High Functioning

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I am fairly new here. I had posted some time back before we had a diagnosis but now we have a diagnosis of Autism for my 13 year old. Was wondering how others feel about High Functioning. Our Doctor said that term is not used anymore and that Autism and Aspergers are the same thing?

I think Asperger's should've been kept a separate diagnosis because from my experience as a woman with Asperger's Syndrome, I've endured manipulation from parents of lower functioning than Asperger's Autistic men that I must be their girlfriend. There seems to be a lack of parents understanding their Autistic child may have to hear no. That it's wrong to manipulate women with guilt and pity to be with their son, or to manipulate the woman's parents. This happened to me at a support group for high functioning Autism. I cried for 2 days after hearing to get help I'd have to go to another Autism support group, because I was so frightened of being sexually harassed, and it being excused because the harasser has Autism.

It's not elitist for a woman to not want to be treated like a possession by men, with Autism or otherwise. There was a parent who not only bullied me, but bullied my mom into going on a date with her son. I do not want to end up in another group where parents treat me like a shiny new toy for their Autistic son, or parents taking advantage of my mom with sob stories to manipulate her into being around someone I don't want to be with. It's not about Autism as it is about the view from the parents that because I'm higher functioning they can use me to help their child without asking me permission. Thinking all parents of kids with a form of Autism are cool with infantilizing their children, and setting up playdates for them like they're 5.

And now with Asperger's gone I've given up on ever finding support. If the parents in these groups aren't ordering their kids like dogs (ABA related maybe?), they're ignoring the boundaries of other parents' children. Pushing and pushing if they are told no. Why can't I just start an Asperger's support group? The same parents will lie and say their child has Asperger's when they don't. Or they'll launch a campaign of intimidation and harassment saying our group is prejudiced and elitist. I read onthe net this happened to another parent who attempted creating an Asperger's Syndrome only group.

I know, I know many people here are sick of me ranting about this. I really do believe when Asperger's Syndrome was removed, so was the hope of support for thousands.

It technically still is used by some people. With the DSM-5 criteria, the new 3 "severity levels" also seem to correlate to the previous "functioning labels": low/severe, moderate, and high. I see no problem with the word... I know that "high functioning" isn't meant to refer to how neurotypical someone is. Those labels were mainly used by professionals for support purposes (just like the new severity levels). I believe that other people are the ones who are responsible for making the "functioning labels" mean more than they were ever intended to mean. (And yes, I'm sure some professionals have used the labels incorrectly as well, but I'm speaking generally here.)

I personally see Aspergers and autism as the same... technically speaking, there was only one criteria separating a person from the diagnoses, and people's diagnoses often ended up being changed over the years. It was necessary for them to be merged because having two of the same disorders is redundant. They literally always were the same disorder... it made no sense to have them separated. The subtypes of schizophrenia were also removed and basically for the same reason. When it comes to abnormal psychology, it's important that these kinds of changes are made; if a diagnosis has proven to be useless (as the subtypes of schizophrenia and the separate autism diagnoses were proven to be), then why keep it? If the criteria is made so that someone's diagnosis can change based on one criteria, then a separate/distinct disorder was never defined in the first place. If Asperger's had've been defined differently, then perhaps I would agree that it's different from autism, but because it wasn't, I can't say that.

I know some Aspies and some high-functioning autistics, and both groups do not act like the others. Falling under the high-functioning category, I feel as though we struggle at life more than Aspies do.

I always thought high functioning and Aspergers was the same thing. The whole thing is confusing to me. There are kids I know that are autistic, but it's mild. Like my friend who is PDD seems a lot less effected by autism than me. But there are also people here diagnosed high functioning aspergers, that seem to be just as effected by autism as I am when they list their difficulties.

I think "high functioning" was originally a reference to an IQ greater than 70 - or maybe 80, I forget - and was, if I remember right, originally considered by some to be Asperger's or a form of Asperger's.

When it comes to descriptions of moderate or high-functioning, I'm in between.

I think the reason "high" and "low" functioning labels are so confusing (and not all that useful, but maybe they're just not useful to me) is this:

(1) They were created based on faulty/overly-simplistic assumptions/ideas/theories about the relationship between IQ scores and functioning.

The categories "high-functioning" and "low-functioning" are split by IQ because it used to be thought (and still is, by many people) that IQ scores and real-life functioning (including abilities not even measured on IQ tests) have a direct one-to-one sort of relationship.

IQ and functioning levels are definitely related to whatever degree, but the degree is often assumed to be greater than it actually is.....The relationship between IQ and functioning level is not a direct one-to-one relationship, it's complicated and messy and can look different from one person to another; This is partly because IQ scores are an average of all of the abilities measured by the IQ test (which may not all be at the same level or even close to each other); Partly because real-life functioning relies on so many different cognitive processes/skills and only some of those processes/skills can be assessed using IQ tests.


(2) When the "high-functioning" and "low-functioning" labels are not used to reference IQ alone/at all and instead refer to behaviors/symptoms/difficulties (which technically they were never meant to do -- they were meant to reference both IQ and functioning because it was assumed there was a more direct relationship between IQ score and functioning in autistic people than exists in reality), nobody can agree on the definitions. Everyone (including both professionals and laypeople) has their own ideas about what kinds of behaviors/symptoms/difficulties in different areas should be called "high functioning" versus "low functioning".


(3) The abilities of a single autistic person can be hugely disparate. One person may be very highly skilled in some things and have very serious and obvious disability in others....their IQ subscores and/or real-life abilities may be a mix of both "high" and "low" functioning. To call that person either "low" or "high" functioning out of any specific context becomes inaccurate, and also becomes problematic when it comes to providing real understanding of their specific strengths and weaknesses, areas of ability and disability.

Even when a person has only a few areas of severe disability that stand out from otherwise mild disability, it can be problematic to call them "high functioning" if it's assumed that "high functioning" means not having any areas of severe disability -- and vice versa.

DSM-5 ASD Severity Scale 0-3

Here is the latest official APA diagnostic criteria:

found this PDF file online that I thought might be useful.

Severity Scale - levels 0-3

level 0:Requiring no support / Level 1 Mild - Requiring Support/ Level 2 Moderate Requiring Substantial Support

Level 3 Severe - 3/Requiring very substantial support

There is a fairly detailed chart here - from psychiatry.org:

CLINICIAN-RATED SEVERITY OF
AUTISM SPECTRUM AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

Mild
Requiring support
(i.e., Without supports in place, deficits in social communication cause noticeable impairments. Has difficulty initiating social interactions and demonstrates clear examples of atypical or unsuccessful responses to social overtures of others. May appear to have decreased interest in social interactions.)

Moderate
Requiring SUBSTANTIAL support
(i.e., Marked deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills; social impairments apparent even with supports in place; limited initiation of social interactions and reduced or abnormal response to social overtures from others.)

Severe
Requiring VERY SUBSTANTIAL support
(i.e., Severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills cause severe impairments in functioning; very limited initiation of social interactions and minimal response to social overtures from others.)
RESTRICTED INTERESTS and REPETITIVE BEHAVIORS:
Rate the level of interference in functioning and support required as a result of RESTRICTED INTERESTS and REPETITIVE BEHAVIORS for this individual.

None

Mild
Requiring support
(i.e., Rituals and repetitive behaviors cause significant interference with functioning in one or more contexts. Resists attempts by others to interrupt RRBs or to be redirected from fixated interest.)

Moderate
Requiring SUBSTANTIAL support
(i.e., RRBs and/or preoccupations and/or fixated interests appear frequently enough to be obvious to the casual observer and interfere with functioning in a variety of contexts. Distress or frustration is apparent when RRBs are interrupted; difficult to redirect from fixated interest.)

Severe
Requiring VERY SUBSTANTIAL support
(i.e., Preoccupations, fixed rituals and/or repetitive behaviors markedly interfere with functioning in all spheres. Marked distress when rituals or routines are interrupted; very difficult to redirect from fixated interest or returns to it quickly.)

Copyright © 2013 American Psychiatric Association. All Rights Reserved.
This material can be reproduced without permission by researchers and by clinicians for use with their patients.
Instructions to Clinicians

link to the document on PDF file

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychiatry.org%2FFile%2520Library%2FPractice%2FDSM%2FDSM-5%2FClinicianRatedSeverityOfAutismSpectrumAndSocialCommunicationDisorders.pdf&ei=YrxxVIzVONS1oQS-p4DIAQ&usg=AFQjCNG8tm7imUhaLlmY5UVt8YNr-N2YNw&sig2=Yuql_5qyhgWl5pWcZFwyGw&bvm=bv.80185997,d.cGU


I suppose most people who were previously diagnosed or would have been diagnosed with Asperger's or HFA would now be diagnosed with ASD Severity Scale 1.