Tuesday, August 31, 2010  Are you high or low functioning?
Examples from autism research      What does level of
functioning mean in autism research?      With this in mind,
here are some examples.  Example 1     Example 2    Example 3
Example 4      Conditional examples 5 and 6   Now what?
Futher reading          MalchowMama said...  Another thought-
provoking article, Michelle, thank you. I can't speak to how
autism severity or level of functioning is measured in research
(as you have just done), but in my experience laypersons make
these determinations in much the same way an American politician
once famously defined pornography: they just "know it when they
see it." If a person appears to be unresponsive and
uncommunicative, or (God forbid) is upset about something, they
are "low-functioning". If they are quiet and respond to
instruction, they have "mild autism". It's ridiculous.  Here is
one way I could describe my son Sam, who will be 4 in 3 weeks:
doubly incontinent, has no language, does not play