ASD Traits In Layman's Terms

[boolifooli]

Hi all. A family member is being assessed for ASD. He's only young still so it's great that he's not been left to flounder and if anything turns up will get more support. I understand that parents can be completely in the dark with regards to their own LO's. I looked at the traits online but I was wondering if someone could kind of translate them into everyday examples of what it would actually look like in an everyday situation? hope this makes sense. Thanks

so many common traits sleeps can be bad , obsesional about things ie; order , can be very rigid in food ,non flexable, , hates changes to routeen, stressy,dislike noise , bright lights, sounds,smells,delayed speach,non empathy,hard to form relationships with peers, behind in school prob easier if you give examples of what they are like for comparrison a day the life is hard to do as its a spectrum and there all same but different IYSWIM but a lot of other disorders have simular traits and can overlap or be co-morbid

Hard isn't it? The definition of autism is really abstract. Even a year post-diagnosis I find it difficult to summarise.

And if you mention lining things up for example you get, "oh all children do that"

Then again I've learnt that you have to say that when these things get in the way of everyday life or become obsessions then it could indicate a problem.

Off the top of my head, the list I took to the Paed the day we got our diagnosis (when DS was 2.9) included:

Lining up / making collections
Speech delay
Lack of interest in communication
Lack of interest in physical contact
Lack of eye-contact
No pointing
Doesn't share or bring things to show me.
Anxiety in crowds and with noise
Severely disrupted sleep
Extremely restricted diet
Food eaten must be done a certain way.
Very rigid about specific routines and rituals.
Problems walking outside
No response to emotional changes in a room
Doesn't respond to name or simple instructions
Hand leading

My son is now 3.9 and many of these things have changed though

thanks bailey. I think if he was given a dx it would be hfc/aspergers so I guess I'm looking for the more subtle flags that a caretaker might disregard.

oh wow your so much better at summarising than me mists all of the above and lots more besides yes i was trying to think but after a while most of these dont seem unusual there kind of "normal" responses /actions my ds is 10 now one aspect though really angers me is peoples lack of understanding/knowledge so everytime you meet someone new in shop or a visitor ect you have to keep re expaining time and time again

thanks Mists

thing is my DN, who is being assessed doesn't stand out as having an obvious issue which I know from reading around here counts for nothing :)Dsis has felt for some time he has issues and as I couldn't see them myself I am now looking at the info again and just wondering if there might be similar things going under the radar in my own LO's that I can't see. Am I right in thinking there may be a genetic/hereditry aspect to ASD? Me and Dsis can see SO many flags in our Dad.

baileyandtinks a cab-driver asked me the other day just as he was dropping us off so only had seconds. I didn't do very well

I might go with the simple idea that autistic people are wired differently in future.

DS for example has improved no end but the underlying issue will always be there.

OP I have read on here that the difference between HFA and Aspergers will depend on a speech delay at age three. HFA if it was present and AS if not, if that helps? Both need the triad of impairments to be present and a normal or high IQ which differentiate from classic or severe autism.

Regarding the genetic element, this article is fascinating: www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html

I have AS and my husband is a computer programmer. His Dad and granddads on both sides were engineers.

I wouldnt worry about it too much they should get to bottom of it and may find out its nothing or something completely diff as for yr own LOs i would go with if there doing well in school making friends ect there prob ok but yes it can run in fams if you like my DH wasnt dx with asd or ap but went to ss as a child and was discribed in those days as naughty or to be pc lol now call it "challenging behaviour" but as you prob know it can affect m or f but is more common in m, so quite poss you can see simularities in yr dad

DH is an engineer. He will not even attempt to fix something unless he has first constructed a diagram of the electrical circuitry. We did wonder if, because I was raised by a potentially undiagnosed AS Father, solely I add, that I have sought out an spouse with a similar mindset. That's why I came on here. You can read the traits and think: thats me, or that's her or him. Actual real life examples are v valuable.

Hi, boolifooli,

My ds1's most obvious difficulty is his inability to keep his most inappropriate thoughts to himself! If he is annoyed by something, however much he techincally understands it is rude to comment on it out loud in an annoyed voice, he just has to express it...

It can vary so much. If you're looking for the more subtle signs, I'd add things like:

Language: May be able to talk for England about a favourite subject but find it difficult to understand simple questions. Their language might also be quirky or slightly old-fashioned.

Tantrums/meltdowns are intense compared to typical tantrums. So whereas dd will have a dramatic shriek and scream it will usually be done to get a reaction. Her brothers with autism would shriek for hours and really didn't care if I was there or not. I was completely irrelevant.

Ah, I get what you mean, so there's an element of implusivity.

My DH loves fixing things but will not consult the manaual or instructions he loves taking everything apart repairing it and putting it back together (hes very good at this thankfully)lol but he just will not stop till the jobs done no matter how long it takes and yes now we know so much about DS weve been thinking omg DH is exactly the same but to a lesser degree so perhaps hes AS rather than ASD but he was so challenging his mother sent him to live with an auntie when he was 5 , i just cant imagine however hard it ever gets doing that to our DS hes just our lovely DS extra loving extra everything but like you pointed out being a huge perfectionist can be one of the many traits yes

The only reason that I knew DS was autistic wasn't because of the definitions I had sought. I found something on Google books which described him and his very (I had thought) idiosyncratic quirks completely.

I read things which I thought were specific to my child and they were being described as classic autistic traits.

Search this board or just read it daily as I did initially and you will see many examples of ASD in reality.

There is also a Face-book group called something like, "you know when your child has autism" which people use to share anecdotes and stories and, perhaps even more enlightening, photographs. Mine is the one with the ship of pigs

ohh yes impulsive , sometimes discribled as jekyl and hide as have what others describe mood swing (we now know not mood swings more something DS doesnt like has triggered him off)and yes ascoppertop and rabbitstew say talking for england but only about things they are interested in not understanding instructions/ turn taking in games for instance, tantrums,and esp as my DS does telling people as it is which they dont like eg cousin coloured her hair he told her its horrible you look like a tomatoe change it back, or to relative with a baby cant you stop IT crying ( he hates babies at moment they smell are sick poo n wee yuk )

i casnt find the fb page mists help

If I had to pinpoint one defining criteria that fits in with myself, Ds1 and Ds2 it is that we do not easily see things from others perspectives, that we are very egocentric. Now with me, the reason why I have a milder presentation is because get me somewhere structured, like an online forum for example and I can use that to read and reply at my own level and weigh things up. However, in the offline world, unless I make a conscious effort to think about someone, I won't, I will spend my time thinking about, say a witchcraft trial in the 17th century. It doesn't mean I don't care about people, just that most of the time I don't think about them. It's one reason why I never picked up on peer pressure or peer relationships. And why the other members of my bookgroup keep in contact between the meetings and I don't. I need people to initiate for me, to start talking to me for example a lot of the time.
Now Ds1 is rather different, because he is social, but it's a socialness that is very much on his own terms. He will pick up even less than I will on people's moods for example.
Ds2 is not very social at all. He will not just observe from the sidelines, he will usually take no notice at all of those around him, unless they are a few adults that he knows well. He is very driven and determined and needs someone physically with him to stop him running off and doing his own thing all the time. Eg when we went on holiday I had to go on the edges of the trampolines with him because he had no concept of understanding that leaping from trampoline to trampoline was not fair on the other children.

i had to take the TP climbing frame out of the garden as DS used to just climb to the top and jusmp off no frear or understanding of dangersand he will talk to any stranger

baileyandtinks here: www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=112333318804090

Sorry I probably described it totally wrong!

Ds1 never went through stranger anxiety, or separation anxiety. The times I thought he was starting it (eg getting upset at nursery) would be because he was ill). Now he will approach complete strangers to tell them echolalia about Button Moon or the Flumps. I think it's tied in with his social presentation, he is interested, ergo they are interested. He is not a threat, ergo they are not a threat (actually 99.9999% of the time they would not be a threat).

bullet that is a very succinct description of our difficulties. The "off-line world" as opposed to the structure of an on-line forum. Thank you.

Gives even more meaning to the thought that I would have never met and married DH without the existence of the internet!

ty mist got it

Have just seen the ship of pigs. Lovely :)

I'm dashing out of the door now (to pick his nibs up from school) but I think someone has already mentioned the distinctive AS trait of talking, often without pausing for breath. I know EVERYTHING about Starwars. It is his favourite subject and I was privvy to a full 1 hour lecture whilst we walked the dog last weekend. He didn't care whether I was listening or not - he just needed to say it

Thanks MotherJack!

Oh dear about StarWars but it could be worse. Trains or something. DS is getting very into maps and cartography