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Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 7:13 am
by Valerie
I know autism has come up on forum.
Our niece who is 27 recently realized she’s autistic. She left college & her home in CA at age 19 & up & moved to England .
Now that we all know, so many pieces of the 27 year puzzle are coming together & it all makes sense.
I am hoping to get a recommendation on a good source to better understand autism. I believe some one the forum has an autistic child. I actually have 3 coworkers presently who are autistic. They are completely different from each other and I’m trying to have better knowledge and understanding to help.
We went to Walmart early yesterday- they had a sign posted with special hours for those with autism, PTSD, & something else (I forget) as store would be less busy for them 8-10 am.
Thank you in advance.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 7:29 am
by JohnH
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 7:13 am
I know autism has come up on forum.
Our niece who is 27 recently realized she’s autistic. She left college & her home in CA at age 19 & up & moved to England .
Now that we all know, so many pieces of the 27 year puzzle are coming together & it all makes sense.
I am hoping to get a recommendation on a good source to better understand autism. I believe some one the forum has an autistic child. I actually have 3 coworkers presently who are autistic. They are completely different from each other and I’m trying to have better knowledge and understanding to help.
We went to Walmart early yesterday- they had a sign posted with special hours for those with autism, PTSD, & something else (I forget) as store would be less busy for them 8-10 am.
Thank you in advance.
I used to help do physical therapy with an autistic boy who was around 8 or 10 years old. "Ike" was his name. I still remember all the different exercises, even though I was around 8 or 10 myself and that was 30-35 years ago. Back then, autism tended to be a diagnosis from a doctor and was a serious condition.
I am quite skeptical of present-day people who have a self-diagnosis of autism. Many people are looking for answers for their struggles, and a self-diagnosis of "autism" or "Asperger's syndrome" or "ADHD" often feels like an answer. However, it doesn't change anything about who a person is, and often can simply be a source of more confusion - or simply an excuse for problematic behaviors.
It was recently a blessing when a person I know repented of a "self-diagnosis of autism" which has enabled that person to move on to significant spiritual growth.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 7:40 am
by Soloist
Generally speaking when an adult gets diagnosed it’s a high functioning autism class 1 or whatever they are calling it. Used to simply be called Asperger's syndrome.
Now days they group the “autism like” problems and call them autism. My son would have been considered mid range for autism. (Flappy arms, head banging, echoing, scripting, texture sensitivity, and several other things)
He would not have been considered severe despite being basically nonfunctional in our society. It’s possible he could have learned to function but I really doubt it.
Autism isn’t something you can easily distill through, it’s wide ranging, my son liked cuddling and would make some eye contact. The general guidelines are just that.
We know an adult autistic and she is very low functioning requiring basically full care, yet she generally is a peaceful young lady likely thanks to a lot of hard work by her mother. This isn’t to say that every autistic will turn out well with enough work…
people like temple grandin are very rare to begin with, let alone her capabilities now. The bell curve tends to see more people who claim to be autistic and maybe they are, but the high functioning with the perks of focus and skill are very rare, and the severe with nonfunctional adults are too.
Ironically, much of autism (outside of severe cases) are identified in school by teachers. This is the same for many disorders that are more subtle or don’t show up right away like vision problems or adhd.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
by Valerie
Soloist wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 7:40 am
Generally speaking when an adult gets diagnosed it’s a high functioning autism class 1 or whatever they are calling it. Used to simply be called Asperger's syndrome.
Now days they group the “autism like” problems and call them autism. My son would have been considered mid range for autism. (Flappy arms, head banging, echoing, scripting, texture sensitivity, and several other things)
He would not have been considered severe despite being basically nonfunctional in our society. It’s possible he could have learned to function but I really doubt it.
Autism isn’t something you can easily distill through, it’s wide ranging, my son liked cuddling and would make some eye contact. The general guidelines are just that.
We know an adult autistic and she is very low functioning requiring basically full care, yet she generally is a peaceful young lady likely thanks to a lot of hard work by her mother. This isn’t to say that every autistic will turn out well with enough work…
people like temple grandin are very rare to begin with, let alone her capabilities now. The bell curve tends to see more people who claim to be autistic and maybe they are, but the high functioning with the perks of focus and skill are very rare, and the severe with nonfunctional adults are too.
Ironically, much of autism (outside of severe cases) are identified in school by teachers. This is the same for many disorders that are more subtle or don’t show up right away like vision problems or adhd.
Thank you for sharing! It has probably been a challenging journey for your family. I am thankful his parents know the Lord-
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be. To those in our family who now know & discuss it explains so much going back to her early toddler years that perplexed us. So hearing this has really helped us! She would be considered the high functioning, was probably not obvious to teachers as she even got a scholarship to a great university but dropped out early on & left the country.
I just want to better understand as I want to have a better relationship. We are polar opposites in politics, Scripture interpretation, and many things actually but I love her & want to have a better understanding.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:01 am
by JohnH
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.
An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:16 am
by Valerie
JohnH wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:01 am
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.
An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.
Agreed. I’m just saying it was not my nieces idea- as said above a teacher can pick up on it, as did someone else in my nieces case. She may have been to doctor, I’m not sure yet.
I work with 3 people who are obviously high functioning but all 3 have specific things that they deal with from it.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 2:01 pm
by Soloist
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:16 am
JohnH wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:01 am
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.
An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.
Agreed. I’m just saying it was not my nieces idea- as said above a teacher can pick up on it, as did someone else in my nieces case. She may have been to doctor, I’m not sure yet.
I work with 3 people who are obviously high functioning but all 3 have specific things that they deal with from it.
Wife: Our son was actually diagnosed as moderate to severe, more severe on some things, but was still verbal. It’s actually a pain to get the psychological diagnosis because the wait list is six months to a year and a half (at least in Oregon). He did get diagnosed with something by early childhood education before that at least, so he was in a special preschool that worked on speech/occupational therapy stuff, and I think we were able to get his other therapy with just the school diagnosis. I also have a deaf brother that some teachers were thinking was autistic, but my dad never got him officially diagnosed, and I don’t know if it’s also just that he didn’t really have anyone to communicate with the first several years of his life.
https://www.esc20.net/apps/pages/index ... ID=1819418Here is a website that might have some resources, and you can also check out Reddit autism and ask on there. I don’t know enough about your niece to give you much advice.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 2:32 pm
by Szdfan
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:16 am
JohnH wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:01 am
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.
An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.
Agreed. I’m just saying it was not my nieces idea- as said above a teacher can pick up on it, as did someone else in my nieces case. She may have been to doctor, I’m not sure yet.
I work with 3 people who are obviously high functioning but all 3 have specific things that they deal with from it.
Right. Teachers don't do diagnosis, but we do work with kids daily in a learning environment and sometimes notice signs that have flown under the radar.
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 2:33 pm
by Szdfan
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 8:59 am
In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be. To those in our family who now know & discuss it explains so much going back to her early toddler years that perplexed us. So hearing this has really helped us! She would be considered the high functioning, was probably not obvious to teachers as she even got a scholarship to a great university but dropped out early on & left the country.
I just want to better understand as I want to have a better relationship. We are polar opposites in politics, Scripture interpretation, and many things actually but I love her & want to have a better understanding.
I love this -- the genuine desire to understand some who is different than you because you care about them. Good job! Keep going!
Re: Autism
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2025 2:44 pm
by JohnH
Szdfan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 2:32 pm
Valerie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:16 am
JohnH wrote: ↑Wed Jun 25, 2025 9:01 am
An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.
Agreed. I’m just saying it was not my nieces idea- as said above a teacher can pick up on it, as did someone else in my nieces case. She may have been to doctor, I’m not sure yet.
I work with 3 people who are obviously high functioning but all 3 have specific things that they deal with from it.
Right. Teachers don't do diagnosis, but we do work with kids daily in a learning environment and sometimes notice signs that have flown under the radar.
I get very suspicious when someone says “My kid’s teacher said he’s ADHD or autistic”.
Because we know a professional teacher wouldn’t say/do that.