Autism

[PayItForward]

My brother has suddenly announced that he is Autistic, hence his failure to complete school and keep a job for longer than four months is not his fault.

Sigh, this is the latest in a long line of excuses of why his life doesn't work out right.

I studied Autism/Asperger Syndrome/Other behavioural issues. etc as part of my Degree and read dozens of books on these subjects but this doesn't allow me an opinion according to my brother.

He think he has a specific High operating form of Autism, which I have been trying to research on the web. But I don't feel he has any significant symptoms. In fact I can make some of the more general symptoms fit me and I am not Autistic.

He has been to the doctor who after questioning him, said he didn't have any such problem and there is no need to refer him.
My brother said the doctor didn't know what he is talking about.


I'm just at the end of my teather.....I don't want to be angry at him, if he needs help but I think he is just out to pin his problems on a label.

[ILoveMyAbbyGirl]

*feels stupid asking*

Can you give me just a lil background on Autisim? I don't know what it is...

[PayItForward]

Originally posted by ILoveMyAbbyGirl
*feels stupid asking*

Can you give me just a lil background on Autisim? I don't know what it is...

It can vary a lot.

At one extreme you have a 'Rainman' idea of Autism an idiot savant to a high functioning clever person who struggles to indentify with people.

Possible Symptoms
Withdrawn from the real world
Has set rituals for every aspect of life
Will often not accept physical touch, or touch is over sensitive
Is strongly attached to objects rather than people.
Obession with a specific subject
May have problems developing speech during childhood
Fail to understand sarcasm, or think literally. i.e Jump into shower and misses verbal cues.
Often struggles to recognise faces & other peoples emotions.
Dislikes crowds and changes and unfamilar situations

Autistic peole are just people who are not wired the same way as so called 'normal' people. They are often creative people who have an interesting outlook on life.

One high functioning Autistic man said ' It is like being an alien dropped in a middle of a dinner party' He meant he needs to learn all the social interation that he can't see.

[PayItForward]

Interesting link written by an Austic person
http://www.geocities.com/growingjoel/whatisitlike.html

[Amber]

my friends little brother is autistic

[Soledad]

It's really insulting that he would hijack a disease so many would die to get a cure for so that he can justify his own crap behavior.

Perhaps he just needs a good therapist.

[puppygrrl4eva7]

I have two cousins who are brother and sister and they are both Autistic, actually the boy is mentally retarded and autistic. They can both be very hard to deal with. They kick and punch each other all the time. The boy, Evan, has rocks and he names them all. Lately he's been carrying around billiard balls, his favorite is the 7 ball. It's really sad.I don't know why anyone would joke or lie about that.

[mugsy]

I have never heard of autism being diagnosed in an adult. Perhaps ADD or ADHD, but probably not autism, but, still the alphabet soup labels can still become excuses.

[wolfsoul]

We researched autism in psychology.

It's quite rare for someone with autism to be able to comprehend that he/she has it and be able to communicate and function at a regular rate, like a normal healthy person. Autism is a brain disorder and the neurons in the brain are affected, so they don't transmit messages properly. That can affect the other parts of the brain that help you think ahead, regulate coordination, reason, control emotions, etc.

Autism can be diagnosed in an adult if it isn't the most common and obvious form. Autism also doesn't always happen in the womb. Your brain grows and develops your whole life and gives you a large amount of time for the neurons not to grow properly or to grow in the wrong place. However it isn't common for that to happen and it usually does happen before birth.

I see you've watched Rain Man. I was going to reccomend it to anyone here who wants to know more about autism.

[green_chameleon_girl]

My friend Conall has Autism. I sit beside him in class and let him talk to me whenever he needs it. I fell bad for him. He is such a nice guy

[Tonya]

They're trying to diagnose my son right now with Asperger Syndrome. He's seen a ton of doctors over the past few years. Half believe he has ADHD the other half Asperger Syndrome. I feel that he has ADHD. He just shows antisocial behavior when he's around doctors because they freak him out.

Anyways, I do not tell Jaden that he has ADHD. -What you said, payitforward is the exact reason why. I do not want him to ever use it as an excuse.

When he's asked me why he sees all these doctors, I just tell him that they're trying to figure out why it is so hard for him to sleep. (He takes hours to fall asleep at night.)

[PayItForward]

Originally posted by Soledad
It's really insulting that he would hijack a disease so many would die to get a cure for so that he can justify his own crap behavior.

I know, that's what upsets me.

He wants a label, so he can mess around and if we tell him to grow up and make an effort, he has a permenant excuse NOT to

[PayItForward]

Originally posted by Tonya
They're trying to diagnose my son right now with Asperger Syndrome. He's seen a ton of doctors over the past few years. Half believe he has ADHD the other half Asperger Syndrome. I feel that he has ADHD. He just shows antisocial behavior when he's around doctors because they freak him out.

Anyways, I do not tell Jaden that he has ADHD. -What you said, payitforward is the exact reason why. I do not want him to ever use it as an excuse.

When he's asked me why he sees all these doctors, I just tell him that they're trying to figure out why it is so hard for him to sleep. (He takes hours to fall asleep at night.)

Tonya, your son will never use this as an excuse, as you have brought him up right. To be a strong and capable person.

Best wishes to your son, though I am not sure what to hope for.

Asperger Syndrome has it's bad points but it has some interesting advantages too. Asperger often goes hand in hand with talented creative people. But I don't know anything about ADHD.

-----------------------

The reason , my brother is so sad, is that as the youngest child by 5 years in our family, he was spoilt and practically raised as an only child and this is the result 'a brat of an adult'.

[lizbud]

PayItForward,

I really learned a lot about Autism while researching facts on
Humane treatment of animals & factory farming. Sounds like
quite a stretch does it? I discovered this author, Temple Grandin,
who is herself autistic, who also designs humane animal systems
for handling, restraining & reducing stress in animals bound for
slaughter. She is an expert in animal behavior. Her website is
http://www.grandin.com/

She wrote a paper for the Center For Study of Autism that is
very interesting. It also talks about several subtypes of Autism.
Asperger's Syndrome is included as one of these subtypes.

Here is a link to her paper;

http://www.autism.org/temple/visual.html

btw, what type of help does your brother ask for, monetary or
just for sympathy(a shoulder to cry on) ?

[Tonya]

ADHD and Asperger's syndrome can have very similar qualities. Lack of social skills, lack of focus, hyperactivity, etc... Alot of people with Asperger's syndrome are actually misdiagnosed as having ADHD or dismissed as just being an odd person.