What Does "Autism Spectrum" Actually Mean?
The conditions autism and aspergers have been in the news a lot over the last few years. Including some people using the term "spectrum-y" to describe a person showing characteristics of autism...
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According to reports 1 in ever 68 kids in the US has an autism spectrum disorder. When I first heard "Autism Spectrum". I was picturing a scale going from a little bit autistic to extremely autistic, and I imagined us all having some sort of place on that scale. Like if some one only eats M&M's in groups of two, they are a .0002 on the Autism Spectrum. And that is totally wrong. And somewhat offensive. The spectrum isn't a scale from "not autistic" to "has-all-the-dictionaries-memorized". It's a collection of 5 separate disorders with similar symptoms. These disorders were put under the umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorder, to make it easier for Doctors to talk about them as a group. The five disorders under...
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According to reports 1 in ever 68 kids in the US has an autism spectrum disorder. When I first heard "Autism Spectrum". I was picturing a scale going from a little bit autistic to extremely autistic, and I imagined us all having some sort of place on that scale. Like if some one only eats M&M's in groups of two, they are a .0002 on the Autism Spectrum. And that is totally wrong. And somewhat offensive. The spectrum isn't a scale from "not autistic" to "has-all-the-dictionaries-memorized". It's a collection of 5 separate disorders with similar symptoms. These disorders were put under the umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorder, to make it easier for Doctors to talk about them as a group. The five disorders under...
