Autism Vs eccentric personality

[BlooDeBloop]

Context: A health care worker suggested my 12yo DS may have asd. He is socially extremely awkward at school but copes in his way and brushes off taunts etc. There are some anxiety issues we deal with. He is certainly quirky. Many of the males on my side of the family can fairly be described as eccentric or oddball (...actually this is a good description of me too 😆).

Question: what is this autism spectrum that potentially includes my DS at one end and on the other includes non verbal or highly violent people needing full time, respite care into teens and beyond? Or even the more common presentation we see on TV, the rocking, meltdown prone, OCD type of person. I just don't see the connection. Depression presents on a scale but one end looks like the other end just more extreme. ASD is highly variable. Indeed, this is reflected by the commonly quoted 'if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism' i.e. no two cases are the same. If none are the same how can we be sure we're dealing with the same thing when we diagnose and talk about autism?

Can anyone explain?

The thing that defines autism is the ‘triad of impairments’. All autistic people have impaired social communication, social interaction and repetitive behaviour. Different people have different levels of impairment in each area. It’s the same condition as no matter how ‘severe’ the impairments are, they exist and are associated with other symptoms such as sensory issues, special interests etc.

That is interesting. I hadn't heard about the triad before. The HCP felt it was DS's fixed ideas that were the biggest clue. He has no repetitive behaviours but does have routines (bed time for example). And when I think about it, my nephew who has an ASD diagnosis has no repetitive behaviours. On the other hand, a family member works caring for teens with severe autism and yes she frequently mentions repetitive behaviours (hair pulling, sucking thumb/hand/hair, repeating words, flapping). I'm not saying what you say is inaccurate but it doesn't match what I see in people who would once upon a time have been labelled odd.

We've had an autism diagnosis suggested for both of our DCs by their class teachers. They are very similar to your child - they take deep dives into interesting topics to the point of obsession, are nerdy and socially 'different'. We went as far as having our eldest assessed. At the end of the lengthy assessment session, the HCP said "so why have you brought this bright, happy, articulate and interesting child to see me?" I genuinely think some of the teachers we've dealt with over the years have leapt to conclusions when confronted by a child who really doesn't fit the norm!

If you haven’t heard of the triad of impairments, it seems you haven’t even really done a basic google search. There’s lots you can read about the criteria for diagnosing autism, it’s very thorough so you really don’t need to worry.

I really hope this isn’t another, ‘we need another word thread’ as that one and many like it have been deleted. They are offensive, tedious and goady. HTH.

I fear it may be another one of those threads. I hope not. They do my head in.

@Throughabushbackwards

My friend works on a team diagnosing autism. A child will only be fully assessed if a child shows a possibility of autism. If your child was assessed, there were things that potentially pointed to autism otherwise the assessment wouldn’t have gone ahead. As it was, the assessment showed you child doesn’t have autism.

At my child’s initial appointment it was decided, presumably like yours, that assessment was justified. Her full assessment showed she did have autism.

The whole point of assessment is to find out if someone has it or not. Your HCP just sounded odd. 🤷🏻‍♀️

No, I genuinely think that some school teachers over-egg the suggested traits in recommending assessments. The HCP only had the school's info to go on when the appointment was made. It's not on them!

@Throughabushbackwards

The assessment wouldn’t have been done if the info provided didn’t justify it. Did your child have a full assessment?

At the end of the lengthy assessment session, the HCP said "so why have you brought this bright, happy, articulate and interesting child to see me?"

Both me and DD are all of those things and we have ADHD. It's entirely possible to be neurodiverse and all those things. Your HCP frankly is a bit of a twat.

OP repetitive behaviour encompasses things like routines, it isn’t just repetitive movements. My ds doesn’t have any repetitive movements (what you are describing is generally referred to as stimming). His repetitive behaviour includes things like having a daily routine he likes to stick to and having very obsessive interests. If you were to meet him he would come across as slightly socially awkward and geeky.

@Throughabushbackwards my ds is bright, happy and articulate and he’s still autistic! I have a masters degree from a Russell group university and I have ADHD (and suspect I’m autistic). In fact my autistic ds is probably more academic than my nt ds.

Autism is nothing to do with personality it’s to do with impairment, social and emotional. So just like you get people who are blind or wheelchair bound with different personalities, you also get people with autism with a range of personalities.

Yes - through CAMHS.

Yes - through CAMHS

Then the full assessment would have been decided as necessary with the info they had/ what they saw. A full assessment is many sessions not just one and the whole point was to say whether your child is autistic or not.

I suppose as least you’re example shows that not everyone gets a diagnosis if they’re assessed like do many ignorant people say. Very useful on a thread such as this do thank for highlighting that.

This again

Look at the diagnostic criteria?

If none are the same how can we be sure we're dealing with the same thing when we diagnose and talk about autism?

People are individuals, autism or not. We don't treat every person with bipolar or multiple sclerosis the same because their conditions are not identical. When diagnosing the specify criteria have to be met. When supporting people with autism that support is given based on the individual so it doesn't matter that you or I don't know what the neighbours kid needs because the parents, teachers and any health care providers involved with them will know. Also it's important to consider a lot of people with autism are not 'just' autistic. There are multiple overlapping conditions which may lead to higher support needs.

Not sure why I bit there but it may be helpful for someone

*so not do

To an outsider, DD probably doesn’t appear as if she is autistic. She’s bright, articulate and happy. She has no repetitive behaviour or stimming and isn’t too obsessed with routine. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t all going on in her brain and causing her enormous anxiety and worry, and that is what her teachers have eventually picked up on. We were actually unsure whether to go for assessment or not until it came up in DD’s anxiety counselling and DD read about it and said so many things people with autism write and talk about explain what she feels like. And then, as she stopped working so damned hard to mask all the time, which I can’t even begin to imagine how exhausting that was for her, she is letting herself show more of the traditional behaviours - she’s starting to understand and believe that she is allowed to feel how she feels and to let that show, not mask it. Since we’ve started down the pathway she has had a few shutdowns, which has solidified for us that we’re doing the right thing looking at assessment. And I’m so relieved for her that she is growing confident enough to communicate properly how she is feeling and let us know when things are too much or she is becoming overwhelmed.

Well the diagnostic criteria is “persistent difficulties with social communication and social interaction” and “restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, activities or interests” (this includes sensory behaviour), present since early childhood, to the extent that these “limit and impair everyday functioning”.

So everyone with autism shows those things. But they present in a range of ways as they are quite broad.

I think a lot of people with eccentric personalities are probably autistic. Being eccentric often means you have to do things a certain way and you aren't very good with people.

People will refute this but the diagnostic criteria for autism has definitely widened in recent years. People who were odd or eccentric in the past and went under the radar are now being diagnosed, myself included. You don't need to be rocking or non verbal anymore to get a diagnosis.

I think we'll actually find that more people than we think actually meet the diagnostic criteria for autism. And there definitely should be different words for how severe the autism is! People who say otherwise are just so offensive.

Your various descriptions of people with autism - for example, 'highly violent people' - are highly offensive. I hope this thread isn't genuine.

Unfortunately I think it might be ......

Yes me too.

And like Mrs Terry Pratchett- what was your hcp on?! Lots of us autistics are bright , happy, interesting and articulate.

On fact my daughter on a topic of special interest will be very happy, interesting and articulate 😂.

There's some movement in some circles away from impairments language too - just as I'm impaired trying to speak English in foreign country but equally someone might be impaired from that country in England. Of interested look at Double Empathy Problem/theory.

Unfortunately I think it might be ......

I think it is, I’ve reported. I think OP and others are very politely having their arse handed to them on a plate. We’ll see how it goes. 😅

This might help. The spectrum isn’t a line

The word autism describes the way the brain is wired, that is all. There will be the triad of impairments present but it does not describe anything else about that person. You wouldn't expect all epileptics or lefthanded people to have the same personality traits and/or learning difficulties, so why do so many people expect to see the same in the autistic?