Is there such a thing as medium-functiong autism?

I know of high and low functioning autism, asperger syndrome, PDD-NOS, Rett's syndrome as autistic spectrum disorders and I once saw someone use medium-functioning autism on the internet but the encyclopedias do not list it. Does it exist?Is there such a thing as medium-functiong autism?
High and low functioning are shorthand comments to explain where the speaker thinks someone else is on the autism spectrum. Autism is a spectrum disorder. The terms high and low function have no real meaning as they are relative to one person's knowledge of it. The terms do not appear in the DSM-IV-TR nor the ICD-10, which reference autistic disorder and childhood autism respectively. So medium functioning is also meaningless and just as valid. There have been approximately 30 gene loci implicated in autism, which means there are over 800,000 different types of autism. Each individual has strengths and weaknesses which argue against using high or low function to describe a person's disability. There are autistic persons who cannot communicate verbally but can use a keyboard, and until that person gets a keyboard one could call them low functioning, because they conform to the image one has of someone who is profoundly autistic and incapable of communicating. Conversely someone who can speak quite well and will tell you everything you wanted (and didn't want) to know about orchids may be called high functioning, but they may have cognitive impairments that make normal communication impossible, they just lecture.

So in short, no. High low medium it's like warm or top brown, it doesn't tell you if the toast is any good so it's meaningless.Is there such a thing as medium-functiong autism?
In the book, "Freaks, Geeks and Apspergers Syndrome", by Luke Jackson, he used a brilliant description of the whole spectrum. He describes autism as an umbrella with lots of people under it in all different places. He goes on to say that some people are being rained on really hard and others not so much.



When I read this book with my 12 year old son who has HFA or Aspergers Syndrome, he was finally able to grasp the whole concept of the "spectrum". He now uses that example to explain autism to other children and adults to educate them.



Every form of autism is different. The spectrum ranges from mild to severe, so there has to be a medium in there somewhere.Is there such a thing as medium-functiong autism?
Yes, autism is a spectrum, so you can be low or high functioning, or anywhere in between. It may not be listed in any encyclopedia because there is not defineable criteria for medium functioning, as there is for low or high functioning, because there are different degrees of functioning.
Yes--autism is a spectrum,and the sufferer can fall in anywhere between.