Is this man Autistic?

[Kaspieman]

[/size]I know a guy named Fred.. he was 66 on the 12th February. He is originally classified as been a General Learning Disability case, but I wonder if he could be Autistic. He can talk and read, but can't write apart from the odd words.

 

He often talks about things that are relevant to him, and staff at his care home, as if I know them, saying things like "Gary says, and his conversations are like someone in his own world. He often says "I was in so-and-so the other day, do you know it?". He often says things which you can't work out the relevance of.

 

He also mumbles. I haven't seen him for about a year, but until then, he used to say "They'll get 'em". I once asked "They'll get who Fred". He replied, "Those men who broke into my house and stole my two radios". I asked, "When was this Fred?". He said "Easter Saturday 1973".

 

In July 2004 the Police threatened to charge him for... wasting Police time when he went to the station asking them if they had caught the burglars.

 

He had a job in a brolly factory and they sent him for a long stand once, and he stood there for ages. That was his long stand. He takes in an interest in planes and cars, though he can't drive. He likes to read about crime in papers, and took an obsessive interest in the Jill Dando murder case. He always goes on about districts where I live and asks people if they know them...... He also kept going in a charity shop, asking if they had any vacancies. He would take application forms but never applied.

[trekster]

Sounds like a strong possibility, i met a fella on a bus the other evening. He kept asking me questions (but didnt ask for my name) even when i was on the phone to my mum!

 

Alexis

[Tally]

Obsessive interests can be a feature of many conditions, and isn't enough on its own to diagnose autism. Other than that, I don't see anything in your post that points to autism in particular.

[justine1]

Some of what you mention also sounds like dementia.I worked on a dementia unit for three years.Especially when he spoke of the radio incident it may have happened and he may feel it is happening now.Lots of what he says may sound confusing but to him it maybe accurate.We used to try get us much info from the families as we good and do a life story "map."That way when someone spoke of seeing "pete the dog" we would read up and see they had a dog called pet.

 

There was a lady who always "saw" a red haired girl,usually by the toilet,we never understood this because her family were not to involved,but we do now she had siblings with red hair.

There was also a man who would constantly talk about different plants,turned out he had been a gardener for 30 years.

[cmuir]

Hi

 

Difficult to say based on the info provided. However, in honesty, given his age, it could be something else ie dementia.

 

Caroline.

[Karen A]

Hi

 

Difficult to say based on the info provided. However, in honesty, given his age, it could be something else ie dementia.

 

Caroline.

 

Hi.

I thought that too.People with a learning disability can also demonstrate some behaviours that appears similar to people with ASD.

Karen.

 

[Annea]

I thought demtia too as soon as i read the post, the long stand is something almost every new student nurse fell for when I was a nurse in the past... a standing joke in many companies along with being told to ask for multi coloured paint or something.

 

Sometimes because we sppend so much time looking at autistic tendencies, we can begin to see them everywhere.