Not sure if that wouod just be like a “low-support needs” autism or if there’s another established term to describe that
Note, the spectrum does not end at ‘neurotypical’ and from what I understand, is not a singular spectrum because autism is a classification and can present in varied ways. There are individuals who have superlative function in the places where autistic individuals have atypical function. e.g. Where autistic individuals can display, say, difficulty with changes to an expected pattern, there are those who integrate changes with a fluidity exceeding the norm.
Yes. That’s why they call it a “spectrum.”
Last I knew, the accepted term was “high-functioning autism.”
Nah, I dont tgink they(diagnosticians) like the term high functioning anymore. My son has down syndrome and I used to say high functioning, but there has been a shift in using terms like that to describe a person. Its just on the spectrum.
Thanks for the clarification - I sort of suspected that, but all of my first-hand knowledge of it is 10+ years out of date.
The term would be high functioning, but were kinda moving away from that. They don’t like the term, because it suggests that most people with autism are not high functioning. Instead they’ll use the symptoms, like nonverbal, emotional disregulation, severe sensory issues, etc
The label you’re asking for doesn’t exist on purpose, because if you’re high functioning, you shouldn’t need accommodations. And if you do need accommodations, you must not be high functioning, and so people expect an idiot savant or something
Labels are good, in that they let us throw a bunch of things into a bucket and skip thinking about them individually. Labels are bad, in that when applied to things that are complicated, like people, we skip thinking about them individually
Not as far as I know. That’s why it’s considered a spectrum. If you’ve got it, you’ve got it. People who have it may not have any troublesome issues at all, or they may be non-functional or anywhere in between.
The evaluation on how badly it affects your life and which treatments or interventions are necessary (if any) only starts after the baseline criteria are met.
So there’s no almost-autistic diagnosis. There is high functioning autism that may not need any intervention.
That said, autism symptoms overlap with a variety of other mental illnesses. Your symptoms may not land you on the Autism spectrum, but they may be part of a different issue.
If you’re concerned, speak with a doctor.
