Autistic Spectrum Disorders

[CNA]

It took me forever but finally figured out who the lady was that is autistic and has written many books regarding autism from her perspective of it rather than outsiders, doctors, etc., observing her and their trying to figure out what she is doing and why. This is an amazing lady. I have watched many programs on her. I'm including other books as well from other Autistic authors writing about their own struggle with it and living with it on a daily basis. A few of these authors including Temple Grandin are doctors themselves.

Author:

Temple Grandin

Books:

Thinking in Pictures: and other Reports from My Life with Autism

Emergence: Labeled Autistic

Animals in Translation: Using the mysteries of Autism to decode

animal behavior.

Author:

Sue Rubin

Documentary:

Autism is a World

Author:

Judith Bluestone

Book:

The Fabric of Autism

Author:

Kamran Nazeer

Book:

Send in the Idiots

[Kat]

Thank you for that. I also noticed that this week's Time magazine has a cover story on Autism. My son has PDD, which stands for Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. How's that for a non-diagnosis....

Kat

[CNA]

Hi, Kat. Chris was dxd with autism spectrum disorder not otherwise specified, same as your baby. We've talked briefly about this before. But for the life of me could not remember the lady's name. I started to flip through the article and saw the name and it really rung a bell. I've seen so many shows on her but never could remember her name. So I came home and did a little more research and this is the lady I was telling you about so long ago.

I have one other book that I personally have but loaned it out and also can't remember the name again. But will try to get it back from her. This book wasn't listed but it is a great book for high functioning autistics. There are so many famous autistics out there, it's amazing. Bill Gates is one of them. High functioning typically are highly intelligent but lack social awareness. They're very self-absorbed type of people which I find that interesting.

Not otherwise specified is basically symptoms or traits if you will that spans the entire spectrum of the disorder. They can't nail it down to just one specific catagory. These people typically will show one or two symptoms in one catagory and then show 5 in another and then show 1 in another, they just can't pinpoint it down. It just spans the entire disorder.

Unfortunately, some high functioning autistics sometimes will regress at any point in time. They may be a productive genius as I've read so many times and literally they regress which is so sad. But they do the best they can.

Definitely read that article, so very interesting and hopefully will get that book and post the name of it soon.

Angie

[Rodney]

I have two books written by an autistic, Donna Williams: Nobody Nowhere and its sequel, Somebody Somewhere.

Moving and fascinating. One very surprising thing is that she was partially helped by, of all things, special colored glasses! Has anyone ever heard of this elsewhere?

In any case, reading these books gave me some insight into the nature of autism. Williams says autism "is not a form of madness. Autism is an extreme example of a mechanism that acts to protect sanity" in the face of what she calls "emotional overload."

[CNA]

Here is an Autism test to find out how you score and if you have traits of being autistic. It's not to give a diagnosis but many of the questions are interesting. I can definitely relate, especially to social aspects, etc. But I myself also have an interesting past with certain issues; such as, I rarely talked until I was almost 4, very little speech pattern. I talked but not much. Around 4 years old, I just exploded on the scene and couldn't get me to be quiet and using words well advanced for my age amongst other interesting aspects of it. But I'm not autistic.

Here is the site to go and take the test. It's not long, 50 questions, easy to get through.

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/newsweek/autism_quotient/

[gary williams]

I scored a 25 on the test.

I do not know if that is good, bad or if there is a good or bad. Somebody tell me!

Anyway, I find the phenomenon of Autism fascinating.

gw

[Fran]

I'm interested in, but am not knowledgable about, autism. If you go solely on that test, I think it means that you score higher than normal but that you're not Aspergic i.e. not in the autistic bracket. However, I have a friend who is a clinical psychologist and she has told me in the past that you cannot go on tests of this type, so if you had scored in the aspergic or higher bracket, then an accurate appraisal would need to be done by a clinical psychologist.

I scored about 25 on this test too. This does not surprise me and I bet there are a lot of people with a score like this.

I don't see it as good or bad. Autism can impact on people's ability to empathise with and form relationships with other people, so it depends on whether it affects their quality of life.

Hmm, not sure whether I've met your need for reassurance or not?

[Kat]

Well, I tried it too and scored rather high at 29. I am very much an introvert (INTP) and I think that is why I scored rather high as I imagine many Objectivists would. Combine introversion, egoism, detail orientation, mathematical facination, and other traits not uncommon to O'ists and the scores will tend to be on the high side. We are generally not people persons and that in itself will create a high score. Diagnosis of high functioning autistic spectrum disorders takes a bit more than an online personality test. It took a long time to get a diagnosis on my son.

If Howard Roark took the test, I imagine he would score at least in the forties and probably be diagnosed as Aspergers.

There are 12 traits that are measured to be diagnosed as austistic. If people are interested I will dig up the list or a link and post it, but I'm off to go to work so I don't have time to look for it now.

Kat

[Fran]

Hi Kat

I am definitely interested in the list and so would be grateful if you would post it. I liked your analysis of Oists - I was trying to say something along those lines - you said it more eloquently than I

And I'm looking forward to meeting you at the summer seminar

Fran

[william.scherk]

There are 12 traits that are measured to be diagnosed as austistic.  If people are interested I will dig up the list or a link and post it, but I'm off to go to work so I don't have time to look for it now.

Kat

Please do post the traits.

Asperger spectrum disorders interest me -- the very best I have read is Temple Grandin herself, autism from the inside, so to speak. She is very articulate, and what she writes about the love she imagines other people might feel is moving. She believes she doesn't have that facility, and has had to teach herself the many signs and gestures and tones that indicate the mind of another.

I only scored 10 on that danged test.

[Fran]

I only scored 10 on that danged test.

Sorry William, I regret to inform you that only scoring ten means that you are completely normal. Thus giving ample proof that you are not a true Objectivist... ;-)

[Dragonfly]

My score was 21. Seems to be average...

[Mikee]

I scored a 39......whoa..

WSS is normal???? I feel the ground shifting...

More info please.

[Paul Mawdsley]

Most women score about 15, most men score about 17

I scored 16. Does this mean I have gender confusion issues? Do I need to see someone about this?

I have a question. Whenever I do surveys like this I have to do some struggling and playing in my mind with perspectives. When I reflect on behaviour relevant to a given question it seems I vary my orientation and behaviour quite a bit. I can see myself, very often, being able to choose both extreme answers but select a middle answer from the choices as a sort of average of what I might do. Does any one else find themselves doing this on these types of surveys? And what does this say about the value of these types of surveys?

Paul

[Roger Bissell]

I scored 18. I work 5 days a week entertaining people at Disneyland, and I desperately crave my down-time at home to recharge. I do like sharing ideas and experiences with likeable people, but I do not enjoy wrangling over what seems obvious with people who seem to enjoy being contentious. Which is why I don't take part more often in discussions.

REB

[Paul Mawdsley]

Roger, you wrote:

...I do not enjoy wrangling over what seems obvious with people who seem to enjoy being contentious. Which is why I don't take part more often in discussions.

I'm a little dense. Who was that aimed at?

Paul

[CNA]

Hi, Mikee, we're in the same boat. I scored 32. But I have never been diagnosed as being autistic although have seen a neurologist. Both psychologists and neurologists can give a diagnoses of autism. My son was diagnosed by a neurologist at about the age of 2.5 to 3, somewhere around there but seems to be doing so much better, especially now that he is getting older and is capable of understanding more. He has exceptional math skills, reading, science, etc. But is having problems with fine motor skills, penmanship, etc.

To my understanding of Autism is the higher the score the more profound the disability is to the point they are not able to fucntion in society, etc. A good example of this is the movie about a severely autistic man, can't remember his name though. The movie is Rain Man. I enjoy reading about medicine as I've had quite a number of years of it so I'm always reading journals, books, etc., that deal with medicine. I just recently read and was floored by it that the man the movie was based on can read 2 pages at once with each eye concentrating on its own page and understands what he is reading. So basically open up any book, your right eye will read the page on the right and the left eye will read the page on the left at the same time and he is capable of understanding what he is reading on both pages simultaneously. Oh, it's absolutely fascinating. And there's so much to it.

My personal opinion on it and have also been told this by friends that are doctors themselves, etc., is that the diagnosis of autism is overly used. If you don't fit into society, they have to label you as having some type of medical problem or what have you. You know, since a lot of people's view is all about conformity and grouping and not taking into account individuality. But it has never affected my life and Fran is right. No matter how high you score, as long as it doesn't affect the quality of your life there is no need for intervention. I've been told that a few times by doctors about Chris. He does have speech classes and OT classes but that is to help with slowing him down with his speech and pronouncing his words clearly and his fine motor skills. Chris talks extremely fast and runs all of his words together and is hard to understand sometimes. But as he's aging, this aspect is getting a lot easier on him.

But as Fran said and I agree, if anyone is concerned about their score, make an appointment with your doctor. Although I didn't post the URL to give a diagnosis for anyone, it was just a test so whoever reads it they can look at the questions, etc. Some of those questions are very interesting, especially as it relates to O'ism and how O'ists are. I can definitely relate to it.

Angie

[Roger Bissell]

This just in...James Taggart scored a whopping 98 on the autism survey. When informed of his score, he said "Don't bother me, don't bother me, don't bother me!" :-)

Paul, I have had unpleasant discussions everywhere I go online, so I wasn't singling out anyone on O-L in particular, just making a general statement.

REB

[Paul Mawdsley]

Roger, you wrote:

Paul, I have had unpleasant discussions everywhere I go online, so I wasn't singling out anyone on O-L in particular, just making a general statement.

Oh, I was preparing to go all introspective, self-reflective, consider the evidence and reevaluate how I express myself. It wouldn't be the first time my online persona has produced labels like, "enjoy being contentious." I just wanted to ask you before going off the deep end and assuming it's all about me.

Assuming I am one of the collective your general statement was aimed at, I actually don't enjoy being contentious. If I am being contentious, it's just a byproduct of expressing my inner twist on the world, not something intentional that I get enjoyment from. Like some others here, I may sense a certain built-in need to justify my quite non-mainstream views that causes me to project some defensiveness but I'm not looking for the "right room for an argument." (MPFC)

Recently, I've been looking into the categories of the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II. It seems I'm a cross between an iNFj and an iNTp. I have the arrogant self-assertion of my iNTp and the empathic sensitivity of my iNFj. This means I have the joyous ability of arrogantly pissing someone off, then experiencing the uncomfortable twists of anxiety in the event of a confrontation. I refuse to let anxiety win but I will try to tone down the defensive arrogance.

btw-- You would not be alone in your assessment. My wife, Shauna, was the first to point out my arrogant contentious side. If I get out of line, let me know. I don’t mind trying on a different hat and reevaluating.

Oh, I guess it was all about me after all.

Paul

[Kat]

DSM-IV Criteria, Pervasive Developmental Disorders

299.00 Autistic Disorder

A. A total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and one each from (2) and (3):

(1) qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(a) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to- eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction

(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level

© a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)

(d) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

(2) qualitative impairments in communication, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(a) delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)

(B) in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others

© stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language

(d) lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level

(3) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least one of the following:

(a) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus

(B) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals

© stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting or complex whole-body movements)

(d) persistent precoccupation with parts of objects

B. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play.

C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.

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299.80 Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified

This category should be used when there is a severe and pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific pervasive developmental disorder, schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder, or avoidant personality disorder. For example, this category includes "atypical autism" --presentations that do not meet the criteria for autistic disorder because of late age of onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

299.80 Asperger's Disorder

A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction

(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level

(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)

(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

B. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus

(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals

(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)

(4) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

F. Criteria are not met for another specific pervasive developmental disorder or schizophrenia.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

299.80 Rett's Disorder

A. All of the following:

(1) apparently normal prenatal and perinatal development

(2) apparently normal psychomotor development through the first 5 months after birth

(3) normal head circumference at birth

B. Onset of all of the following after the period of normal development:

(1) deceleration of head growth between ages 5 and 48 months

(2) loss of previously acquired purposeful hand skills between ages 5 and 30 months with the subsequent development of stereotyped hand movements (i.e., hand-wringing or hand washing)

(3) loss of social engagement early in the course (although often social interaction develops later)

(4) appearance of poorly coordinated gait or trunk movements

(5) severely impaired expressive and receptive language development with severe psychomotor retardation

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

299.10 Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

A. Apparently normal development for at least the first 2 years after birth as manifested by the presence of age-appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication, social relationships, play, and adaptive behavior.

B. Clinically significant loss of previously acquired skills (before age 10 years) in at least two of the following areas:

(1) expressive or receptive language

(2) social skills or adaptive behavior

(3) bowel or bladder control

(4) play

(5) motor skills

C. Abnormalities of functioning in at least two of the following areas:

(1) qualitative impairement in social interaction (e.g., impairment in nonverbal behaviors, failure to develop peer relationships, lack of social or emotional reciprocity)

(2) qualitative impairments in communication (e.g., delay or lack of spoken language, inability to initiate or sustain a conversation, stereotyped and repetitive use of language, lack of varied make-believe play)

(3) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, including motor stereotypies and mannerisms

D. The disturbance is not better accounted for by another specific pervasive developmental disorder or by schizophrenia.

[C. Jordan]

Kat, I can't believe you said:

If Howard Roark took the test, I imagine he would score at least in the forties and probably be diagnosed as Aspergers.

Would you believe on my first reading of The Fountainhead, THAT WAS EXACTLY MY THOUGHT ABOUT ROARK? That he was to some degree autistic?

More to the point, I more than recognise myself in that list you provided. This leads to another thought: if these traits are common in Roark, and if they're to be found in many fans of Objectivism…

[CNA]

Thank you, Kat, for posting that. I have seen so many of these things over the past years. You get to the point you've memorized it or at least that's the way it has been with me and Chris. Every single IEP he has, all this stuff is brought back up and presented on paper. I always walk away from those IEPs with literally armfuls of reports, medical records, testings, etc. Still have most of it other than the redundancy aspect of it. But keep all the major reports and it's interesting to go through it and read it and see all the progress over the months and years, his interests, etc. It's great and enjoy it.

Angie

[Barbara Branden]

My score was 8. I have no idea what that means, if anything.

Barbara

[L W HALL]

What's new, everyone else is taking a test and I am out wandering around. Could explain some of my shortcoming such as composition which I am studying once again after many years of absense from an English classroom.

Anyway, I scored an 11. My biggest problem that I recall was being bored out of my mind in most classroom settings, which probably has nothing to do with Autism, but it just came to mind while reading others posts.

L W

[Kat]

Maybe I didn't make it clear that this is not a personality test and you can't score and diagnose yourself. It literally took years to get a diagnosis on Sean and it included neurologists, psychiatrists, MRI, EEG, Fragile X chromosome testing, three weeks of going to Children's Memorial Hospital instead of school (partial hospitalization), several interviews, questionnaires, observations, and additional testing lasting a couple hours with another specialist.

Believe me, it was hell getting a diagnosis. Unfortunately, there is no cure, but having the diagnosis helps to understand a lot about him. Stuff like his obsession with time and dates is quite common within autistic spectrum kids. He is how he is and I accept and love him as he is. He has a curious yet silly nature and is highly rational in a very unusual sense. He is very literal and makes you see the world from a completly different perspective. He really is a great kid. One recent big milestone was that he has finally found a best friend.

Kat