Silly question re ASD

[LimboLil]

Hi all, I've been to a few support groups lately and noticed that a lot of people have described their kids with ASD as high functioning. I also notice it on here a lot. So silly question, but what does this actually mean? I don't think my son would be classed as high functioning, he still has speech and language delay and uses a combination of echolalia and simple sentences but his speech skills are coming along. He is toilet trained. He sleeps well. He has learning difficulties and hasn't really made any real progress with reading and writing yet, oh and dyspraxia. I have a friend with a son who, I think, is severely autistic, he has no speech and is only just toilet trained at 9. He also has much more noticeable behaviours, like frequent flapping and making noises ( although my son does have the occasional flap and his sound control needs fine tuning, he is loud!) My son is not really that similar to him so I assume he is not severe. I think he must sit in the middle somewhere, I wish I just had a rough idea of how he will develop moving forward. He is 5 btw.

Hi limbo I can only speak for myself but I often say Dd3 has Asd and is high functioning. I say this because she doesnt have any learning difficulties and is academically quite able.

I expected her to get a diagnosis of Aspergers because as far as I can see she meets the criteria for that diagnosis but the psychiatrist who diagnosed her didnt think she was obsessive enough

HTH

It doesn't mean anything imo.

It's a bit of a sop to parents when they get a dx, and the paed can feel good saying 'well, he's high functioning', and then the services that follow can say 'he doesn't need any support because he's so high functioning'.

I suppose those at the highest end perhaps live independently, but I don't think that is a definition. Some use it as a likening to aspergers where there was language delay.

I can't stand the term myself. He's not a friggin robot.

zzzzz, I don't agree with the IQ thing tbh (though not saying you're wrong), as a more severely affected child is unable to demonstrate their IQ, particularly if they have language problems.

Oh yeah, meant to say, her Asd effects her life everyday whether it is her sensory issues, social difficulties, rigidity, poor theory of mind etc etc.

Starlight I've got used to hearing it now but when it was first used to me in a conversation about ASD I think the word functioning freaked me out more than thee word autistic lol. I think I am more confused now than I was before diagnosis. When all these parents started mentioning high function I thought oh they must have it easier than me then, until they stated describing all the behaviours.

So is his speech and Lang delay part of his ASD? Or due to his learning difficulties? Maybe I shouldn't have started this!

I think it can be both. The ASD affects the motivation and the way the communication happens, but obviously having a LD makes it all the more complex.

The trouble is Limbo there is such a massive range of abilities and disabilities across the autistic spectrum.

I have met very young autistic children with seemingly amazing language who can talk all day about letters, numbers, colours and shapes and then others who are nonverbal and yet they have the same diagnosis.

The mind boggles

There is about to be a new list of 'approved' diagnoses, which will probably take away the HFA/AS/autism distinction. It'll most likely just be autistic spectrum disorder perhaps with a comment re severity, plus whatever co-morbid conditions exist (eg learning disability, language disorder, ADHD etc)

DSM-V and autism

Blimey. I guess it's take life as it comes. It's not boring anyway. Getting twitchy as we should get draft statement soon and been called in to meet with school prior to this (fishy). Just trying to get my head round what we should do school wise. Pretty sure this will be school's latest attempt to dissuade us from naming them. But if not them, who?

Hence I was trying to get my head round where he sits on the spectrum.

High functioning usually means "child can talk and has a normalish IQ". That is certainly what units for hf kids seem to ask for round my way

I find this confusing too. My dd has severe speech and language disorder and asd but I think the speech and language is the major thing, she is described as borderline for having learning difficulties. So I am not sure where she is and psychologist says she presents with classic autism in some ways but asd in others. But as someone on here said, classic autism is an asd? So confusing!

I guess it comes down to every child with autism is different again.

Sorry just realised that sounded flippant but I mean that some of these things seem impossible to unpick. For example the language thing, my dd was was assessed as having age appropriate skills in some areas when she was four, in some areas she was higher than average but only on non verbal tasks. This helps with knowing she needs visual support to learn but it doesn't change the fact that due to severe language problems she struggles to access learning.

As far as school goes I keynote with wanting to know how things might progress. I suppose its what support he needs to progress as much as he can and where is best to get him there. Easier said than done though I am in a similar situation trying to choose between mainstream and special school.

Just this week I have had a similar conversation with the NHS psycologist. She said that my daughter has a severe developmental delay. And that, she isn't ticking all boxes for diagnosis for ASD. Especially because she presents with a desire to communicate. However, if she were to get the diagnosis she'd be low functioning since she has a delay. I didn't know what to say.

My DCs are both "technically" HFA, but it presents SO differently in both of them as to be incomparable.

Bee (7) is rigid - all about routine. She is unable to bend, has obsessions, and her understanding of social communication is all but naught. She is verbal, but can tend to be "scripted". She exhibits sensory behaviours (currently, she playing in the sink, as it was the only way I could calm her) and has pica - eats non-food items. She is also cognitively impaired and "sticks out". Bee has (and requires) significant support in the classroom, both medically (she has a 1:1 nurse) and educationally (in a class of 6 children, there is a teacher and 2 aides).

DS, comparatively, while he has some odd speech patterns and mild sensory challenges, can "blend in". His cognitive function has been assessed and he is very bright -WISC percentiles in the 99th-, but has splinter skills as well. He struggles with non-verbal communication and has his areas of rigidity, but at 14, is more of an "odd duck" than significantly impaired by his challenges. He has learned coping mechanisms and is becoming a dependable young man. There are days that I actually LOVE his rigidity about rules and routines, as our influence as parents is stronger than the influence of friends, and at the end of the day, he can't be easily swayed by peers. He has ever had any sort of 1:1 support (he did have a period of behavioural intervention and was in a "gifted" withdrawal program in elementary) and is holding his own throughout school, although he does have "tech" support - a computer so he can type all his schoolwork.

Both of them have autistic features that are secondary to their primary mitochondrial disease, but I honestly don't know if their difference is presentation, maturity (there is 7 years between them) or other matters (Bee has had at least 2 strokes - we are not aware of any structural abnormalities in DS's brain). What i do know is they they are who they are, and I can't compare them to one another, let alone other children.