"Able autistic individuals can rise to eminent positions and perform with such outstanding success that one may even conclude that only such people are capable of certain achievements ... Their unswerving determination and penetrating intellectual powers, part of their spontaneous and original mental activity, their narrowness and single-mindedness, as manifested in their special interests, can be immensely valuable and can lead to outstanding achievements in their chosen areas."
Hans Asperger (1944).
Contents:
What is autism? What is "high-functioning" autism? What is Asperger's syndrome?
Diagnostic Criteria
Autistic people at university ? Really ?????
How many students with HFA/AS are there, anyway?
Why is university beneficial for people with HFA/AS?
What special needs do university students with HFA/AS have?
What is autism? What is "high-functioning" autism? What is Asperger's syndrome?
Autism is a developmental disorder of neurological origin which affects roughly one in every thousand people. It is characterised by distinctive difficulties with social interaction and communication, and by a need for sameness which sometimes leads to rigid routines and repetitive, "stereotyped" activities. People with autism often have obsessive "special interests" in certain subjects and an uneven developmental profile which may combine dazzling achievements in some areas with severe handicaps in others.
Most autistic people are also intellectually disabled to some degree, but autism can also co-exist with normal or higher-than-normal intelligence. People with autism who have relatively good intellectual and verbal abilities are often referred to as having "high-functioning autism" (HFA).
Asperger's syndrome (AS) is generally thought to be a mild form of autism (children with AS usually do not have the same language problems as children with "classical" autism), and some researchers believe that it is the same as "high-functioning autism".
"Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified" (PDD-NOS) is a term often used for people whose handicaps seem to be of an autistic type, but who do not meet all the diagnostic criteria for a formal diagnosis of autism or AS.
Recently, many researchers have suggested that it is most accurate to see the category of "autism" as a continuum - the "autistic spectrum" - ranging from the most severely disabled individuals, who may never learn to speak, to those who are so "high-functioning" that they may live independently, or even graduate from university.
Diagnostic Criteria
These are the official diagnostic criteria (taken from DSM-IV, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) for the "pervasive developmental disorders", including autism and AS:
"299.00 Autistic Disorder
(A) total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and
one each from (2) and (3):
(a) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors
such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and
gestures to regulate social interaction
(b) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental
level
(c) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or
achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing,
bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
(d) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(a) delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language
(not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative
modes of communication such as gestures or mime)
(b) in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the
ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
(c) stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic
language
(d) lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative
play appropriate to developmental level
(a) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped
patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(b) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines
or rituals
(c) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger
flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(d) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
(C) The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's Disorder or Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder.
299.80 Asperger's Disorder
(A) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the
following:
(D) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used
by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
(E) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the
development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in
social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
(F) Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or
Schizophrenia.
299.80 Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
(Including Atypical Autism)
This category should be used when there is a severe and pervasive impairment in the
development of reciprocal social interaction or verbal and nonverbal communication skills,
or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and activities are present, but the criteria are not
met for a specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Schizophrenia, Schizotypal
Personality Disorder, or Avoidant Personality Disorder. For example, this category
includes atypical autism --- presentations that do not meet the criteria for Autistic
Disorder because of late age of onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold
symptomatology, or all of these."
Autistic people at university ? Really ?????
Yes, really. Ever since autism was first discovered, researchers have noted that a number of people with autistic spectrum conditions go to university.
In 1966, Lorna Wing and J. K. Wing mentioned (in "Early Childhood Autism: Clinical, Educational and Social Aspects") that they knew of one young man with autism who was at university.
Leo Kanner, who discovered "early infantile autism", reported in 1972 ( in a paper called "How Far Can Autistic Children Go in Matters of Social Adaptation?" ) that of the 96 patients diagnosed as autistic at the Children's Psychiatric Clinic of the John Hopkins Psychiatric Hospital before 1953, one had "excelled in mathematical physics on a scholarship at Columbia University", one had done "exceptionally well in college", Thomas G. went to John Hopkins University (although he eventually dropped out), Sally S. graduated from a women's college, Edward F. got a degree in history, Clarence B. got a B.A. from a college in Illinois, and Fred G. was "doing well at university".
There are several well-known cases (such as Temple Grandin) of people diagnosed with autism in childhood who have gone on to get PhDs - a few years ago, Therese Joliffe (at the University of Cambridge in the UK) became the first person with autism to get a PhD for research into autism.
Hans Asperger, in his 1944 paper describing what became known as "Asperger's syndrome", mentioned that one of his patients had not only studied theoretical astronomy at university, but also proved a mathematical error in Newton's work and went on to a promising academic career.
In his book "Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals", Tony Attwood recorded that one of the people with Asperger's syndrome whom he met was "a retired professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize".
Christopher Gillberg, the Swedish expert on autism and Asperger's syndrome, has suggested that Ludwig Wittgenstein, thought by many to be the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century, had Asperger's syndrome.
Unfortunately, someone with an autistic spectrum condition's going to university is often regarded either as impossible, or as proof that a "miracle cure" of some sort has taken place. But as the above examples show, it's possible to have the intellectual and verbal skills necessary for university-level academic work, and at the same time to experience the social differences and other problems that characterize the autistic spectrum.
How many students with HFA/AS are there, anyway?
Nobody knows. As far as I know, no researcher has ever tried to find out. Because those people with HFA/AS who get to university are among the most high-functioning and able on the autistic spectrum, they are also the most likely to slip through the diagnostic net. Many reach university un-diagnosed or mis-diagnosed.
Why can university be beneficial for people with HFA/AS?
What special needs do university students with HFA/AS have?
No research has been done into the special needs and problems of students with HFA/AS, and because HFA/AS is a very wide category, individuals may have very different needs. Some special needs that have been mentioned in discussions on the Autuniv-L Mailing List or written about elsewhere include:
Universities and colleges should be aware of the Good Practice Guidelines outlined by the National Autistic Society.
"If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not - because then I wouldn't be me. Autism is part of who I am."
Temple Grandin
Return to the University Students With Autism And Asperger's Syndrome main page.
(B) Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to
age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3)
symbolic or imaginative play.
(B) Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities,
as manifested by at least one of the following:
(C) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or
other important areas of functioning.