• Replies 19 replies
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 4820 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Higher Level ASD - What does it mean

VickiE4

I have a 4.5 year old son who has been diagnosed, as possibly, being higher level ASD. A number of interventions have been put in place and we are now waiting for a review to confirm or not diagnosis. 

 

I don't seem to be able to find information on what HL ASD actually means in terms of lifestyle etc. Can anyone enlighten me?

Parents

  • Hi Vicki

     

    I have a child at the so-called ‘higher functioning’ end of the spectrum and my view is that so-called ‘higher functioning’ simply means that a child/adult has autism but is verbal (has language) and has a decent IQ  (children/adults with an IQ of less than 75 are given the label of having learning difficulties) as opposed to the people at the other end of the spectrum (often called 'lower-functioning') who generally have lower IQs and often do not have language.

     

    Other than that, the autism is the same.  Some people may appear to be better functioning than others but usually this is because they have developed compensatory coping strategies that mask the impact of the autism to anyone but the person who really understands the impact of the autism.

     

    As I said this is just my view and there’s nothing scientific about it but as you can see from Kester’s post, autism can still have a huge impact on quality of life and life chances even when someone is from the non-learning difficulty (LD) end of the spectrum (thank you Kester for that honest and open response).

     

    Research shows that the vast majority of people from the non-LD end of the spectrum will still have difficulties with social understanding, making and maintaining friendships and relationships, holding down meaningful employment and living independently.

     

    I am writing a blog on how parents can help their kids overcome their rigid thinking, difficulties with social interaction and social understanding:  http://notnigellanotjamie.blogspot.com – might be worth a look. 

     

    Hope that helps to explain things a bit more

     

    Zoe

Reply

  • Hi Vicki

     

    I have a child at the so-called ‘higher functioning’ end of the spectrum and my view is that so-called ‘higher functioning’ simply means that a child/adult has autism but is verbal (has language) and has a decent IQ  (children/adults with an IQ of less than 75 are given the label of having learning difficulties) as opposed to the people at the other end of the spectrum (often called 'lower-functioning') who generally have lower IQs and often do not have language.

     

    Other than that, the autism is the same.  Some people may appear to be better functioning than others but usually this is because they have developed compensatory coping strategies that mask the impact of the autism to anyone but the person who really understands the impact of the autism.

     

    As I said this is just my view and there’s nothing scientific about it but as you can see from Kester’s post, autism can still have a huge impact on quality of life and life chances even when someone is from the non-learning difficulty (LD) end of the spectrum (thank you Kester for that honest and open response).

     

    Research shows that the vast majority of people from the non-LD end of the spectrum will still have difficulties with social understanding, making and maintaining friendships and relationships, holding down meaningful employment and living independently.

     

    I am writing a blog on how parents can help their kids overcome their rigid thinking, difficulties with social interaction and social understanding:  http://notnigellanotjamie.blogspot.com – might be worth a look. 

     

    Hope that helps to explain things a bit more

     

    Zoe

Children
No Data