Introduction to High Functioning Autism

My first really substantial post on the relaunch is the recap of an old posting, with fresh comments.

At the age of 39, I decided to change my life by ending my career as an engineer and go back to school to get a Computer Science degree. This is something that I felt I needed since engineering did not seem natural and felt forced. So I quit and went back to school as an older than average student. However, this much change caused me to become a bit depressed, so I went to visit the campus counseling center. Once there, they tested me and diagnosed my as having High Functioning Autism. It should have been obvious to me all of my life, and I think I may have been diagnosed when I was in elementary school, but I was never told. That said, if you know that your son or daughter might have this - please tell them. There is so much that you can do to make life easier for yourself if you know what to do and how to handle it.

What signs did I have about my autism? Here is a short list. As an adult, I now know how to work-around these difficulties for the most part.

• Unsteady gait, balance, coordination issues
• Lack of noticing verbal and non-verbal clues from others
• Communications difficulties with other (i.e., due to taking most concepts literally, not being able to look at people in the eyes, not picking up social cues in conversations, etc)
• Intense interest in certain topics, especially those dealing with math, science, engineering, and technology.
• Detail oriented - Finding details/patterns or arriving at especially unique solutions to problems.
• Late Speech Development
• Dislike physical contact
• Extremely good long term memory, terrible short term memory

Some of these traits I think of as benefits, but some are definitely hindrances that I must work need to overcome. Once I was diagnosed, I became relieved because I thought most of these faults were caused by me because I was either defective or stupid. Once I discovered WHY I was this way, it made it MUCH EASIER to overcome and adapt.

There are a lot of people out there who have autism. We are everywhere and play an important part in our society. Other than a few idiosyncracies, you won’t recognize most of us as we have learned how to interact with others and our environment. We can be a great asset to you as a friend or as a coworker.

Here are a few references that I have found invaluable:

• The Asperkid’s (Secret) Book of Social Rules. The Handbook of (Not-So-Obvious) Neurotypical Social Guidelines for Autistic Teens
• Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inapprpriate
• A Survival Guide for People Living With Asperger’s Syndrome

Also note that many people who are on the spectrum also have ADHD, but usually it is expressed differently than what most think of when considering what ADHD. You can see some of it is our intense, but short-term, interest in different topics. I rotate through a list of interests with a lot of short-term interest, but it doesn’t persist after a few weeks/months.