Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi there. I’ve come on here to get some advice about whether or not my older brother has autism, and if so what kind of autism it sounds like ... so I can research more into it and understand the reasons why he does things and I can learn to tolerate them more because I know that he can’t help it. Any help would be appreciated.
There is 7 years apart from us, but he was born 9 weeks premature and from that at aged 3 it was discovered that he was hard of hearing and therefore he has worn hearing aids all of his life. I’m just wondering whether this has played a part in whether he is autistic or not, I don’t know if the two are linked?
He was born on August 31st but instead of joining the year group as the younger they thought because of his hearing it was wise he joined the later year group meaning he started school at 5 and has always struggled with anything academic.
The things he does are:
-Repeats the same questions a few times a day where he is really obsessed with the outcome? For example “What did you think to the game last night?”
-Obsessed with money ... and he won’t ever spend money unless he really needs to.
-Is in a daily routine ... wakes up the same time every day, does everything the exact same for example comes home form work, shower, tea, cup of coffee (everything is always done in the exact same order)
-hates change... we offered to move his room around and then once did it when he was at work and when he came home he moved it all back around again.
-he is quite immature .. for example he repeats the same jokes all the time that maybe to other people it wouldn’t be funny.. for example he will be playing pool and then when he goes to pot the Brown ball he will shout “Nathan Brown (someone we know in the town) the Brown ball from Nathan Brownnnn is being potted - obviously to us this probably isn’t funny but he finds it that funny he sometimes repeats it 2/3 times.
-struggles to keep friends (I don’t know if this is because he can’t be bothered to put the effort in or because he reads into situations too much and thinks people are being nasty when they aren’t)
-He doesn’t struggle with conversations with people but he asks new people the same conversations all the time.. for example “Where do you work?” “How much do you get paid” “How much fuel does it cost to put in your car” “Do you speak to or see your brothers much anymore?” - I know these seem like normal conversations but it’s the same sort of conversations all the time like he struggles to come up with anything else to ask and only has the same questions to ask all the time.
-When loading the dishwasher he will have to make sure everything is loaded the correct way. If someone else puts a plate in differently to how he likes it he will correct it.
-Doesn’t understand sarcasm at times
-Has to rush things and if things aren’t done when he would like it he gets a bit upset or angry. For example if we take a parcel to the shop it has to be done ASAP so he can get back home.
I know these might sound like normal behaviours but all of them linked together and when he’s doing them all the time and everyday I am 1000% positive there is an autistic link.
Has anyone else had the same experience with a relative? If so does anyone know the type of autism this could be. My mum babies him a little and I think she’s in denial that he has autism but I’ve known for a few years now something isn’t quite right.
When I have asked him if he knows what autism is he said “yeah strange people” and when I said you repeat things quite a lot do you think you could maybe have a touch of autism?” He said no and got a bit angry that I suggested it.
Please help!!
From all the things you say, he could well be autistic - but there's lots of other things it could be too.
I can only suggest getting him to go along for testing - no-one can diagnose anything on a forum.
Sorry to not be of more help.
Hi thank you for getting back to me.
I didn’t come on here for a diagnosis as obviously that can not be possible through the internet.
As already stated I wanted some advice on whether the actions I had put were autistic actions and asked if anyone else had any similar encounters.
I wanted to read more into it so then I could explain to him and get him to go along for testing. At the moment he is in denial about having autism so I thought if I found out the type of autistic behaviours he is displaying I could research into it and tell him more about it.
Thank you anyway.