Is there such thing as 'mild' Aspergers?

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If the traits of Asperger's syndrome occur on a continuous spectrum of severity and if Asperger's syndrome itself were a continuous condition, it is implied that there is a point where AS becomes indistinguishable from NTness. That is, given enough people with some shading of Asperger's syndrome, lined up in order of relative severity, you will find some mild cases who are almost indistinguishable (traitwise) from NTs with some geeky or socially awkward characteristics.

It's like how if you traveled from France to Germany, stopping in every village along the road, you would not find any real differences between the dialects of any two adjacent villages. It would seem like each village spoke the exact same language as the one before it and the one after it. Yet at the beginning of your journey you are among French-speakers, while at the end they are speaking German. The dialects shade into each other so gradually that it's impossible to point your finger to one village and say "Here. Here is where we made the switch from French to German."

It's the same thing for the continuity between ASD and NT. At one end you have those who are clearly autistic, and at the other end those who seem purely NT. Yet although the labels autistic and neurotypical would seem to indicate a binary system, the space between our two extreme exemplars is continuous, so that at some point it is difficult to determine whether someone is an Aspie-ish NT or an NT-ish Aspie. You can't point your finger and say, "Ah-ha! *This* location on the spectrum marks the changeover between Aspie and NT."

The same cannot be said of the voice-onset time distinction between the sounds "p" and "b" interestingly enough. Although voice-onset time is a continuous variable, when subjects listen to a bunch of bilabial plosives with manipulated voice-onset times, they actually can identify the point when the sound stops being "p" and starts being "b". This value is consistent across individuals moreover (although obviously it varies by language and dialect). Just a bit of interesting linguistic trivia. It's cited as an example of how much our brains are optimized to categorize and label. Our brains don't like continuous variables so we tend to turn them into discrete variables.

I think I tend to be a mild
I had a tendency to start a conmversation do it all right but no look at people.
at israel you are pushed to all spectrum range special classes. and these had some kids mixed into NT classes, so you couuld see who is milder by how much he mixed in "normal" classes. even If I wasn't dxed I would have some friends

I think I'm mild...

Yeah it's possible. I live in that "no man's land" I'm not enough NT to pass and not different enough for people to notice instantly that I don't fit it very well.

I had fairly mild Asperger and have now escaped - I very much hope some of you can too - http://unlearningasperger.blogspot.com

Very best wishes
JC

WOW, What ARE you selling!!?!?!?!? You keep coming back to advertise your page.

I think that it is possible for some people to modify some of the AS behaviours and skills over time so that they become more socially acceptable.

For instance:

Monologuing on esoteric topics with a bit of practice could be adapted formal lecturing or giving out practical information.

Waving hands about/motor restlessness could be refined into meaningful hand gestures to illustrate concepts in a talk.

Intense focussing on the physical environment could be adapted to checking faults in equipment or making scientific observations.


I don't know if it's milder or not, but it's certainly less noticeable if the quirks are transformed into "tools" or useful techniques with a bit of practice. Some of the behaviours could be suppressed by self-control or retrained in some people.

I think how "mild" the condition perceived as does depend on the social environment that the person has to function in and what's deemed "socially appropriate". The person would still have a condition though.

there is such thing as being dx with AS but not struggling 2 much with social interaction or the symptoms sticking out much. "mild AS" would b hard 2 define.

Yeah, I think a lot of people with AS have it mildly.

But I think even mild AS people can have some symptoms badly. I, for example, have it mild but still really struggle socialising and have very severe obsessions (SpongeBob SquarePants.)

I'd assume the answer is yes, there might even be a continuum all the way from NT to what is considered AS.

Exactly. AS and NT are two different positions on the same spectrum. Therefore, there are infinite variations between the two. The question is....at what point do you consider yourself to have AS, or be NT? There is definitely a "grey area" between the two.

Yeah, I have it mild, I've been told. It's a spectrum thing so obviously there are mild cases. When I was younger I'd be loudly swearing, throwing chairs around and being restrained but now people tend to be surprised if they find out.

QFT


I am very literal have gotten better) and was very naive and gullible growing up. I didn't understand people and didn't even know they had feelings until my mother told me. I lacked TOM and had to be told to think before I say things and I was very impulsive. I had pretty bad anxiety in my teens so it made my AS seem bad and my AS can be visible at times. I say things people wouldn't normally say and I don't do well with reading people. I still have troubles with idioms when I have never heard them. I may know it's a figure of speech but not understand it. I go in my own world often I am oblivious to what is going on around me.

Social awardness, hard time finding a girlfriend, but can mange to find limited friendships. Can have a family, can hold down a job, go to college, drive, not strictly routine oritented, able to accept change, etc. I'd say that is mild.

i have aspects of the disorder i have no social probelms andi am pretty much normal i obsess on alot of things to the point where i can't focus on my school work and alot of my obsseions are things that i have in common with my freinds however there just intersts for them and obseions for me i also am pretty honest kinda like luffy from one piece when i introduced my dad to my school freins lucas hollania i said this is my dad he didn't like your punk hardcore band and lucas was like okay eveyone has they own taste in music he handled it really well but vmy dad won't let me be everytime i mention lucas he says you really are too honest this is my dad he didn't like your band my dad told me that is way to honest.