-OT- delete if you like - * Re: : Thyroid-S SIM

[Guest guest]

Hi Inga;

Autistic spectrum disorders is an umbrella term for several dx's

as per the DSM-1V. What they all have in common is impairment in a

triad of areas:

1) Communication

2)Social Skills

3)Imagination

Although in varying degrees of severity and differences in

intelligence. It is determined by professionals who use various

checklists. The following are some of the actual dx's:

1) Asperger's Syndrome: these people have either normal to genius

level IQ's. These people usually do much better on their verbal iq's

than performance. They are usually very verbal; but may have some

strange aspects to their communication; such as being too literal,

semantic pragmatic problems, or being overly pedantic. Another

hallmark of AS is obssessions; sometimes odd obssessions. Many are

clumsy and have poor handwriting. They also suffer from lack of

social intuition , a phenomenon known as " mind Blindness " . (it's

called the absent minded professor syndrome; usually they excel in

science , art, math, etc.) My son has to learn all social skills

thru his superior logic skills, because he just doesn't see the

hidden social stuff that others can intuit.Other , famous cases of

Asperger's Syndrome have been attributted to Bill Gates, Albert

Einstein, and Glenn Gould.

2) HFA : very similar to AS; except that some say that High

Functioning Autistic people do better on performance rather than

verbal iq; and many are much better at gross motor skills. I'm

pretty sure that HFA does not have the same standard of normal to

superior intelligence to be dxed; but I could be wrong. Most of us

who have AS kids and know HFA kids, or those who have both usually

think the HFA kids are a lot easier to deal with; usually a lot less

argumentative, etc.

3)PDD-NOS: Means that someone has autistic traits, but not enough to

get any of the other dx's on the spectrum.

4) Classical or Kanner autism: these are the people that most people

think of when they think of autistics.

5) Child Disintegrative Disorder: These kids develop normally until

their 1-2 year; then they lose all their skills . Heartbreaking.

6) Rhett's SDyndrome: only affects girls. They say that this form is

always accompanied by mental retardation, but I've seen people

affected with Rhettes online who had superior intelligence; but they

just could not speak because they had messed up neuro pathways

between the mouth and brain.However, a few have made superb websites!

Hope this helps;

Sim

> Sim,

> It probably doesn't matter much, but I would like to know just

what it means

> to be " on the spectrum " .

>

> I was recently told at a mercury toxicity yahoo site that I

was " on the

> autistic spectrum " .

>

>

> I question the credibility of the person that told me this,

however, how can

> I question what is being told me when I do not know what it means?

What does

> it mean, exactly?

>

> ~Inga

>

>

>

> > Hi ;

> >

> > I'm so sorry to hear about everything you have (and are still)

> > going thru. I, also, have a child on the spectrum. He is 8 with

> > asperger's syndrome.

> >

> > Sim