abstract:High-functioning autism (HFA) is a term applied to people with autism who are deemed to be cognitively "higher functioning" (IQ>70) than other people with autism. Individuals with HFA or Asperger syndrome exhibit deficits in areas of communication, emotion recognition and expression, and social interaction.
While doing autism evaluations in Salt Lake City, where she got her doctorate, she identified many adults as having high-functioning autism in their 30s, 40s and 50s.