Is My Brother Low IQ, Autistic or Just a Moron? (woman, girlfriend)
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I have an older brother (37 years old) that I have a hard time figuring out. He started community college at 18. Took him 4 years to get a 2 year associate degree. Transferred to a regular college at 22. Been trying to work on his undergrad degree for the last 15 years. Some of the common things that can be ruled out: 1) He is not lazy....he actually studies a lot of hours 2) He is not a party animal type.... doesn't have any friends, no girlfriend and doesn't get along much with his coworkers 3) He doesn't drink or do any drugs...clean as a whistle.
His study skills is hard to understand. He would read the whole textbook from beginning to end including foreword, table of content, etc. He even reads the chapters that the professor skip over and is not covered on the exam. Since he is intend on doing this, he falls behind. If the exam is chapters 1-5, 7, and 8. He would only have time to read up to chapter 4 and aced that portion of the exam but failed the questions on chapter 5, 7 and 8. He would drop the class before he gets a failing grade on his transcript. He would repeat the same class and same professor and make the same exact mistake. Even if the professor give out the same exam.
Personality wise, he thinks he is a genius. He has a very grandiose view of himself and doesn't want to do any job that he deems is below him. He wants to do something great with his life. For someone who has fail so many times, he has very high confidence in himself. He is very hard headed and is impossible to have a rational discussion with. When I try to point out his deficiencies/failures, he would debate with his own rationale of events and defect blame on others people/situation/causes.
He has major issues with time. Is constantly late to family events. Doesn't understand the impact of his tardiness (others are hungry waiting for dinner to start), etc. He takes on a lot of tasks with insufficient time to complete them. It ends up being incomplete and rushed. He is constantly up against deadlines....never get anything early. When he has unstructured time, he does things at odd hours....stay up late to 7AM. Sleep until 5pm. Eats dinner and repeat routine.
I am trying to figure which box he falls under:
1) Low IQ person who is unable to learn from his mistakes and keep repeating them.
2) Functional autism. He can function but doesn't have full array of life skills.
3) Moron. Some people just don't have common sense in life.
He's not a "moron". And I don't think he has a low IQ.
From what you have written, I think that he could suffer from Asperger's Syndrome. He is difficult to talk to, socially awkward, has trouble with deadlines and expectations. He is probably meticulous, and things that would take an average person an hour to do, might take him several weeks. He has little regard for the feelings pf others, and does not learn from experience.
You won't ever know unless he feels there is a problem, seeks help for it and receives a diagnosis.
Yes, perseveration and obsession are two hallmarks of autism but autism is not the only cause of these issues. Social deficits are also obviously involved in autism, central actually. By the way, as of the DSM-V, technically there is no longer such a DX as Asperger Syndrome; the diagnosis would be autism, perhaps with a qualifier ("high-functioning," as an example).
As for "moron," I don't know whether you were just trying to push buttons but just as a point of interest, did you know that moron was an actual diagnosis at one time (I believe early 20th century)? So were cretin and idiot. That doesn't really have much to do with anything, just thought some might find it interesting. I was quite shocked to learn this; I had done some investigation into the subject when I was reading about a woman whose child was clinically diagnosed as one of these.
Could also be some sort of brain damage. How on earth has he gotten to age 30 without being evaluated by anyone? It's really not a complicated process.
"Aspergers" as a disease doesn't exist anymore. It is all called "autism" now.
Sounds like he has poor organizational skills. Autism is NOT the only thing that causes this. OCD and OCD personality disorder come to mind. Also ADHD.
Whatever the diagnosis, the problem seems to be a deficit in organizational skills. This is a higher brain process. People who are chronically late usually suffer from this. So can horders.
Thinking he is going to be famous might be a "delusion of grandure." Some psychotic people have similar thoughts. OR this might also be a defense mechanism to help him rationalize "how far behind" he is.
Up at 5p and asleep at 7a? You say he has co-workers. If he does "shift work" then this is his "normal."
If not, he most likely has delayed sleep phase disorder. It is a neurological and hormonal problem that shifts your biorhythms. It is 100% a "real disorder" yet often gets scoffed at by ignorant people. These people get a lot of "why don't you just go to sleep earlier" type of advice. Sure he could do that but he won't *fall asleep* any faster!!!
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