High Function Autism Symptoms

There are basically two types of autism all distributed within the autism spectrum. There is low functioning autism, and there is the high functioning autism. Low functioning autism is the very severe type that you can tell that a patient is suffering from as early as a few months into their lives, perhaps just three months after birth. The symptoms of low functioning autism are obvious and relentless, and you may have to keep such a patient under close observation and medication the entire time.

In high functioning autism, you may not know for a long time that the patient suffers from the disease because it is well hidden. Sometimes the symptoms of high functioning autism do not show up for the first several years of suffering. As a matter of fact, the patient may appear to be having quite a normal development before they begin to give you an idea about the fact that they are suffering from something.

Also when you suffer from a high functioning autism like Asperger’s syndrome or CDD – Childhood Developmental Disorder – the symptoms of the condition may gradually fade as you get into adulthood. Because there really isn’t any known cure for autism at this time, I wouldn’t go so far as to presume to write that you are cured or anything, but your suffering gradually lessens.

There are several adults living with high functioning autism in the United States today. Some of them are even able to find regular jobs and live independently by themselves almost like normal persons. They tend to have better language skills than most other sufferers, as well as remarkable intelligence to boot, considering their suffering.

There are adults who suffer from Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), and as their suffering wanes with the coming of maturity, they are able to take up all kinds of jobs like writing or veterinary medicine. They do have to work on developing certain skills and strategies to help them communicate better with people, especially in the areas of being able to read people’s emotions from their faces, or to retain certain memories that they find hard to hang on to.

It is not the same with those adults who suffer from low functioning or severe autism. Most of them end up requiring a lot of noteworthy community support even while they live in a suburban neighborhood. But it all boils down to how you translate their condition. High functioning autism is a condition that both you and the patient can thrive with.