The 'Spectrum'

Post Reply New Topic

I've heard this term quite a few times and I know Aspergers is on the low end of the Autistic Spectrum, or 'High Functioning'. I've searched everywhere and I am confused as to what the actual tiers of Autism are, and by that I mean like, say, from most high functioning to least:


Full Blown Autism
Mild Autism
Full Blown Aspergers
Mild Aspergers
Introvert

Now I just completely made this up, but this should probably give you an idea of what im talking about. Theres definitely a noticable difference in the intensity of Autism, like, I've known someone since 3rd grade who we all have always known he has Autism, we've always accepted him and understood him for who he was. He showed obvious ticks such as rubbing his hands together, he blurted random comments when they came to his mind, he just plain in general was disabled socially. But he was a great kid and could play the drums really well.

There is also a kid in my high school who for 3 years, always wore a suit to school. He had obvious speech problems and has told me that he does not know how to socialize with people. He is notorious for creeping on girls, and many people ridicule him. Some people question if he has autism, but it is not an absolute known fact that he has it.

I on the other hand have always been a little wierd, and have never been too social, but when I wanted too I could always make friends, and to an extent I can now. I do however suck at small talk and get nervous extremely easily, and at times spend up to 15 hours a day or even more on the computer. I have a set special interest that changes every once in a while, most usually involving video games. The first time aspergers was mentioned as a possibility for me was this year.

So these are all different types of Autism I have encountered in my life, so how is the actual spectrum defined?

Threads on these sorts of topics end up causing bickering, because half the members believe that Autism is just one thing, and half believe that there are different levels of severity, even though all people have different personalities and IQ levels. Personally, I go with the second statement. I actually work with another Aspie, and she is a completely different person to me. She has an extremely different personality to me, and her IQ is quite low for an Aspie (well, then again, mine is too), but I've seen on her application form the word ''high-functioning autism'' is written in the disability box, and that's the same name as what my diagnosis is, and although we both have different personalities, likes and dislikes, desires, opinions, ect, we both have the same level of Autism - which isn't very severe in either of us.

Autism, like anything, has it's own level of severities - just like any other condition. Even things what aren't anything to do with the human body, like the weather for example. It sometimes snows light, it sometimes snows heavy, and the heavier snow affects things more than light snow showers. Or, for another example, colours. You can get different shades of blue - some looking greenish bit still blue, and others are that aqua blue, and so on. There's not just one blue. So most different things like that are like a contrast. Just the same with Autism. You get get people mildly affected by Autism, and you can get others who are severely affected by Autism. I've worked with Autistic people before - I know a thing or two about how it can affect people depending on the severity.

That's my theory anyway. I know that what I've wrote will cause bickering, because there's always going to be somebody who has to see a problem with what I write, and I've just wrote that from my point of view, and it sounds quite realistic. I know I'm not severely Autistic, and it's got nothing to do with how low or high my IQ is, or my personality. If Autism was just Autism, then why would Hans Asperger discover this milder form of Autism? Most people are thankful for him for discovering this, because it's commonly known.

I think important stuff may come from ASD themselves. I found this paper interesting.

"What Can We Learn about Autism from Autistic Persons?"

See Fig. 1:

Primary (mental) impairments/differences self-reported by autistic persons

1. Emotional regulation problems
2. Altered perception and information processing

Secondary difficulties=DSM criteria (external behavioural evaluation)

1. Social interaction problems
2. Communication difficulties
3. Restricted and repetitive behaviours

http://affect.media.mit.edu/Rgrads/Arti ... eLearn.pdf

Since I know myself, I'm going to say that I have either mild autism or full blown Asperger's Syndrome. I live on my own and I'm independent. I'm also looking for a job where I will be working 15-20 hours a week. However, I live in my head, I get a rush when I indulge in my special interests and I love sharing them with all of you, I live in a time warp that makes me very happy, I'm somewhat obsessed with myself and my looks and my bowel control issues came back after 22 years though that could have been caused by forcing myself to go when I didn't have to go all those years. I also have meltdowns every three months. The meltdowns where a person sits down and cries.

I still don't wish to be cured. That would be an insult to me, because I don't want anybody to imply that I'm broken and I need to be fixed. I'm a person, not an engine

Having participated in some of those threads, I would say that they weren't bickering and that no one said that autism is "just one thing." No one said that there aren't differing levels of severity.

The criticism was not against the idea that that people have different severity. The criticism was the assumption that one could encapsulate a person's entire experience into a single word - some people who would be labeled as severe can hold jobs and get college degrees while some who would be labeled as mild may have significant difficulties with both because severity is defined by certain visible or obvious characteristics and minimize others that may have a more profound impact on one's ability to function in society.

I also question the assumption that Asperger's Syndrome is really truly a separate thing from autism that has a real existence apart from autism and can be easily identified as separate from autism, rather than simply being labeled as such, despite being autism. Whether you're diagnosed as autistic, PDD-NOS, or Asperger's depends a lot on who diagnoses you. Someone diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome could have more severe symptoms than someone diagnosed with (high functioning) autism, and could be diagnosed as PDD-NOS by a second professional, and as autistic by a third. And the (high functioning) autistic could be diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome by another professional. These are not objectively separate categories.

The value of a diagnostic category labeled "Asperger's" was due to the fact that a lot (not all) of autistic people were slipping through the cracks because they weren't seen as sufficiently autistic for a diagnosis, often due to the lack of a significant speech delay, even though diagnosis of autism did not require such speech delays and even all of Kanner's original patients did not have speech delays.

I'm still trying to work out what the differences are too. I'm confused by all of the different labels and the variety of ways in which people use them.

I'm interested in the DSM-5 proposed revision, which is to diagnose everybody as ASD and give them severity levels:
Link to proposed revision

I'm undecided about whether the proposed revision is for the best, but I like its simplicity.

The people who believe that Asperger Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder are two completely separate things (that should remain separated) aren't going to like the proposed changes being made to the DSM-5.