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Autism/High Funtioning Autistic

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Expert: - 3/13/2006


Question
What is a high futioniong Autistic person? is it someone who is potty trained and understands manyt hings that are sad to him?  Also what is "the autism spectrum?"  [I have a 4 year old boy who is a slow talker, but special services believes that he has autism.  However, the only autistic people I have seen are those who are severly autistic and cannot speak and are not potty trained.]

Answer
Hi John,

The word "spectrum" has come to be used as a way to give an understanding of autism as a range of disorders from the very severe, "sit and rock, can't talk" to the very able who are kind of "odd socially" but very intelligent and able to hold jobs, or even be some one like Einstein or Bill Gates.

Obviously, potty training falls somewhere in between.

One well known "high-functioning" autistic is Dr. Temple Grandin.  She as written a couple of books and her mother also wrote one about rearing her. You might want to read one of them.

Your son being diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder is not an "end of the world" diagnosis.  He clearly needs speech therapy to help him catch up.  If his social skills are also lagging, then the occupational therapy will help him with that.

It is very difficult to predict the outcome for any given child who is diagnosed with a spectrum disorder.  For one thing, since they don't talk well, it is very hard to test their intelligence.  The testing methods are getting better all the time, though.  So are the education and treatment methods.

By all means, read more about autism at the links below and don't hesitate to get your son tested by a qualified specialist.  His life will be much better for it and so will yours.

http://www.patientcenters.com/autism/news/resources.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm

http://www.autism.org/temple/meds.html (An article by Temple Grandin)

http://www.autism.org/  (one of the largest national support organizations)

http://www.autismasperger.net/intro.htm (this one has an explanation of the spectrum concept)

Best wishes,
Catherine

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Catherine Ridenour

Expertise

I can answer your questions about parenting your High Functioning Autisic or Asperger`s Syndrome child. In particular, questions about family life, discipline, siblings, finding resources, and working with (sometimes opposing) the educational system are welcome.

Experience

I am the parent of an Asperger's Syndrome child who is now 22 years old. She went undiagnosed for 14 years of her life, so I have done extensive reading and Internet research into the possible cause of her difficulties. Even a short 8 years ago, A.S. was practically unheard of by the public educational system.

We fumbled our way through her childhood and early adolescence without any effective outside support. In some ways, that may have been a blessing as we were focused on her abilities rather than a label for her disability. However, I can think of many times when knowing WHY would have been comforting.

Had we known very early on, some social skills interventions might have made her life in school easier. At this point, I like her for who she is so I do not regret how things have turned out. More importantly, she likes herself.

Education/Credentials
I have a Bachelor of Science in Education.

I have worked to educate myself about Autism in general and HFA/AS in particular.

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