Possible Mental Retardation...

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I notice how I'm very attached to my parents. If they don't go inside with me and pay for my things or whatever, I am prone to panic. I also can't go to friend's houses to spend the night or I get homesick extremely easily. I mena for a younger child this would be normal but I'm 22 and I still can't leave the house with a parent. I always have to carry around an Axel plushie everywhere I go, and even inside. I still enjoy watching baby cartoons and can't do any household chores without panicking and I also have a hard time remembering how to cook or do the laundry.

I'm not sure how this falls under but I just wonder if its possible to have Mental retardation with mild to moderate autism. I haven't been diagnosed as having mental retardation but its possible that I have it. I'm just curious as to the spectrum I would be on. I know that my IQ is around 75 to 80 which really isn't good. I was abused emotionally throughout elementary school and its as if my brain was forced to skip the elementary school level because I'm not good at it whatsoever...

So, any ideas to whether I have it with autism?

In order to have mental retardation your IQ has to be 70 or below. So since you said your IQ is between 75 and 80 you can't be diagnosed with mental retardation.

This being said, there is nothing "magic" about number 70. So the fact that you are so close to 70 means that you might well be "mentally ret*d" for all concerns and purposes, even though you are not diagnosable as such.

But, to make you feel better, the average IQ among black people is 85; but they still seem to be able to take care of themselves. So since you are right between 70 and 85, you can console yourself that you are closer to the "average black person" than "mentally ret*d white".

I think it is a very good way of consoling yourself, by the way. I used to be very far ahead academically when I was in college. Then when I started graduate school, I severely fell behind. But when I went to the bookstore of University of MIssissippi (which ranks one of the lowest in the country), I found out how their graduate courses are on the same level as undergraduate ones in any of the schools I been to. So I told myself "don't worry, you are not behind, you are just an average MIssissippi student".

That is a really good strategy. So I will make myself feel better about grad school by comparing myself to average Mississippi grad; you make yourself feel better about IQ by comparing yourself to average black person. Both of us will be happy. Deal?

Well, my old therapist said that it was possible I had an intellectual disability... which is more like borderline mental retardation but I was never really sure. I haven't even been IQ tested in so long... its been since I was nine years old and all of my problems seem to worsen more than they do get any better.

The reason he said you can have mental retardation is probably because IQ tests are not very accurate. So it is entirely possible you will take another IQ test and score below 70 if you are not so lucky. If the last time you took it you were 9, you should take it again. It is entirely possible your score went FAR down or FAR up within these years.

So did they diagnose you with Asperger or with autism? As long as your IQ is above 70, you CAN be diagnosed with Asperger, even if it is as low as yours.

I was diagnosed with having mild to moderate autism at age nine. So it was a professional diagnosis. I didn't start talking until I was four and still had problems with speech even after I did. My psychiatrist says that I don't fit the Asperger Syndrome spectrum and I thought maybe it was HFA but... I also have ADHD and a learning disability that I was diagnosed with in second grade... plus having massive anxiety issues too... I am a mess of problems both mentally, developmentally and emotionally... and yet still seen as an NT, hinders my everyday life because everyone always sees me as normal.

But I can't even get any help. I sit at home in front of the computer all day and still live with my parents. They struggle to get me the kind of things I need only to be turned down because I am 22. Most of the services I could benefit from are all for those under 21 and there is no exception even if you do have a disability to benefit.

You're definitely not ret*d. I can tell by the way you write. If you can't go out without your parents, that sounds like anxiety to me, but I'm not a doctor. I'd just say, take baby steps with the independence thing. If you can't do the laundry by yourself, then try doing at least a part of the laundry and stop before you hit panic mode. It's the same idea with going out by yourself. Start small, and work your way up gradually.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that college is too hard. That's a bunch of BS. My sister has severe cerebral palsy and is mentally challenged, but even she is getting ready to go to a community college. She is quadriplegic, so she is the farthest person from independence. You'll need help, but you can definitely accomplish it if you push your limits.

The only reason I write really well is because its the only way I can express myself. I can't even walk up to my parents and say what is wrong. But if I write it down than I can express myself easier. I can't answer complex or abstract questions or I will just sit there with a blank stare. I know its not an anxiety issue. It's much more complex than that. I just don't know any other way to explain it.

I did have a job once through a life skills program and I almost had a nervous break down. They were telling me to go faster but I couldn't go faster. I have shoulder problems and plus all this tension is hard for me... the reason I can't hold a job is because I can't handle being told to do more than one thing at a time. Every little thing because a bigger deal and at times my brain will go into a big lockdown and I won't even know what to do or how to even work normally.

Like I said, its more complex than you think. The issues that I have yet to figure it. It's not all anxiety either and its something I'm sure I can even handle.

I do have a autism because I have a hard time dealing with sound and touch, as well as a lack of social interaction and consantly living in the same routine. I also have trouble with expressing my emotions and sometimes my needs to my parents. I didn't start talking until I was about four or five and even after I had trouble with speaking. Writing was the only way I could get better at learning how to speak but even then... I still had trouble expressing myself even now its harder for me to express myself verbally.

But I act child-like. At times I even feel like I don't belong on the body of a 22 year old. I feel more like an eight year old girl who still has severe comfort and trust issues. In my mind I am an eight year old but my real age is 22 and its the hardest thing of all. I just don't act like my age is right for me. Sometimes I wish I could say that I was eight but people wouldn't believe me because my birth date says I am 22.

Are you happy, or do you find the way you are is frustrating and wish you were more capable at things? Can you drive? Do you have friends? Feel free to ignore my nosey questions if you dont want to answer, I just have a four year old who sounds like he might be how,you describe yourself as a child, and I wonder a lot about what the future holds for us.