up and achieve milestones and acheieve our dreams and yet for other people who are serverly disabled (like my cousin who is unfourtanetly actually profoundly intellectually disabled for real) to be left behind with their disabilities robbing them of the ability to connect and enjoy the lives that most of us take for granted. This is wrose for autistic people since they have the capabilities of a genius but they can't communicate and empathize with the world. However, an effective solution for these cases would to give like a talker tablet to them. then once you througly teach them how to do it, it's like magic. You see the low functioning person start to really get into touch with the world. An example of this would be a very low functioning autistic person from Japan who can actually communicate very well thanks to the talker keyboard:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2368880/Autism-Its-like-trapped-inside-faulty-robot-THE-REASON-I-JUMP-BY-NAOKI-HIGASHIDA.html. This couldve been the same case for that low functioning kid that banged his head on the video I posted on my previous post in this discussion. Lucklily for people with autism, as mysterious as it is, low functioning autistic people have a chance AT ALL to get in touch with the world if effective ways of helping them like the tablet talker keyboards I mentioned could FINALLY make them express themselves. Then they would be sort of an Aspie or someone with high functioning autism in certian ways. As a matter of fact I would think in that way, low functioning autistic people would possibly be able to join this entire form the same way that high functioning or even moderate functioning ASD people do.

i am quite affected by autism but i have a reasonable level of intellect, so i am not sure if i am lower functioning, but i have a profound inability to feel other peoples feelings or affections.

the world of "other people" to me is just a wasteland of fog and barrenness. i do not crave to be with others because i can not feel them as other people. i see them as objects.

i have always been complete by myself and i resent intrusions by others into my inner field. they are like flies or something that buzz around and have no mind for who i am or what i am. they distract me into fields of concentration in which i find of no interest at all.

"companionship" is something i have never understood. i have no idea why people like to be together.
my childhood psychiatrist said that i treated people like toys, and that i had an inherent disconnection with everyone else. a co-diagnosis of "schizoid" personality was ruled out because i do not avoid people (among other reasons).

i can have fun with people, but in the end it is similar to having fun with toys, and toys are put back in their box and forgotten until i want to play with them again. when people who are at my house go home, they instantly disappear from my mind and i have no residual feeling about my time with them.

i am quite able to enunciate rational thoughts, and people seem to give me credit for being intelligent, but instead of feeling complimented and trying to assuage their esteem, i tend to throw them off with statements that are crafted to sound imbecilic.

mostly i have fun doing it because i say what i consider to be a comically surprising shortcoming of logic, and i hold a straight face while watching them react however they do. it is like winding up a toy and watching it amble around in whatever manner it does.

the fact that i do not have any intellectual handicap coupled with the social blindness i have renders me to be a curious case i suspect.

i can however relate to kanners style autistics because i know where they are in their heads. i know that simple "interestedness" is the primary key to the sustenance of attention, and beyond all social protocols and ethics, it rules and it is not negotiable.

To make things more complicated but more meaningful, Mild autism is not the same thing as high functioning autism and servere autism is not the same as low functioning autism. For example, someone can have full fledged autism (autistic disorder) with all the symptons of autism and yet be high functioning enough to get to live a REAL life, fully recognize the world around them, and have very few comorbidities. Similiarily, someone can be very low functioning, have serious comorbidities (ie epilepsy, Mowat Wilson Syndrome), be robbed of a normal life, and yet have less autistic features and be classified as PDD-NOS. In simple english, there can be a high functioning individual that's actually serverely autistic and there can be a very low functioning, nonverbal individual with mild autism. For example, even though my cousin and I both have PDD-NOS, I(very high functioning) have debilitating and pervasive repetitve and beavioral features while my cousin (very low functioning), has a lot less repetitive and steryotipical behaviors than me, even though my cousin also has profound intellectual disability and epilepsy. Functioning is mainly based on the comorbidities, age they function at especially in terms of self care, and their awareness of the real world around them. So if you have few and mild comorbidities, function at the level of at least a nuerotypical 12 year old (when you are an adult), and are aware of and recognize the real world around you, then you are high functioning.

The most common, and somewhat paradoxically least studied, of the PDDs is the ‘subthreshold’ form (PDD-NOS, or atypical autism). In these cases, some features suggestive of autism are present but full criteria for autism or another specified PDD condition are not met (Towbin, 2005). Interest in this diagnostic construct has grown with awareness of the relevance of genetic factors to autism and the ‘broader autism phenotype’ (Piven et al., 1997).

PDD-NOS is more milder then aspergers in some cases.

this is the strange thing about low function and high functioning.
my mom was undiagnosed autistic women. my dad ( being a doctor- laugh) marry my mom and had me, my brother and my sister. we're all about in our 50s. my mom is in her late 70s.
my mom never look at you in the eye. she understood things but didn't make much of an effort to explain it or explain her thought. I've alway believe she was born non-verbal. physically she's normal. but emotionally and mentally she was very odd.
I'm not a doctor, but I was the first to diagnose my mom when I had my first child and knew there was something very wrong with my son.
of course no one believes me at that time. I had to explain it over and over again why mom was a low functioning autistic women. My dad then had divorce my mom for over 20 years were too proud to accept it. He didn't have the courage to look at reality honestly. most people only want to see what they want to see, it's why truth is a perception.
in this case, it was too late to accept for my mom.
My wife didn't want to accept her reality when I explain it to her about my son and my mom. lucky we got help for him at a early age. My son is 8, he can read below his age and sorta write. he echolalic words and can ask for things. he knows how to use the bathroom but needs help wiping and brushing his teeth. I just found out that most likely he will not be going to college. my wife and I save some 40,000 or so for his school. He is just too hyper to focus on any longer than a 30 minute on an assignment. his left feet is instep. but he just hops. he goes eeeee most of the time when he is excited. but if you ask him a question he will answer in a few words. he look at an object from the right corner of his eye especially when he is trying to listen to what you have to say. he understand and appreciate humor and gags. he love youtube. he taugh himself video game on i pad. games i have a hard time solving. sliding boulders in front of monsters and swing over them etc. yes. by my son's school standard he is low functioning. his reading is very slow, his writing is very sloppy, and he doesn't know how to interact with outer kids. and most likely he will not be able to keep up. but that's ok.

I just want to know how will he be taking care of after my wife and i are gone. sorry for going off topic.