Is the experience of a Dyspraxic parallel to Asperger's

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rapidroy
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03 Feb 2013, 1:50 am

Thinking about this thread I may have hit on something that may explain not all but some of my spelling issues. Example take the word "pressure" I can't pronounce it as I slur it and brake he sylibles in the wrong places, in school we were tought to sound the words out to spell them. When I sound out the word it becomes "presser" becouse thats how i pronounce it. What i'm saying is I think if you can't talk right the usual methods of learning these skills don't always apply.



epitome81
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04 Feb 2013, 4:00 am

Jinks wrote:
epitome81 wrote:
I can attest to there being a lot more to Dyspraxia than clumsiness http://www.dyspraxiausa.org/symptoms/adult-symptoms/ :lol:


To me this list sounds like a detailed description of autism, and I find that interesting. It makes me suspect that before the scientific community figured out HFA/AS and started diagnosing it in the 90s, many autistic people might have been given this diagnosis instead, which may have led to the distinction between the two being blurred. That confusion is understandable as there seems to be a great deal of overlap between the two, but it's also a little concerning because IMO someone who has all/most of the symptoms in that list displays a strong presentation of autistic thinking patterns and should probably be diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Surely the social/sensory/mental issues described there such as taking language literally, sensitivity to light and so on should be considered ASD symptoms, and the motor control issues should be considered dyspraxia symptoms? I'm by no means a professional and just offering my thoughts, but my feeling is that that symptom list may be confusing two related diagnoses. Alternatively, if it is correct and people with dyspraxia do always show the autistic thinking described here, perhaps they shouldn't be considered distinct diagnoses at all?

I think it's certainly worth the OP investigating the possibility of having an assessment for an ASD, particularly if you display a lot of the social, emotional and mental difficulties described in that list and in the autism diagnostic critera.


I really think you're onto something! I display a mild amount of the social, emotional, mental for sure, sometimes more based on my anxiety levels and ADHD which are my other diagnoses. I'm thinking about many things now and I want to thank you guys for being there. My sensory processing issues can be intense and meltdown worth to say the least at times.



epitome81
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04 Feb 2013, 2:35 pm

rapidroy wrote:
Thinking about this thread I may have hit on something that may explain not all but some of my spelling issues. Example take the word "pressure" I can't pronounce it as I slur it and brake he sylibles in the wrong places, in school we were tought to sound the words out to spell them. When I sound out the word it becomes "presser" becouse thats how i pronounce it. What i'm saying is I think if you can't talk right the usual methods of learning these skills don't always apply.


Yes, that is the speech ataxia part of it to a tee and we do have to learn very differently due to how the mainstream is taught basic skills.



btbnnyr
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04 Feb 2013, 3:27 pm

I don't think that my motor skills are bad enough for dyspraxia diagnosis. Used to have worse when I was a kid. I seemed to have outgrown motor problems. Now only clumsy when not attending.



Antella
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08 Apr 2013, 5:17 am

I'm dyspraxic and I'm not autistic.

A large proportion of my close friends are autistic, and my partner is mildly autistic too. I just seem to get on better with autistic people than NT people, I gel with them better. I've never really known how to fit in with NT people. When I realised that I was dyspraxic I told my partner and went through the list of symptoms and they were like, "oohhhhhh, that makes so much sense!" Apparently they'd been struggling to figure me out because in many ways it seemed like I was on the autistic spectrum, but they didn't think that I was actually autistic. Dyspraxic people can have social difficulties, they can struggle to interpret social situations and may interpret things pretty literally. When it comes to understanding subtext in social situations I'm generally better than my autistic friends but worse than my more NT friends. I'm quite forthright and I appreciate it in others. I don't have any routines, in fact, I hate having routines. I don't have such specific obsessive interests as many of my autistic friends but my family complains that I'm not very good as casual chitchat, instead opting for intense political discussions or a broad range of "Isn't this interesting!! [talks for too long]" Dyspraxic people can have similar sensory over/under-sensitivity as autistic people too. I think I'm over-sensitive to touch, I've also experienced sensory overload in a nightclub before which led to a panic attack. I've also recently noticed that I do actually stim, I just didn't realise how much I do it/that that's what it is. So... there's definitely overlap. Dyspraxic people can experience similar social problems to autistic people, but it generally tends to be less pronounced.

My other symptoms include - being hugely disorganised, rubbish at directions, really bad short-term memory, short attention span/ trouble concentrating, not good at physical activities, clumsy (though much improved from when I was a kid), trouble organising my thoughts for speech (I very easily get muddled up, lose track of a sentence half-way through etc when talking to people), to end on a positive note, as so few things about neuro-diversity do - it seems that dyspraxic people generally have much better long-term memories than most, which is great for exams. :D

I do think it's useful to have two separate catagories, as they are two separate clusters of traits. But there's definite overlap, some dyspraxic people do have ASD tendencies, but it doesn't mean they have ASD (though it might be co-morbid). As it is, my ASD tendencies come under the banner of dyspraxia and I don't have the ones that lie outside that (such as routines, repetition), and the ASD tendencies I do have aren't pronounced enough to warrant a separate diagnoses. Socially, I feel like I'm straddling the line between high-functioning autism and NT. Just part of the great big grey blur that is neuro-diversity. (search for: 'neurodiversity venn diagram' in google images, I'm new and I can't post websites yet)



Stalk
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08 Apr 2013, 7:58 am

Antella wrote:
I'm dyspraxic and I'm not autistic.

A large proportion of my close friends are autistic, and my partner is mildly autistic too. I just seem to get on better with autistic people than NT people, I gel with them better. I've never really known how to fit in with NT people. When I realised that I was dyspraxic I told my partner and went through the list of symptoms and they were like, "oohhhhhh, that makes so much sense!" Apparently they'd been struggling to figure me out because in many ways it seemed like I was on the autistic spectrum, but they didn't think that I was actually autistic. Dyspraxic people can have social difficulties, they can struggle to interpret social situations and may interpret things pretty literally. When it comes to understanding subtext in social situations I'm generally better than my autistic friends but worse than my more NT friends. I'm quite forthright and I appreciate it in others. I don't have any routines, in fact, I hate having routines. I don't have such specific obsessive interests as many of my autistic friends but my family complains that I'm not very good as casual chitchat, instead opting for intense political discussions or a broad range of "Isn't this interesting!! [talks for too long]" Dyspraxic people can have similar sensory over/under-sensitivity as autistic people too. I think I'm over-sensitive to touch, I've also experienced sensory overload in a nightclub before which led to a panic attack. I've also recently noticed that I do actually stim, I just didn't realise how much I do it/that that's what it is. So... there's definitely overlap. Dyspraxic people can experience similar social problems to autistic people, but it generally tends to be less pronounced.

My other symptoms include - being hugely disorganised, rubbish at directions, really bad short-term memory, short attention span/ trouble concentrating, not good at physical activities, clumsy (though much improved from when I was a kid), trouble organising my thoughts for speech (I very easily get muddled up, lose track of a sentence half-way through etc when talking to people), to end on a positive note, as so few things about neuro-diversity do - it seems that dyspraxic people generally have much better long-term memories than most, which is great for exams. :D

I do think it's useful to have two separate catagories, as they are two separate clusters of traits. But there's definite overlap, some dyspraxic people do have ASD tendencies, but it doesn't mean they have ASD (though it might be co-morbid). As it is, my ASD tendencies come under the banner of dyspraxia and I don't have the ones that lie outside that (such as routines, repetition), and the ASD tendencies I do have aren't pronounced enough to warrant a separate diagnoses. Socially, I feel like I'm straddling the line between high-functioning autism and NT. Just part of the great big grey blur that is neuro-diversity. (search for: 'neurodiversity venn diagram' in google images, I'm new and I can't post websites yet)


That's interesting what is your score on being neurotypical? here is the thread on that quiz => http://www.wrongplanet.net/postx156273-510-0.html

What you described felt... very much how I experience life. I'm even considering perhaps the "girl version of Aspergers" on me, or maybe it is just my age. :?



Antella
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08 Apr 2013, 11:40 am

You are 34% neurotypical!

34%
You are sort of neurotypical, but also show signs of autism. You probably enjoy intellectual activities more than socializing or maybe you enjoy socializing, but you aren't a genius at it. You could be autistic, but may not be.


I didn't like some of the questions though, but maybe they balanced out. For instance, the question about the shirt that doesn't look good, I answered that I'd say that it doesn't look good (which I would) but I also know I'd probably say it in a more tactful way than autistic people I know, but while still being pretty direct.