Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / High Functioning Autism: [What YOU NEED to Know]

Transcript

High Functioning Autism: [What YOU NEED to Know] · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

• 0:34
  Okay guys, so let's go through the background.
• 0:36
  So I try to be very clear here - cushioning autism is not an
• 0:40
  official term. There's no diagnostic for it.
• 0:43
  There's no actual medical terminology that refers to -
• 0:48
  during autism as a diagnosis. So you can't be diagnosed with
• 0:51
  high functioning autism and it also does not appear in the DSM,
• 0:54
  which is the main way that people diagnosed mental health
• 0:57
  conditions and neurodevelopmental conditions
• 1:00
  currently in today's society. So basically, Autism was
• 1:06
  discovered as a kind of medical terminology back in like
• 1:11
  nineteen forties with a guy called Leo Kanner and also a
• 1:15
  gentleman called Hans Asperger who are doing simultaneous
• 1:18
  information research on autism spectrum conditions, then they
• 1:23
  will looking at more severe cases.
• 1:25
  So can I start was looking at more severe cases of people who
• 1:27
  had like exceptional needs in this became known as autism or
• 1:31
  it was Kenner autism and it was like Ken it autism.
• 1:33
  There was some other knowing creature that they don't use
• 1:35
  anymore. They were never using a
• 1:36
  diagnostic process. But in the early 1990s, they
• 1:41
  started to realize that they were more like mild less severe
• 1:45
  support needs for some individuals who would still
• 1:47
  displaying some of those core traits of an Autism Spectrum
• 1:50
  condition, but were more similar to that of the hands Asperger
• 1:53
  research paper and diagnosis. So then Asperger's Syndrome
• 1:56
  became more of a diagnose term for the people who had less
• 2:01
  severe support needs than that of the typical. mm support needs
• 2:04
  that had been priorly diagnosed to this then of course this
• 2:08
  opened up the more broad spectrum of the idea that it is
• 2:10
  an Autism Spectrum and it was a quite a large spectrum and that
• 2:14
  brought forward what we now know as the autism spectrum course
• 2:17
  Asperger syndrome became more widely used for people who were
• 2:20
  not displaying those severe needs also via support needs as
• 2:24
  before, you know, being noticed and documented and diagnose
• 2:27
  prior to this kind of 1990s ideological shift when they
• 2:30
  realized that autism affected more people than just the
• 2:33
  Sevilla Port needed version that lead already seen also guys, I
• 2:36
  did a video specifically on us virgia syndrome and fines and
• 2:40
  trait if you'd like to see that video I will leave it in a card
• 2:42
  above here and in the description below for you guys
• 2:45
  to go and check that out. What do people mean when they
• 2:47
  saying - Channing autism. So there are different support
• 2:52
  needs or levels of support needs for people on the autism
• 2:54
  spectrum some of the more severe and some are less severe for
• 2:57
  instance. Somebody may need 24-hour, you
• 3:00
  know help and Care using the bathroom making the food getting
• 3:04
  around the house getting changed brushing their teeth at things
• 3:07
  like this. That could be nonverbal.
• 3:09
  They could be completely shut off from the what we know is
• 3:14
  like a social world and those people would have more severe
• 3:17
  needs and those severe needs would need to be met by a
• 3:20
  support worker not that would be kind of like a severe need which
• 3:22
  people would typically refer to as low functioning autism.
• 3:26
  Now - Channing autism is a term that people started using to
• 3:31
  discuss people who were more Verbally able who were more
• 3:36
  independent living who weren't that severe as what would they
• 3:39
  typically had seen so people who are able to hold down typical
• 3:42
  job or they were able to you know, go about their daily
• 3:45
  lives, but they'd also display some core traits of autism and
• 3:50
  that was very very interesting. So when people say high
• 3:53
  functioning autism what they're actually saying is people who
• 3:55
  have less severe support needs on the autism spectrum than that
• 3:59
  of some people who may have more severe support needs to
• 4:02
  basically the DS. SM which is the main way that
• 4:05
  all the medical industry actually diagnose an Autism
• 4:09
  Spectrum condition used to have the term Asperger syndrome.
• 4:12
  Now, if you're familiar with the term Asperger's Syndrome, which
• 4:14
  is I had the diagnosis of prior to 2013.
• 4:17
  This was a term used to diagnose people on a certain kind of end
• 4:22
  of the spectrum of autism, if you if you will and this then
• 4:25
  was actually retracted and taken out in 2013 and replaced with
• 4:29
  what they call an Autism Spectrum Disorder as a blanket
• 4:32
  umbrella term. Everybody who is on this
• 4:35
  spectrum and there are a few reasons for this.
• 4:37
  So basically when people were diagnosed with Asperger syndrome
• 4:41
  or - Channing autism, if you would like to call it that then
• 4:44
  they were being left out of help and support that was definitely
• 4:48
  needed for them. So basically their case was
• 4:51
  argued down when they went to assess for support.
• 4:53
  So people would say, oh no, you don't have severe need so you
• 4:55
  don't have access to any support like therapy or support or
• 4:58
  financial support and some cases and this became a massive issue.
• 5:02
  So where you compare Being someone with you know, a
• 5:05
  diagnosis of Asperger syndrome to a diagnosis of classic
• 5:07
  autism. This didn't really sit well
• 5:09
  because they are both autism spectrum conditions.
• 5:12
  So they decided to take that out of the equation and just cover a
• 5:15
  blanket just an Autism Spectrum Disorder so that everybody is
• 5:18
  kind of under this umbrella of autism and everyone will have
• 5:21
  the individual needs and support that they need and how can I
• 5:25
  have access to because they have the right diagnosis.
• 5:27
  Now this was revolutionary in the idea of having somebody with
• 5:31
  an Autism Spectrum condition of variant.
• 5:33
  Use of support having access to support and help now.
• 5:37
  Lots of people still identify as Asperger syndrome and this could
• 5:41
  be for a few reasons one is that they was diagnosed before 2013
• 5:45
  and they still have the Asperger syndrome nomenclature label in
• 5:49
  their diagnostic paper. And also maybe that they haven't
• 5:52
  really kept up to date with what's going on and under the
• 5:55
  new nomenclature and the new Diagnostics because obviously if
• 5:58
  you've had a diagnosis before you're not really going to keep
• 6:00
  up-to-date with those medical papers if it has no use in your
• 6:03
  life neither To say it doesn't mean that Asperger's Syndrome
• 6:05
  doesn't exist. It was just saying that that's
• 6:07
  where it fits into this whole story but I must make it clear
• 6:10
  that is a term that is outdated. Nobody really uses the term
• 6:13
  Asperger syndrome anymore. And nobody really uses the term
• 6:15
  high functioning autism, even though you might hear the term
• 6:18
  like, you know used or said around it doesn't actually mean
• 6:21
  that they're referring to somebody as a actual function
• 6:24
  Mabel other just seeing is that referring to someone as how
• 6:27
  their support needs are met. Now, how do you identify like a
• 6:31
  high-functioning autism or somebody on that?
• 6:33
  And of the autism spectrum with less severe support needs this
• 6:36
  is very simple and I'll go through just a few little traits
• 6:39
  that I can identify for you. So you'd be able to kind of know
• 6:43
  bit more about it. So the first one is issues of
• 6:46
  difficulty with eye contact. Now I have issues like making
• 6:48
  eye contact with people and know that a lot of people on the
• 6:51
  autism spectrum have this issue and it's a big one when you're
• 6:55
  confronted with people in a professional or social manner,
• 6:58
  but this is something to look out for if you know someone who
• 7:00
  has this another one is bad social skills now start your
• 7:03
  skills and social communication and the unwritten laws of
• 7:06
  socializing now with socializing people tend to have a body
• 7:12
  language where they'd use their hands and they did your body
• 7:14
  gestures and they do unusual face gestures and what this is
• 7:18
  is basically a nonverbal communicative process and social
• 7:24
  gestures and social cues are difficult for people who have
• 7:29
  autism of this less severe support needs so you may be in
• 7:33
  workers. Buddy, and then you realize that
• 7:34
  they may not be able to have the best conversation and not
• 7:37
  knowing when to chime in with a conversation and not knowing
• 7:39
  when to stop talking. They're not knowing that the
• 7:42
  volume of their voice is getting louder or quieter.
• 7:45
  They don't know how far to stand away from you.
• 7:47
  These are very interesting Concepts that obviously
• 7:51
  Unwritten rules that you learn as you grow older, but people
• 7:54
  with an awesome special edition don't actually learn this in the
• 7:57
  same way another huge one is issues with sensory processing
• 8:01
  disorder and I did a video all about about sensory processing
• 8:04
  disorder and how you can actually overcome some things
• 8:07
  with hacks and stuff and only that video in the card above
• 8:09
  here for you guys to go check out as well.
• 8:11
  But basically sensory processing disorder is when you have over
• 8:14
  or under sensitivity to things like lights and sounds and
• 8:19
  smells and being around loads of people and all of this like
• 8:24
  audio and visual stimuli input can cause all kinds of crazy
• 8:27
  stuff. So you may see people who have
• 8:29
  an Autism Spectrum condition using our ear defenders in this
• 8:31
  is because they are high To the sound that's coming off of
• 8:35
  certain things. It could be anything like for
• 8:38
  me. It sounds like plastic bristles.
• 8:40
  I can't be around plastic rustling noises.
• 8:43
  And even the thought of them makes me, you know a bit
• 8:46
  uncomfortable, but it could be anything could be opening like
• 8:48
  the freezer and like hearing that ice hit that tray.
• 8:51
  There's a bunch of different reasons and it's very very
• 8:53
  individual. But it all Taylor's around
• 8:55
  sensory processing issues basically like light too much
• 8:58
  light. So people can go to stores that
• 9:01
  have fluorescent lights and those fluorescent lights are too
• 9:03
  Powering for them and they can see the Flicker and this can
• 9:05
  cause them to be upset and distressed and it could cause
• 9:08
  meltdowns it could cause all kinds of upset and just
• 9:11
  completely disrupt the entire flow of what that person is
• 9:13
  doing and this is very common with an Autism.
• 9:17
  Another one would be like hypersensitive to food and
• 9:19
  texture. So if you're like eating
• 9:20
  something that is like sloppy or doing something that's cold
• 9:24
  while you're in something that has an unusual texture.
• 9:26
  Sometimes this can trigger a sensory processing disorder
• 9:28
  issue as well because it is this condition, you know, you're
• 9:31
  sensitive to certain things and it could be like These two could
• 9:34
  be smile. It could be texture.
• 9:35
  These are all very very very common.
• 9:37
  Another one is anxiety feeling super anxious people with, you
• 9:40
  know, Asperger syndrome and people with the autism spectrum
• 9:43
  just as a whole have super high anxiety issues.
• 9:47
  Now I have anxiety support groups I go to of I have
• 9:50
  counseling for anxiety, but feeling very very anxious,
• 9:53
  especially on social situations, like family parties
• 9:56
  get-togethers family dinners things like that.
• 9:58
  These are going to heighten the anxiety because of the social
• 10:01
  pressure to be a certain way. That is very, Very confusing for
• 10:04
  the person with the autism spectrum condition and also OCD
• 10:08
  bipolar and depression. These are the most common
• 10:12
  comorbid issues that accompany a not instruction condition.
• 10:16
  So somebody with a, you know, an awesome special edition of less
• 10:19
  severe need may have OCD and depression and stress and those
• 10:24
  things will manifest themselves as mental health conditions
• 10:26
  which are very upsetting and a big issues but there are also an
• 10:31
  indicator to say this person is on the autism.
• 10:33
  Inspection obviously if the rest of the condition presents itself
• 10:38
  in the other traits and stuff like that, but I'll leave a more
• 10:40
  detailed video for that in the card above.
• 10:42
  Like I said all of us bigger syndrome and traits if you're
• 10:46
  looking for something like that, the link will be in the
• 10:48
  description below and in the icard above here so you can go
• 10:51
  and check it out as well. So in summary, it's just an
• 10:54
  Autism Spectrum condition Asperger's is autism - Channing
• 10:58
  autism is autism but Asperger's syndrome and - Channing autism
• 11:01
  and nomenclature that is used. To diagnose or describe anybody
• 11:05
  in the autism spectrum. It's just an autism spectrum
• 11:08
  disorder and it will soon probably become an Autism
• 11:10
  Spectrum condition because a lot of people saying the word
• 11:12
  disorder is negative and there's a big huge drift in the
• 11:15
  community between what the nomenclature is going to be but
• 11:18
  that doesn't mean that you shouldn't want to identify as us
• 11:20
  Burger syndrome. If you think that you know, you
• 11:23
  want to identify as a song with Asperger's Syndrome rather than
• 11:25
  just say autism spectrum condition and that's absolutely
• 11:27
  fine. I don't think there's any issues
• 11:28
  with that and if you want to say that you have - during autism, I
• 11:32
  guess people may not understand why.
• 11:33
  That is and I guess this is the reason for this video and I hope
• 11:36
  that you've learned something today.