degrees of autism | Autism PDD
Does anyone happen to know HOW they decide if a child is high
functioning, low functioning, etc? It seems like they would have to
wait a while to determine this. They keep telling me different tings,
like one time they'll say High Functioning, another moderate, etc. How
do they determine this?
IF anyone out there has a moderate or low functioning child, could you
maybe give me a description? Do they use IQ to help determine?
First of all you cannot test a child for an accurate iq that is on the spectrum. They determine the level of autism by observation. For example if the child is non verbal and has alot of the characteristics of autism, doesn't make eye contact, hates being touched, hates certain textures, has problems with food textures. That is considered truly autistic. Also the hyperness, lack of sleep, the attention span, alot of repetitive behaviour, likes being alone, is very anti social, has a hard time knowing hot from cold. high tolerance for pain, the rocking back and forth. Hates the instruction of hand over hand. For example with Jeffrey you could put him in a empty room and he would find something to do. His level of skills are very up and down. They can be very rigid. Rigid in thinking, in movement, etc. Cannot carry out a complex command. Jeffrey excels in structure and routines. With Jeffrey you have major safety issues still.
Tammy
I hope this will help clear up some confusion......
http://autism.about.com/od/autismdefined/qt/differencetip.ht m
Low-Functioning & High-Functioning Autism
One of the most confusing aspects of autism is how it is unique to every person on the spectrum. No two people with autism are identical in how they display symptoms and behaviors; they also are completely unique in how each responds to a variety of treatments. Much of this uniqueness presents a struggle for the autism community.
One hint that I can give all parents and educators is to mentally divide autism into two major categories. Remember this isn't hard and fast, but it will help you as you search for information and read the stories of other parents and their experiences. These two categories are:
Low-Functioning Autism
Children with low-functioning autism are more likely to display mental retardation, epilepsy, and extremely limited receptive/expressive language skills. They are extremely weak on “theory of mind,” and overload on too much sensory stimulation quite easily. As a rule of thumb, testing will show IQ ratings of 70 or below.
High-Functioning Autism
Children with high-functioning autism are much more efficient with expressive and receptive speech, less likely to suffer from epilepsy, and have IQ scores of 71 or above. Although too much sensory input can overload them, they have a higher tolerance and learn to desensitize themselves. These children have a stronger grasp on the theory of mind and can empathize with the feelings and reactions of others.
Just a Tip
Remember, these are general rules. It is a guide to tuck in the back of your mind for those times you are with other parents of children on the spectrum. In a forum or support group, you may find that the needs of one family differ greatly from the needs of your own, and you might be tempted to interject thoughts of what works for you. And that is good; that is what support systems are all about. But, if a parent is trying to decide if dating and driving is appropriate for their child with Asperger's, a parent of an LFA child is apt to react negatively. Those are dilemmas that those parents don't share. Misunderstandings and sometimes rather heated debates can be the result.
The needs of the child with low-functioning autism are very challenging. Parents are stretched to the limits emotionally, mentally, financially and quite often, physically. They worry about the future. And they worry about what others will say about them and unfortunately the tendency turns toward isolation.
I can't tell you how many emails I have received from parents with LFA children. They are afraid to talk about the serious problems they have because of the responses they get. “If you would just do.....,” or “The parenting methods you use are causing much of your problems and...” You get the idea. I know the readers of this site are very informed about autism, so this is probably just “more-of-the-same” information.
But just maybe, it is a reminder about the bonds we have regardless of the roads others travel that we can never walk. Peace and blessings to all of you in 2005!
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Suggested Reading
Low-Functioning Autism High-Functioning Autism
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AND http://autism.about.com/cs/whatisautism/l/blcharac.htm
Does lf and hf differ then from mild, moderate, severe? I mean I hear lfa and hfa and mild autism and servere autism, also mild, moderate, severe pdd. It's all so crazy to me.
Amber
My grandson was diagnosed at 4 1/2 with Very HFAHe was verbal.
Made eye contact
Had good imagination
Very empathetic and sensitive
No behaviourable problems
Does he have issues?
Many, many.
I think that it depends on the team who do the evaluation.
I believe that it is very subjective.
I think that the label should be ignored totally.
Just do what is best to help your child progress.
It's not that I want to label him, I just wanted to know because people always refer to their kids as LF or HF or mild, etc.... and I wanted to know basically what the criteria is, so when they say those things, i know how they are in relation to my boys. You know? So if someone says they have a moderate son, I know, "oh, ok, he is kind of like Jonah." If that makes any sense. It is frustrating sometimes! Sometimes a kid will appear to be more affected or severe and maybe less severe at another appt.....I think it would be more apparent to the examiner if they had more time to spend observing the kid and in different settings rather than in a clinic or school.....sometimes the area of testing does not have the same characteristics that the child has trouble being in. For example: some kids have problems with flourescent lighting because of the brightness or the sounds they emit....it can set them off in a class room. This doesn't show up as a problem in an office setting with different lighting. The dxer may miss out on an important component. He appears more affected at school.....so they may think he is more severely affected than the dr.
You also have to deal with the opinions of different examiners. And our kids simply perform differently on different days which can affect a dx. This is an added consideration to Tammy's above, which I also believe. More severe cases have more characteristrics of full blown autism.
I understand what you mean. I am wondering the same thing about my son Nick. He's 27 mos and was dx about a month ago, however , he hasn't seen anyone yet who could tell me if he was HF or LF or anything in between. So what I started doing was asking some of his therapists who supposedly were experienced with autism. Both of them whom I ask said he seemed to be HF. There are days when I believe them and days that I don't. But honestly, I can't help but to compare him to others with the same dx. Just because, I am only familiar with Nick. I've never had the experience (that I was aware of) to be around other autistic kids. I like reading all the post here and say to myself..."oh Yeah, Nick Does that too!!! I know how she feels!" Or even better, when I read about a symptom of another child and realize that Nick does the same thing . You know, sometimes it never occurs to me . And honestly, for myself, I think it helps me emotionally to "label" him. It's the "not knowing" that drives me crazy. At least with a label, your able to start treament in the right direction ( at least ,most of the time...lol)
I can totally relate to the not knowing driving you crazy. It has been especially hard for us becuase it seems once you can put a name to it you can tackle the issue. But when there isn't a name to it you sort of drift around wondering if the approach you are using is right, wondering what the prospects truely are, and not really knowing where to turn for help when it could be 1 thing or it could b a combination of 7 things.
The Autism Research Institute has an online Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). This checklist will give you a score, and the higher the score the more impaired, or severe, the subject is. I have done it quite a few times. You can do it just to get a baseline score, so don't worry if you aren't evaluating a treatment.
A word of caution though, be sure you are prepared emotionally to handle the results, whatever they may be. I know for me, once I realized how severe my son truly was, it really kicked my grief into overdrive. Also, if your child is very young, less than 3, I think it's best to wait to establish severity, because a lot of improvement can occur.
http://www.autismeval.com/ari-atec/
Um...nevermind I found the scoring. IT can't be right though. Several questions I had to mark that he couldn't do like in the speech part because he is only 2 and doesn't really talk. I even thought I was trying to give him the benefit of "going easy" on some of the questions, as it's hard for me to be objective. But it still came out I guess as close to severe. But if you met him you'd know that can't be right. Maybe I'll take it again. I'm ok w/ whatever, but that did sort of freak me out reading that score. I'm at work in the evenings which is why I'm on here so much right now sorry for so many posts.
Amber
Amber,I did the same thing with that test for Luke ... took it several times and each time it showed him as mod-PDD (I think he scored around 110), but, like you, I couldn't score it correctly be/c some questions weren't for children aged 2. I guess the test is geared more towards older children. Oh well. Don't make yourself crazy over it ... it's just a screening anyway to suggest if your child should be professionally evaluated.
Kellie
Amber,
Yes, since your child is only 2 I would take those results with a grain of salt. There is lots of time for improvement, especially in communication. It is too soon for you to determine severity I think. I know of many children who seemed severe at 2, but at 4 or 5, after they developed language, were only mild.
Good golly I hope so. Whew that test took me aback. But even if not totally accurate, that test showing severe autism and the pdd test showing score of 125 for mod pdd, at least it does show me that whether I think he's ok or not, the tests are telling me I should at least continue on getting him checked out. I can't be messing up all 8 online tests i took that all point he is somewhere in the spectrum.
Amber
Also I used http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html site to check the pdd part of it. Said ds was moderate pdd. I even took it twice. Once for my point of view as he is diff w/ family and in home environment and then again for point of view from others and outside home. Either way though scores differed, put him at mod pdd. He is only 2 so it's going to be hard to really say much I'm thinking.
Amber
Ok I just took that ATEC test. I didn't understand the scoring. All it says is the higher the score the more severe the child. But it doesn't give me a range. Like the pdd test said between 100-150 is mod pdd for example. Ds scored at 97. Anyone know what that would mean?
Amber
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