infinite sadness

I'm doing some research on autism for a paper and there's something I'm a bit confused about and would like some clarification.

In terms of the differences between high and low-functioning autism, it seems low-functing is almost always in conjunction with some degree of mental retardation. I'm confused as to whether it's that fact that makes the person low-functioning rather than high or moderate-functing, or are there people with low-functing autism and no retardation?

If low-functing comes from having both autism and mental retardation, then wouldn't it be reasonable to say it's the retardation more than the autism that is problematic for the individual in terms of being able to function in the world?

Any help would be appreciated.

Yellow Mustang Girl

I don't know anything about autism, but maybe some other posters have some experience with it

Lemurian

Have you checked online with any of the sites that offer autism support?

There's someone on who might be able to give you some information; I'll PM her for you.

Lost in Translation

My nephew is low-functioning, but I don't think he has been diagnosed with mental retardation.

A big part of the trouble my sister and brother-in-law face is the lack of support from their family and from the government. I think that ties into things a lot. I wish I could be more helpful.

infinite sadness

I just changed my topic to the autism/vaccine controversy. So this doesn't matter so much any more.

Although I'm still curious.

I'm thinking low-functiong without retardation could just mean extremely lacking in langauge or communicative abilities. Which could lead to lower IQ's since it would make learning very difficult, since lower IQ's is generally what leads to the label 'low-functioning' although that has a bunch of problems in and of itself... such as whether it's really accurate to test an autistic child with a standard IQ test, etc.

Lemurian

I'm sorry--the person I PMed for information never replied. I hope that you're doing well with your topic.