Autism Q.

My son was diagnosed with Autism last week but Im just know seeing his paperwork for the first time.

Under his diagnosis it says Mental Status...


"The patient appeared uncomfortable. Posture was normL. The estimated intelligence was not average, remote memory was impaired, recall was abnormal,low fund of knowledge was demonstrated, judgment was impaired, the speech rate was abnormal, the rhythm of speech was abnormal, and the speech tone was abnormal. No involuntary movements seen. Gait and stance were normal. The behavior demonstrated psychomotor retardation, decreased eye-to-eye contact, the mood was anxious, the affect was inappropriate, easily distracted, and the thought content revealed impaired insight."

What does all of that mean?

Are you confused by all of it or specific parts?

It means pretty much what it says. They assessed his intelligence/cognition as abnormal or impaired and he appeared anxious.

It's pretty much explaining why he was diagnosed with Autism. All the symptoms they listed are connected with Autism.

Quoting Trixie7678:" Are you confused by all of it or specific parts?"

psychomotor retardation, affect was inappropriate, and impaired insight.

Quoting Jax in the Tardis:" psychomotor retardation, affect was inappropriate, and impaired insight."

Psychomotor retardation means slow movements in a nutshell. Here is a wiki article all about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_retardation

Inappropriate affect means his movements were out of ordinary.

Impaired insight means... just an abnormal thought process, basically.

Quoting Jax in the Tardis:" psychomotor retardation, affect was inappropriate, and impaired insight."

He is/was slower with responding to whatever tests the doctor did. pyschomoter is meaning his brain, "affect was innapropriate" Means he gave the wrong answer or response, and "impaired insight" means he was took whatever the dr was doing and turned it backwards

Quoting Jax in the Tardis:" psychomotor retardation, affect was inappropriate, and impaired insight."

Psychomotor retardation would refers to slow conscious motion. It is a slowdown generally in thought, and any physical action done consciously, like speech.

Example of inappropriate affect...smiling at a sad moment...inappropriate expressions.

Impaired insight...not grasping meaning, especially into the why of things, at a level expected