Is this AS or autism?

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When I say autism I mean higher on the spectrum.


I am in my own world, I zone out what is going on around me I am totally unaware what is going on around me. My boyfriend told me aspies are more aware what is going on around them and they are not totally in their own world.


I have comprehen problems. I have troubles connecting the dots so things always need to be explained to me. Do aspies have this problem too or is it something people have who are higher on the spectrum?

I also don't know every single rule in the law book because there comes times when I plan to do something or I do something and it's something that could have landed me in jail or prison and I don't even know it till I'm told. I see other aspies know right from wrong because they tell me "that can get you arrested." Is that AS or higher on the spectrum.


Sometimes I think I am HFA, not AS nor PDD-NOS but I don't have bad sensory issues (they're minor) like typical autistics do and I don't have acute sense of hearing, taste or smell, and I am not hypersensative to touch or smell so that crosses it off the list and I did pretend play when I was a kid just like a typical child and I played with other kids my own age and then it started to get hard when I was ten because their interests started to change, and I don't have a photographic memory. But every autie kid is different. I know there are some who love to be cuddled and touched and others who don't. And I'm sure not all of them have sensory issues like having acute sense of smell or taste or sounds because its not in the autistic criteria. Maybe I am borderline autistic and my family doesn't know it, no one will never know because I had hearing loss. I was real difficult to diagnose because of the hearing loss. It was my childhood shrink who discovered Aspergers so my mother had a psychaitrist check it over and said she was right and told her to use the diagnoses to get me through school and get me the education I needed and to keep my school from putting me in a class with violent kids. My mother says I'm between normal and aspergers. I know she means NT and AS and my psychaitrist wrote I am between autism and aspergers. I think he meant AS and autism. Aspergers is milder.
My Asperger's boyfriend is worse than me because he has a lot more asperger traits so compare to him I am a lot more milder.

I don't know, Likedcalico. I'm confused about the distinction between autism and Asperger's syndrome too. I'm also usually unaware of what is going on around me. I don't usually have trouble "connecting the dots" (as long as I'm aware of all the dots!) or knowing what not to do because it's illegal, though.

I read somewhere that the main difference between autism and AS is that autistics have a speech delay and aspies don't. I did have a speech delay so that makes me think I'm more HFA than AS. However, I doubt- I hope- that something as seemingly arbitrary as speech delay is really the only difference between AS and autism.

Also, I get the impression that a lot of people think Asperger's is somehow "milder" than autism but I sort of doubt this is the case. I'd make a pretty average aspie in terms of severity, so if I'm actually autistic and not AS then that whole scale goes out the window. My husband snorted when I mentioned that I seem to technically be more autistic than AS, because he thinks I am too "functional" to be autistic. I think he immediately thinks of LFA people when he hears the word "autism". Unfortunately I've never met any HFA people to compare myself to.

Can anyone who knows more about it clarify this for us?

Like you say, one of the main differences is considered to be that auties have speech delay.

There is a theory among some that auties don't want social interaction but aspies do - the problem is that they have difficulty knowing how to conduct this interaction. Auties have this problem too but don't actually mind as they don't seek social interaction so much anyway.

However, having spoken to an ASD specialist recently and also after reading an interview with Tony Attwood, it seems that this distinction too is being dropped my some ASD experts too as the evidence that they see is to the contrary.

Sorry - I know that doesn't help.

I do A LOT of reading about ASDs as well as working with people with ASDs and having an ASD myself. The problem is that different experts will tell you different things - there are different opinions out there, which is the problem. One expert will say one thing and give you loads of evidence and research to prove it - an other expert will do the same but will say that it proves something completely different.

Like I said, I know that doesn't help. As far as I know, the thing that seems to be most agreed on is the speech delay issue (or some people take a broader view that it is 'communication delay' rather than specifically speech) - but there are experts that dispute that too.

I guess the solution is to do as much research as you can and try to find a genuine ASD expert who you can see and discuss your symptoms and history with them in detail and see what they say.

A lot of people "lose" sensory problems* over time - and many comprehension and attentional problems are down to underlying sensory processing issues. I think it's actually more those processing issues than whether or not someone is "sensitive" that really matters. There are lots of "highly sensitive persons" out there who have no autistic traits and no cognitive issues, for example.

To me you sound far more HFA than AS, but that's just me. (I too am HFA at least that is what I have been told & I agree with this after lots of research - I did not have a speech delay but didn't speak before 13 to 14 months and didn't communicate until many years later, by the way)


* People who are oh so "sensitive" and have time to complain about how hypersensitive they are to everything rarely have genuine autistic sensory issues anyway!

Neither the diagnostic criteria nor Kanner's original sample of patients (three of whom were nonverbal - of the others several actually spoke early!) acknowledge this "myth" however...

I see you have acknowledged the communication issue (after all why would echolalia and pronominal reversal be relevant if a child is nonverbal until age 3, 4 and beyond), although again the DSM does not require a language delay for diagnosis:



I do feel this is a little over-inclusive however, since requiring ONE of thse basically means that EVEN WITHOUT any language abnormalities or developmental communication problems you could diagnose autism.

I know what you mean. The diagnostic criteria is helpful, but at the same time can confuse things further. This combined with the fact that different 'medical experts' will tell you different things makes it pretty hard to know where you are at all!

At least short of reading everything you can get your hands on... which leaves you bankrupt, and with a boiling brain!

Last edited by Noetic on 29 May 2007, 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

There is such a thing as residual autism which is actually milder than AS.

Actually, Many auties/aspies do! To a degree, I do.



aspies, and probably auties, have trouble with this. Hard things may be EASY but some seemingly easy things may be hard. It is just a different way of thinking. I've been THERE also.



Who knows every rule? I know LOTS of them, and some would ASTOUND you! Some even corporations don't know! Still, I certainly don't know all. NO WAY! NOBODY can! There are just too many and they keep changing!

Illegal to claim a non FDA recognized item does anything for a malady.
Illegal to run a sale more than 6 months.
Illegal to be paid within 90 days of the filing of a bankruptcy.
etc....



Aspies and auties MAY have hyper/hypo sensitivity.



Like most here! I would say it got harder for ME then also, though my school brought it up when I was 6.



I really start to wonder what this is. Some doubt it exists. I can tell you a lot of things about some areas even if I never go there again. Just yesterday I basically drove an unexplored area in my mind pieced together from what I noticed earlier. So I guess I have a kind of photographic memory even if it isn't TRULY eidetic.



Exactly! Hey, if you fit, WHO CARES? A shrinks opinion won't change things.

Steve