How can you confidently determine if you have ASD?

[Vesta]

Depends when and why. Am a little unsure of what you mean so I can elaborate on when speech is an issue with me. Is not normally an issue, though when younger I didn't speak much. As an adult, I can sometimes speak too much. I can get issues visiting doctors when I tried to ask for about two years if I was autistic and every time I tried I hit mind blank so had to speak about something else to free my mind up so I could talk.. Also in a full shutdown I don't talk but I can't make a noise, I can't move or see. I am in a floppy state on the floor if that happens!

I felt that the more pronounced the autism, the more difficulties people have with speech. They find it hard to express their thoughts in words.

 

[Crossbreed]

I felt that the more pronounced the autism, the more difficulties people have with speech. They find it hard to express their thoughts in words.

Significantly delayed speech was a big consideration in the DSM-4.*
Under DSM-5, it is factored into one's severity level.

Some who cannot talk can understand & type English just fine.
Others like my 30yo, ASD3 daughter cannot. (She only uses Baby Sign Language.)

Both conditions are co-morbids, not the autism itself.

*I had a lisp until 11ish, but my DSM-4 diagnosis (at age 45) was Aspergers.

 

[vergil96]

I felt that the more pronounced the autism, the more difficulties people have with speech. They find it hard to express their thoughts in words.

The whole autism spectrum comes with sensory issues and dyspraxia. Your senses work differently and not in an optimal manner for social interacrions, dyspraxia can cause problems by itself. It can make you have poor motor coordination, skills. It affects other senses as well.

Severity levels seem to be subjective and based on either how severe sensory issues you have or whether you're able to work regardless of what your autism is like. But generally, someone with an IQ below a certain number will get level 3 amd that was called autism not Asperger's previously.

So the dyspraxia and sensory issues can make speaking harder. Common issue in autism is that people hear very quiet sounds as very pronounced and annoying or even painful, but speech is hard to understand. Speech dyspraxia (motor) is also feequent. I can recommend Temple Grandin's books.

Now, I think unless there is an additional disability, someone with an average to high IQ will learn to speak - better or worse.

 

[Crossbreed]

Now, I think unless there is an additional disability,...

The competent mute is that other kind of disability...

 

[vergil96]

The competent mute is that other kind of disability...

I mean, when someone is 100% deaf, or 80%, that will obviously make speaking hard no matter if autistic or not. Autistic sensory issues add to the difficulties, but there are lots of other disabilities that make people unable to speak: such as deafness, neurological issues (paralysis), all kinds of mechanical issues with the larynx...

Judgement is a completely different issue - that together with the IQ or without can be impaired in various disorders of the brain such as dementia, Alzheimers...

To sum up, there is no one set of disabilities that come for every autistic individual, the concept of severity is also not very clear cut.

My take is that the higher the IQ, the more you can compensate for. It looks like most of my family is autistic. It's visible that the same set of challenges might be possible or impossible to overcome depending on the level of education someone is capable of...

And the more other difficulties you have, the less likely you're to cope with the autism. Neglect, pathological households, traumatic events, other mental health conditions... Therefore there are "support needs" now in the diagnosis. Someone with the same autism symptoms might need different level of support depending on a lot of other factors.

 

[Captain Caveman]

I felt that the more pronounced the autism, the more difficulties people have with speech. They find it hard to express their thoughts in words.

Not always. It all depends which brain link recepticals are effected.

Autism is a condition where in the frontal area of the brain the brain has connections which do not connect as they should. These brain connections could be responsible for many different things such as sending messages to control ones hands to speech to ones ability to think or use ones sight etc etc
Now add to this that the brain during growth development will divert growth to other areas of the brain instead of growth to the area effected, one can actually have individuals being complete geniuses in some areas but the complete opposite to a genius in other areas. This also explains certain hypersensitivities along with abilities that the average person may not have. For example, before wifi cd ame along where the wifi signal caused me around 8 months of sleepless nights until I eventually became deaf to it, I could hear wifi from the routers, and as I was not the only on in the family, and the internet provider engineers said the router should never be switched off at night, where ai had been switching it off to get to sleep at night, I was no longer allowed to do this, so the lack of sleep eventually lead to breakdown, quitting my job, losing my house and classic car and camper etc etc. (At the time I had to live at my parents house as I did not get on living alone due to the way I needed thought stimulating when on my own. What I mean by this,mis I would have plenty to do, but just sit there unable to get my brain to do the next step? Is only looking back I realize why. In my parents house, if someone walked past, the movement would stimulate my mind into action. I remember getting to my house, sitting in the chair, and time would pass until darkness where I would then get up as the difference in light would stimulate my brain into action. Yet with my parents house with at least one of my brothers there and other people visiting I never had a problem and never even knew it was a thing!
But hypersensitivities... I could hear bats, dog whistles, wifi (Which is a loud high pitched constant sound) and other high pitched sounds that were not "Supposed to" be heard, and most people would not believe me! I had to hold mobile phones away from my head due to the feeling of the sound. These I could not exactly hear but gave a pain as if I could hear them when I brought them close to my head. People look daft when I told them it hurt when I put the mobile phone next to my head!
Anyway...
I get on better alone but with someone around, as in groups, people eventually pick up that I am not like them and then bully me or push me out of their group. So on my own I do well. But as above, I do need background movement of someone doing something now and then so I don't mentally stall, yet I have a higher than average I.Q.
As others have said that there is only one of me!

 

[vergil96]

I can't speak a lot of the time, it has never been my best skill, I learnt to speak early compared to other children, but I had hearing loss ever since I can remember. I think in images, function a lot like a deaf person (I'm hard of hearing), and when I'm not in my best state, tired after the whole day etc., sound words don't come to my mind. It's not that I don't think verbally, but they're pictograms or written words... or lots of other ways to convey information.

A few of my family members learnt to speak around the age of 5, but autism wasn't a "thing" but then, and they never cared to get diagnosed. Now they're successful IT professionals.

I have sensory issues with bright lights and loud sounds, and probably misophonia (I relate so much to hating the sound of phones and small speakers). But I'm not sure how much of an issue it really is - I can't stand traffic and shopping malls. These aren't necessary elements of life. The worse part is photosensitive epilepsy that can be triggered by sunny and windy weather - but it got better as I got more rest, sleep and regular meals and less traffic.

I could go on and on about sensory issues - most of them can be avoided if doing things the way you prefer, not what everyone does. Let's say, you wear shoes you find comfortable, not those that everyone thinks are trendy. You don't like harsh soaps that have a smell - don't use them. I also stim all the time and don't make a whole lot of eye contact.

I could hear wifi from the routers,

I live in headphones...

As for severity... I definitely have more pronounced sensory issues than many people who get diagnosed nowadays and whose problems are often secondary to autism, not directly resulting from it. In some parts of the world sensory issues in adults are ASD2, based on the need for accommodations at work or in daily life, in other parts of the world it's ASD1 if you don't need a legal guardian. In my part of the world and diagnostic criteria that's just ASD or Asperger's syndrome. I also have good social skills, pretty much the only symptom from the social category that I have is not making eye contact and my mild face blindness.

Probably for most of us in the non-ASD3 group some aspects of autism are mild and we would self-assess them as ASD1, but we would put other aspects at ASD2 or even 3, debilitating, disabling. Autistics tend to have uneven skills. To be very good at some things and terrible at other things. So if you asked us about the severity of our autism, you'd get mostly responses that it's mixed: in one area no difficulties, perhaps not fulfilling the diagnostic criteria at all, in other areas mild, in others disabling.

push me out of their group. So on my own I do well.

I find groups overwhelming or distracting.

yet I have a higher than average I.Q.

I have a very high IQ *brags* The exact score I got was "above range" in a test that ended on 130 (so potentially not super high). I don't care about a more accurate result and I feel like (see above) I have an uneven skill set and I'm average at some tasks and outstanding at others. I'm also 2E (twice exceptional) - gifted, but with some disabilities at the same time.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Face blindness.... Prosopragnosia. Yes. Haha. And you don't know when it will happen next!

 

[Vesta]

I can't speak a lot of the time, it has never been my best skill, I learnt to speak early compared to other children, but I had hearing loss ever since I can remember. I think in images, function a lot like a deaf person (I'm hard of hearing), and when I'm not in my best state, tired after the whole day etc., sound words don't come to my mind. It's not that I don't think verbally, but they're pictograms or written words... or lots of other ways to convey information.

A few of my family members learnt to speak around the age of 5, but autism wasn't a "thing" but then, and they never cared to get diagnosed. Now they're successful IT professionals.

I have sensory issues with bright lights and loud sounds, and probably misophonia (I relate so much to hating the sound of phones and small speakers). But I'm not sure how much of an issue it really is - I can't stand traffic and shopping malls. These aren't necessary elements of life. The worse part is photosensitive epilepsy that can be triggered by sunny and windy weather - but it got better as I got more rest, sleep and regular meals and less traffic.

I could go on and on about sensory issues - most of them can be avoided if doing things the way you prefer, not what everyone does. Let's say, you wear shoes you find comfortable, not those that everyone thinks are trendy. You don't like harsh soaps that have a smell - don't use them. I also stim all the time and don't make a whole lot of eye contact.


I live in headphones...

As for severity... I definitely have more pronounced sensory issues than many people who get diagnosed nowadays and whose problems are often secondary to autism, not directly resulting from it. In some parts of the world sensory issues in adults are ASD2, based on the need for accommodations at work or in daily life, in other parts of the world it's ASD1 if you don't need a legal guardian. In my part of the world and diagnostic criteria that's just ASD or Asperger's syndrome. I also have good social skills, pretty much the only symptom from the social category that I have is not making eye contact and my mild face blindness.

Probably for most of us in the non-ASD3 group some aspects of autism are mild and we would self-assess them as ASD1, but we would put other aspects at ASD2 or even 3, debilitating, disabling. Autistics tend to have uneven skills. To be very good at some things and terrible at other things. So if you asked us about the severity of our autism, you'd get mostly responses that it's mixed: in one area no difficulties, perhaps not fulfilling the diagnostic criteria at all, in other areas mild, in others disabling.


I find groups overwhelming or distracting.


I have a very high IQ *brags* The exact score I got was "above range" in a test that ended on 130 (so potentially not super high). I don't care about a more accurate result and I feel like (see above) I have an uneven skill set and I'm average at some tasks and outstanding at others. I'm also 2E (twice exceptional) - gifted, but with some disabilities at the same time.

I wouldn't say I have a major problem with sensory stuff, like being overwhelmed by sounds. But I do get tired very quickly, especially when I'm interacting with people. It's as if someone is draining my energy. It's hard to concentrate, my mind just doesn't work well, and I struggle with logic. However, my memory is good; I've always found it easier to memorize a poem than to recount a text in my own words, and I've heard that's common among autistic people. I also have all sorts of strange, totally illogical thoughts swirling around in my head. This has been the case since childhood—various anxious, paranoid thoughts, and schizotypal ones. So yeah, it's a struggle.