High Functioning Autism
High functioning autism is an unofficial term often used with autistic individuals who display a relatively low level of impairment in their day to day function. While severely impaired patients may require lifelong care, living in residential institutions if family care is not available, high functioning individuals can often live independently or in group homes with minimal supportive care. High functioning autistic children can often attend 'normal' schools, with minimal need for special tutors or classroom intervention.
High functioning autism should not be confused with Asperger Syndrome, however. Even high functioning autistic patients generally still exhibit some level of cognitive and linguistic impairment, while Asperger Syndrome is characterized by the presence of autistic impairment in emotional/social skills but a lack of developmental and language delays.
In some cases, moderate-function patients have progressed to 'high functioning' status when certain dietary problems were corrected, such as gluten and casein intolerance or other food allergies. In other cases, an autistic child made sudden increases in function with the onset of puberty. On the other hand, an estimated 25% of autistic children experience an onset of seizures (often subclinical or 'invisible' to onlookers) at puberty which can actually dramatically reduce their functional abilities.
Because autism is so poorly understood and so complex, many environmental and developmental factors can alter a patient's 'functional level' during their lifetime. It is worth the effort to explore many possible factors that might improve an autistic child's functional abilities.
More sites on High Functioning Autism
Fatal error: Cannot re-assign $this in /home/asperger/public_html/newsfeed/rssinject.php on line 66
Fatal error: Cannot re-assign $this in /home/asperger/public_html/newsfeed/rssinject.php on line 66