you say theres no severity levels with autism but

Post Reply New Topic

Hopefully things will start to change as we tell our stories.

When I watch videos on YouTube of severely autistic children or adults, their meltdowns seem sort of in intervals. I can't explain it. One time I saw a video of an autistic 8-year-old, and he was in "meltdown mode". He had ear defenders on and kept flapping his hands and shouting. He was verbal but it was noted in the description that he had echolalia and couldn't string sentences together properly. During this meltdown he kept screaming words, and looked angry, then he went calm for a few moments, then he screamed words again and flapped his hands, then went calm.
His parents described him as low-functioning in the description. He attended a special school for children similar to him.

When I was 8 I was as articulate as my NT peers. During a meltdown (although they were always called tempers or tantrums in my house) I was similar to a typical 3-year-old; laying on the floor crying but also still being able to speak clearly. There was no hand-flapping or rocking involved, and I didn't go calm in between intervals. And these temper tantrums were usually triggered by not getting my way, although they didn't occur every time I didn't get my way.
If I had a tantrum on a school morning, for whatever reason, I was still able to go to school and I was always OK once I got to school and was just as able to mix with my classmates as I would be without having a tantrum or meltdown beforehand.

My issues were mostly behavioural as a kid, such as poor emotional regulation, tantrums, hyperactivity, impulsiveness and even being hyper-social. The only autistic trait I really had was being anxious of loud noises. Then when I hit my adolescent years I had social problems at school not fitting in with my peers and being excluded and feeling lonely and isolated. I didn't have alexethemia as a kid but I went through a short phase of having it when I was at the peak of puberty (age 12-14), but that's a different topic.

^ ^ I agree- but my report itself shows my level of risk for each test / ability. I wouldn’t want to carry my report around bc it’s 30 pages but at least everything is specified.

LOL! Can you imagine if we had to carry our diagnostic reports everywhere we went?! That would be ridiculous. But that is why it's so important that people understand that severity can look so many different ways. We shouldn't be denied help and services that we need just because we don't look the part. Hopefully things will start to change as we tell our stories.

Your description of tantrums when you were a kid because you didn't get your way is very important. An Autistic meltdown is NEVER caused because the person didn't get his way. It is always a neurological response to a stimuli that is overwhelming the brain function. That is a very important clue.

Anxiety over loud noises is not a diagnostic criteria for Autism. It is very common in Autism but it is not considered an Autistic trait for a diagnosis. This is also an important clue for you. I think it would be really good for you to be evaluated again by someone who knows what they are doing. I know that that would definitely give you answers and peace of mind if you able to afford the diagnosis.

I feel like the main reason I lack friends is because I'm not fun enough, and by that I mean I don't drink alcohol or go out clubbing. I'm teetotal, but because I've yet to meet another human being who chooses to be teetotal like me, I don't know if being teetotal typically has an impact on your social life as a non-religious UK citizen.
I did think my teetotalism was due to being on the spectrum, but it seems that just as many autistics drink as NTs do. There's often drunk-posting going on here.


If you like, I could PM you the reasons why I feel I was misdiagnosed. It might be a bit off-topic for this thread.