Question if you can be Autistic and still have social skills

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It's just I feel like I have all kinds of empathy.


My dad also thinks that I have much better social skills than most with ASD, even though I have Learning Disorders and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

I am sorry for saying that my social skills is much better than most with ASD, it's just sinse Autism is a spectrum, you can have developed social skills at appreciate developmental stage, but had some symptoms that caused you distress from early childhood.




Here are some symptoms of that I am taking about.





It is common for individuals with PDD-NOS to have more intact social skills and a lower level of
intellectual deficit than individuals with other PDDs.[2]


Characteristics of many individuals with
PDD-NOS are:


● Communication difficulties (e.g., using and understanding language)[6]
● Difficulty with social behavior
● Difficulty with changes in routines or environments
● Uneven skill development (strengths in some areas and delays in others)
● Unusual play with toys and other objects
● Repetitive body movements or behavior patterns
● Preoccupation with fantasy, such as imaginary friends in childhood


For example, you developed social skills at appreciate developmental stage, but you still meet the criteria for communication difficulties, difficulty with social behavior and other symptoms that I listed.

Last edited by FranzOren on 08 Sep 2020, 8:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.

It's possible to navigate social relationships successfully as an Aspie.

It's also likely that you think you are doing well, but are actually acting in an unconventional manner.

And we may just be talking about two things here. I see social skills as a cultural behavior--just like you can be bad at learning the rules of a game, you can be bad at learning the rules of polite conversation. I don't think that rises to the level of being something like ASD.

Yes, I totally agree there can be huge variations in ASDs. This is confusing for me. The diagnostic criteria are broad for a reason, but it also makes it hard to apply to specific cases. I went 56 years before I was diagnosed. How do I take this knowledge of my diagnosis and relate it to my own experience? It is a tough question.

But I have found the general knowledge about ASD useful for me to place myself on the spectrum and how I express or present the disorder. Sensory issues, check. A lack of reciprocity in conversation, big check. Repetitive behavior, check again. I also realized I have meltdowns. But also the way those manifest are not that apparent.

I just wanted to say that I am sorry for saying that I have much better social skills than most with ASD.


I will just repeat the same message again, so I don't cause any confusion

I am sorry for saying that my social skills is much better than most with ASD, it's just sinse Autism is a spectrum, you can have developed social skills at appreciate developmental stage, but had some symptoms that caused you distress from early childhood.




Here are some symptoms of that I am taking about.





It is common for individuals with PDD-NOS to have more intact social skills and a lower level of
intellectual deficit than individuals with other PDDs.[2]


Characteristics of many individuals with
PDD-NOS are:


● Communication difficulties (e.g., using and understanding language)[6]
● Difficulty with social behavior
● Difficulty with changes in routines or environments
● Uneven skill development (strengths in some areas and delays in others)
● Unusual play with toys and other objects
● Repetitive body movements or behavior patterns
● Preoccupation with fantasy, such as imaginary friends in childhood


For example, you developed social skills at appreciate developmental stage, but you still meet the criteria for communication difficulties, difficulty with social behavior and other symptoms that I listed.

I am sorry for repeating the same message again, I don't want to cause any confusions

Please don't apologize. I did not take it that way. You seem to have questions, the same as I do. I am trying to figure this out as well. It is kind of a hard topic to discuss as everyone's experience is different and so how we think of things can be very different too. I enjoy the conversation.

Thank you.


I can just say that I have some kind of rare form of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, because I have some neurotypical social skills.






Symptoms of severe to profound forms of Autism and other profound developmental disorders may include:





1. Intellectual disability (an IQ of 69 or below).

2. Impaired social communications or interactions, bizarre behavior, and lack of social or

emotional reciprocity

3. Delusional interests and bizarre behaviors

4. Sleep problems, aggressiveness, and self-injurious behavior are also possible frequent

occurrences

5. Lack of eye contact, inadequate body language and a lack of emotional or physical

response to others' behaviors and emotions

6. lack of communication (both oral communication – i.e. nonverbal autism – and body

language), Repetitive use of words or phrases, and lack of imaginative play skills.

7. Respond only to very direct external social interaction from others

8. severe deficits in communication skills (verbal and nonverbal), inflexibility of behavior, extreme difficulty coping with change, and extreme difficulty

with shifting focus and attention. Individuals with level 3 autism would initiate very limited amounts of social interactions and would respond only to

direct social approaches from others.











Wikipedia states that it is common for individuals with PDD-NOS to have more intact social skills and a lower level of intellectual deficit than individuals with other PDDs.







Characteristics of many individuals with PDD-NOS or anyone like me are:







● Communication difficulties (e.g., using and understanding language)[6]

● Difficulty with social behavior

● Difficulty with changes in routines or environments

● Uneven skill development (strengths in some areas and delays in others

● Unusual play with toys and other objects

● Repetitive body movements or behavior patterns

● Preoccupation with fantasy, such as imaginary friends in childhood











Other symptoms of Autism includes:



● Making little or inconsistent eye contact

● Tending not to look at or listen to people

● Rarely sharing enjoyment of objects or activities by pointing or showing things to

others

● Failing to, or being slow to, respond to someone calling their name or to other

verbal attempts to gain attention

● Having difficulties with the back and forth of conversation

● Often talking at length about a favorite subject without noticing that others are not

interested or without giving others a chance to respond

● Having facial expressions, movements, and gestures that do not match what is

being said

● Having an unusual tone of voice that may sound sing-song or flat and robot-like

● Having trouble understanding another person’s point of view or being unable to

predict or understand other people’s actions











Asperger's Syndrome is multifaceted, with varying degrees of severity in the key symptoms:



● Difficulty in social interaction, often due to issues with nonverbal communication

● Specific subjects of interest, often manifesting as a borderline obsession with a few

areas and/or hobbies

● IQ can vary, but is generally higher than average

● Surpressed and/or difficulty expressing emotions







I used to have profound developmental disorders from my early childhood.



It got milder, because I had IEP plans and meetings.







When I was 0-8 years old, I had some symptoms of Profound Developmental Disorder.



When I was 9-10 years old, I had some symptoms of PDD-NOS.



When I was 11-19 years old, I had some symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome







Now I feel like I have Learning Disorders, with Broad Autism Phenotype.





Now as an adult, I am very good at reading and understanding emotions, facial cues and body languages.

I think we all grow and develop. I am certainly not the person I was when I was young. I don't think we can outgrow autism in any form--it will be with us for the rest of our lives. But I do think we can adapt and change where it becomes less of an issue. And autism is one slice of who we are. There are other qualities that makes us whole. I also have behaviors that are neurotypical. I really don't see autism making us something other than neurotypical, rather we have overlapping qualities with NTs where some of those are different in degree, not different in essence.

Thank you

I agree

The reason why I asked this question is that since Autism is a spectrum developmental disorder, we should include people who are well developed enough to have NT social skills, but have ASD-like traits that caused them developmental distress.

I made my own new diagnostic criteria called Oren Franz Syndrome.

What is Oren Franz Syndrome?

Oren Franz Syndrome is a form of Autism were all symptoms of ASD remits late in life with support and therapy and where cases of people lose their ASD diagnosis when they are considered to be completely improved over time after reviving therapy.


Symptoms of Oren Franz Syndrome includes history of:

* Communication delays
* Restricted Interests
* Repetitive behaviors
* May include sensory issues as well

But all of these symptoms remits late in life with support and therapy.


When some people lose Autism diagnosis, they should be re-diagnosed with my new diagnostic criteria.

Yes you can have social skills and AS at the same time. }A social life inst a deal breaker to have autism/Asperger.
Just a common aspect that the majority of people with AS have is social problems.
I know a few aspies in my friend group that have lots of friends or play sports and other things people dont expect us to do.

Thank you! I understood.