What differentiates low and high functioning autism from the inside?

[Iamnotarabot]

Everything is in the title, I didn't find any information about this topic yet, and I want to know if someone around here can bring any source of information.

I understand that the difference is made by external symptoms and behavior, the more it impacts an individual the more we classify the disorder as severe...

But, what is the difference from the inside? Does a person with low functioning get even more sensitivity for instance?

I hope my question is clear enough.

 

[Ezra]

This shows what it's like really well. Probably better than I can describe it. But ask me questions if you want. Yes sensory issues are much worse.

This also shows intelligence traped by helplessness. That isn't Carley's voice on the video, she is nonverbal.

 

[Mary Terry]

I don't know the technical, scientific, psychiatric, or neurological differences between HFA and LFA. I'm sure there are folks here who could tell you exactly what the scientific literature says about that. But based on my experiences, the more verbal a person is, the more likely they are to be called high functioning regardless of sensory or behavioral issues which may be greater for the HFA than the LFA. It seems to me that in common practice and daily life among lay people, autistic people who can speak or communicate in writing are deemed high functioning.

The Carly's Cafe video tells the story of my LFA nephew. He cannot volunteer words, he rarely speaks except for echolalia and talking aloud to himself (self-talk), yet he is super bright, a math genius, has a great sense of humor and almost photographic recall of things he reads about like his special interests, likes to help me go grocery shopping so he can push the cart, earplugs and sunglasses in place of course, and cook food with me. But he struggles to tell me anything of substance and then it is only in response to my prompting him with questions. Multiple choice questions often work best for us to communicate with each other. He picks the best answer for himself but, of course, the choices he has are only my best guesses of what is really going on with him. His high intelligence is locked inside his head and no one has been able to help him find his voice. I just love him as he is, spend as much time as I can with him, even if we just sit on the couch with my nose in a book and his nose in the laptop reading Wikipedia, happy being together in companionable silence. But he cannot tell me in words what he is thinking or write what he is thinking. How can we reach him? Does he just not want to talk or does his brain structure preclude him ever being able to do that, or a little of both?

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Yes thanks for the video, this is really well done but, I'd like to find something like a science article , something like that^^.

Edit : I posted my message before I could see the last answer sorry @Mary Terry !
This is really hard I guess, in France we have one person with autism that sometimes speak about it , he didn't speak until the age of 6 and said it was because he didn't want to , I may try to find some others information about it.

But this person today is really functioning well and you can't tell anything at all , so there is always hope, but this is really complicated because it also depends not only on the severity of the disorder itself, but also how one individual 's experiences can trigger other issues...This is a real enigma.

 

[Ezra]

@ Mary Terry wonderful reading. I am fortunate enough to have family members like you. In my case being primarily nonverbal it is a little of both. I can say what I want. Like in that video if my dad asked what I wanted I could say coffee. Usually at least unless I am stressed. But I am not able to converse. It's like something you yourself can't do others can, like juggling or whatever. And also I don't feel comfortable talking. And also say stuff out loud to myself sometimes. Especially cussing if I'm angry about something. Him knowing that you like him and accept him means a lot I am sure. You are a great aunt.

 

[Streetwise]

have you thought about talking to him a lot about what he is interested in it seems to be the more you talk and converse the easier it becomes to converse it appears to be that the brain is plastic and if you stimulate ( converse )one area constantly it changes the connections in the brain.
I know that if I communicate on this forum it is easier for me to talk one-to-one than if I don't.

I don't know the technical, scientific, psychiatric, or neurological differences between HFA and LFA. I'm sure there are folks here who could tell you exactly what the scientific literature says about that. But based on my experiences, the more verbal a person is, the more likely they are to be called high functioning regardless of sensory or behavioral issues which may be greater for the HFA than the LFA. It seems to me that in common practice and daily life among lay people, autistic people who can speak or communicate in writing are deemed high functioning.

The Carly's Cafe video tells the story of my LFA nephew. He cannot volunteer words, he rarely speaks except for echolalia and talking aloud to himself (self-talk), yet he is super bright, a math genius, has a great sense of humor and almost photographic recall of things he reads about like his special interests, likes to help me go grocery shopping so he can push the cart, earplugs and sunglasses in place of course, and cook food with me. But he struggles to tell me anything of substance and then it is only in response to my prompting him with questions. Multiple choice questions often work best for us to communicate with each other. He picks the best answer for himself but, of course, the choices he has are only my best guesses of what is really going on with him. His high intelligence is locked inside his head and no one has been able to help him find his voice. I just love him as he is, spend as much time as I can with him, even if we just sit on the couch with my nose in a book and his nose in the laptop reading Wikipedia, happy being together in companionable silence. But he cannot tell me in words what he is thinking or write what he is thinking. How can we reach him? Does he just not want to talk or does his brain structure preclude him ever being able to do that, or a little of both?

 

[Mary Terry]

I do try to engage him in talking, been doing that for over 20 years, but he doesn't talk back. I think it may upset him sometimes if I am too persistent in trying to get him to talk because it is so hard for him, so I try to limit our "talking" to things that are really important. I know he can talk - I've heard him say some amazing and perceptive things - but he doesn't like to and it exhausts him. I think I just have to accept that he is a non-talker, try to watch out for him, try to figure out what he wants or needs, and accept him as the loving, beautiful, sensitive person that he is.
Go to First Unread

 

[Ezra]

I do try to engage him in talking, been doing that for over 20 years, but he doesn't talk back. I think it may upset him sometimes if I am too persistent in trying to get him to talk because it is so hard for him, so I try to limit our "talking" to things that are really important. I know he can talk - I've heard him say some amazing and perceptive things - but he doesn't like to and it exhausts him. I think I just have to accept that he is a non-talker, try to watch out for him, try to figure out what he wants or needs, and accept him as the loving, beautiful, sensitive person that he is.
Go to First Unread

Talking to people does not feel natural or normal to me. I went through speech therapy because I wanted to be able to talk some out of necessity, but it was always pure torture to go through.

 

[Mary Terry]

@ Mary Terry wonderful reading. I am fortunate enough to have family members like you. In my case being primarily nonverbal it is a little of both. I can say what I want. Like in that video if my dad asked what I wanted I could say coffee. Usually at least unless I am stressed. But I am not able to converse. It's like something you yourself can't do others can, like juggling or whatever. And also I don't feel comfortable talking. And also say stuff out loud to myself sometimes. Especially cussing if I'm angry about something. Him knowing that you like him and accept him means a lot I am sure. You are a great aunt.

Thank you, Ezra. You can say what you want. That is what I needed to hear and know. I don't care about my nephew's silence (I like silence, too) but I do want him to be able to tell people what is going on with him or what he wants or needs. As long as he can say what HE needs to say, not what other people want him to say, then I'm okay with that.

 

[Ezra]

@ Mary Terry, has he been given an AAC device to try?

 

[Mary Anne]

@ Mary Terry wonderful reading. I am fortunate enough to have family members like you. In my case being primarily nonverbal it is a little of both. I can say what I want. Like in that video if my dad asked what I wanted I could say coffee. Usually at least unless I am stressed. But I am not able to converse. It's like something you yourself can't do others can, like juggling or whatever. And also I don't feel comfortable talking. And also say stuff out loud to myself sometimes. Especially cussing if I'm angry about something. Him knowing that you like him and accept him means a lot I am sure. You are a great aunt.

Ezra, you communicate well here. In my eyes you ARE verbal. Maybe someday everyone will have an affordable electronic thought to speech recognition device that is carried like a phone.

 

[Mr Allen]

I've attempted to have conversations with low functioning adults, and I'm sorry to appear rude but I've had more interesting conversations with my 7 year old Niece.

 

[Progster]

But I am not able to converse. It's like something you yourself can't do others can, like juggling or whatever. And also I don't feel comfortable talking.

I'm not low functioning, but I can relate to this. What I see, is people speaking in a way that I can't manage. I speak, but I just speak plainly, only with words, without all the accompanying body language, emotion, laughter, nuances, etc, that they have. I can't do all of that, and it goes too fast so I can't participate. It's not just social anxiety, as I was initially diagnosed with. I can understand most of what they are saying, but I feel cut off from it.

 

[Mary Anne]

I'm not low functioning, but I can relate to this. What I see, is people speaking in a way that I can't manage. I speak, but I just speak plainly, only with words, without all the accompanying body language, emotion, laughter, nuances, etc, that they have. I can't do all of that, and it goes too fast so I can't participate. It's not just social anxiety, as I was initially diagnosed with. I can understand most of what they are saying, but I feel cut off from it.

I am slightly touched with autism. I cannot stand “small talk” and all the social BS of getting together and chatting. I feel completely disconnected from most “normal” people. I simply don”t care about their mundanely boring lives. Parties and social gatherings are always difficult. I feel complete fascination and empathy for those with whom I can find connections with: often those with mental illness, drug addictions, those living in poverty, and or prison inmates. They all have fascinating lives. I also love getting to know those with mild cognitive problems and having worked with all of these wonderful people it’s truly impossible to deal with all the suburban people I am surrounded by now. That being said, I have got the art of masking down, and passing as quite “sociable.” Inside I am anything but!

The 28 years I lived in extreme drug and alcohol addiction, the homeless I once suffered through, these and so much more, I believe were the coping mechanisms and effects of growing up with severe trauma, AND mild autism. Alcohol, cocaine, and more, were my ways of dealing with both.

My oerfect day is away from all people, alone in the woods, or prairies, with no cars, airplanes, or voices damaging the natural environment. Pretty difficult when living near the biggest airport and third largest USA city. People are everywhere!

 

[Progster]

I am slightly touched with autism. I cannot stand “small talk” and all the social BS of getting together and chatting. I feel completely disconnected from most “normal” people. I simply don”t care about their mundanely boring lives. Parties and social gatherings are always difficult. I feel complete fascination and empathy for those with whom I can find connections with: often those with mental illness, drug addictions, those living in poverty, and or prison inmates. They all have fascinating lives. I also love getting to know those with mild cognitive problems and having worked with all of these wonderful people it’s truly impossible to deal with all the suburban people I am surrounded by now. That being said, I have got the art of masking down, and passing as quite “sociable.” Inside I am anything but!

The 28 years I lived in extreme drug and alcohol addiction, the homeless I once suffered through, these and so much more, I believe were the coping mechanisms and effects of growing up with severe trauma, AND mild autism. Alcohol, cocaine, and more, were my ways of dealing with both.

My oerfect day is away from all people, alone in the woods, or prairies, with no cars, airplanes, or voices damaging the natural environment. Pretty difficult when living near the biggest airport and third largest USA city. People are everywhere!

I agree with most of what you write, but not the cocaine, hard drugs have never had any appeal for me.

 

[Mary Terry]

@ Mary Terry, has he been given an AAC device to try?

No, he hasn't had access to anything like that. I don't know if it would help him because it seems he cannot find the vocabulary words and link them together to express a complete thought. He has a big vocabulary, he knows that words mean and he can correct punctuation, syntax, pronouns and other aspects of writings, but he cannot just "pull" words or sentences out of his head to say or write them. There's a big disconnect between what he knows and what he can express.

He lives with his mother who is also autistic, and I have no control or real input over how she treats him. It would be up to her to more completely facilitate the development of his communication skills. She won't let him text or email anything, even with me. Sometimes I think she does not want him to be verbal.

 

[SteveH]

I'm not low functioning, but I can relate to this. What I see, is people speaking in a way that I can't manage. I speak, but I just speak plainly, only with words, without all the accompanying body language, emotion, laughter, nuances, etc, that they have. I can't do all of that, and it goes too fast so I can't participate. It's not just social anxiety, as I was initially diagnosed with. I can understand most of what they are saying, but I feel cut off from it.

great description. I can relate.
Sometimes when people say something to me when I am not paying close attention-it seems like I am hearing it in a dream. Then I try come out of the dream to respond. But sometimes my reaction will be so delayed that they are on to the next thing and a late response will be worse than no response. I almost never immediately get jokes told to me out of context. I will even give them a bad look as if they were being inappropriate. Then I realize they were just trying to be nice and make a little connection--and I feel HORRIBLE!! OMG I actually try to make an effort to say something nice to that person and make a smile ASAP to let them know I am not a complete A-hole. Sometimes works

 

[Progster]

Sometimes when people say something to me when I am not paying close attention-it seems like I am hearing it in a dream. Then I try come out of the dream to respond. But sometimes my reaction will be so delayed that they are on to the next thing and a late response will be worse than no response.

Yes, this happens to me, too - I think it might be because it is harder for us to switch attention, or to switch from using the right hemisphere of the brain to the left hemisphere, because they are not so well integrated.

 

[pjcnet]

Both my low functioning autistic adult brothers have very similar autistic traits to myself, some appear to be more severe or it could be because they are less able to control or understand them than I am, plus they have an extremely poor concept of what is acceptable behaviour or not. They are also much more prone to severe meltdowns than myself, although I used to have a similar number to them when I was a young child, but the biggest difference is they don't have the ability to comprehend many of the things we do and it's extremely unlikely they realise they're different or comprehend autism in any way what-so-ever. For instance my brothers have no understanding of money or value, they can't count, tell the time, read or write and they're about as independent as a 2 year old child meaning most things need to be done for them. Here is another example, my brothers would never be-able to understand the physics of the universe, that the world is roughly spherical or even the concept of different countries and their geography. Their speech is also greatly impaired and their vocabulary is limited, if you know them you get used to understanding them, but a stranger would often struggle. Despite all this they are intelligent in some ways, for instance sometimes it can surprise you what David remembers and does understand from overhearing conversations, also sometimes he will remember things that most people would think are insignificant from years ago, then he will suddenly bring it up.

A few people here claim to be on the lower functioning part of the autistic spectrum, but in my opinion you have to be at the very least medium functioning to be-able to comprehend using this website and to be-able to write, if not high functioning. My brothers could never comprehend what the Internet is, let alone the purpose of a forum.