High functioning autism can be hard to diagnose, I think a big reason why is because there isn’t much awareness about it.

When people think of autism, they picture someone who cannot make any eye contact, or speaks like a robot, or doesn’t speak at all. While some people with HFA do exhibit certain obvious autism-like symptoms, many are far more subtle.

Ayub was only diagnosed at the age of 7. Here were his symptoms of autism.

Here’s a quick guide I made for the 5 main signs of high functioning autism:

Just yesterday Ayub was making angry shouting noises while he was showering, followed by the sound of a punch. Mr Ninja peeked inside the bathroom to see if he was ok. Ayub was angry because the shower hose had gotten tangled and when he put the show head on the holder, the water was flowing to the side and not directly on his head.

Mr Ninja gave him a step-by-step process to follow. Take the shower head, straighten the hose, put the shower head back on the holder. Ayub was fine after that. But definitely “extreme” and intense emotional reactions to everything.

Minecraft, insects, insects, and insects. Ayub even started his own business called Bugging Out that is about insects.

Ayub makes friends easily but struggles to maintain friendships. He doesn’t understand social rules very well. But he’s improved A LOT. Early this year he even had his first birthday party EVER and it was a huge milestone.

Noise is the biggest trigger for Ayub. In particular, low repetitive background noises, like radio static or any beeping, grinding, monotonous sounds. They can really tip him over and cause a meltdown. Once, Mr Ninja was singing in the car and Ayub couldn’t stand it and it ruined his whole day. He couldn’t function, couldn’t go to school, just cried and cried and couldn’t understand why.

Ayub has speech and language difficulties, both nonverbal and spoken. He’s improved a lot with speech therapy and continues to make excellent progress. But once in a while, we have major communication breakdowns.