Is Asperger's A Form Of Autism?

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I've seen both sides argued here, and I'm interested in seeing it all hashed out in one place.

Obviously, some traits between classic autism and AS are different. Some people have visual-spatial strengths, others weaknesses. Some have sensory processing problems, some don't. Some have nonverbal learning strengths--math and science--others don't. In the past, I have seen the assumption that, if you are autistic, you must have

sensory problems
visual/spatial strengths
better ability in math/science compared to languages
pictorial thinking
sensory problems
stimming

Is this true? Where does it leave those of us who are most comfortable with words, even obsessed with them, or who experience no sensory difficulties or stims?

Are there several different phenotypes of autism? How can that be?

If it's not a form of autism, no one can really agree where HFA ends and AS begins.

I just wanted to add a little more information that you may find helpful. The website supposes that Asperger's is a type of autism, but it may help explain why AS traits seem to vary a lot more widely in nature and severity than classic autism:

http://www.autismasperger.net/intro.htm

Keep in mind that, while the wedge model is interesting, at the end of the day it is just a model. In reality it's a lot more complex than that.

I think one reason why people are confused over this is that they erroneously believe Kanner autism is some kind of autism default and other things are judged autistic by determining that they-sufficiently mimic Kanner type Autism.

Actually both Kanner and Asperger type Autism were first described in published literature about the same time, and in both instances the word autism was applied. The word was co-opted based on what it described, which was behavioral traits. Both Kanner and Asperger type autism were referred to as Autistic at around the same time because the word had a meaning that applied to both. The difference is that only one of these conditions was widely known about in the West for a number of decades.

Kanner type autism is no more autistic than Asperger type, yet how often do we hear anyone asking if Kanner type autism is autism like Asperger type is?

The autism spectrum is a concept based on certain similarities of traits among people with different mental conditions...so it is more of a social reality than a neurological one, although it is based on our limited understanding of neurological differences.

The best understanding of the autism spectrum I've been able to come up with, as an NT reading the works of both people on the spectrum and not on it but who study it, is this:

-almost always, if not always, some kind of sensory processing issue, though some might grow out of it. Stimming is usually a by-product of sensory processing issues and is supposedly also found in people with sensory processing issues who do not meet the full criteria for the autism spectrum. Some freak-outs, and pickiness in eating, are also related to this.

-Always some delay in nonverbal communication (expressive and receptive) and sometimes verbal communication (expressive) as well. (Delays in the latter denote Kanner's or "HFA" usually.) However, many autists who can't speak can still understand language; otherwise Kanner folks wouldn't be able to learn to type like quite a few learn to do.

-Usually, some need for order and routine. Hence they often play by lining or stacking things up neatly as children, and develop comforting habits.

-High awareness of detail and ability to focus on interests. Combined with the need for order and routine, this can lead to the infamous freak-outs that may occur when one important detail in the comforting routine is out of place. Can also manifest as Savant Syndrome or just plain talent, on the positive side.

-Difficulty understanding how NT's think...because, well, NT's think so differently from themselves. "Cognitive empathy" is thus relatively poor, though "emotive empathy" or awareness of others' feelings is high or even enhanced.

I would say yes, simply due to the same tendency to social impairment. I was a classic example of "little professor syndrome", so I never had any problems with language. I also got a 790 on the verbal portion of the SAT as compared to only 710 on the math. Even this is hard to label, as I got a perfect score on the calculus II homework I did while I was too drunk to sit up straight.

I also have the same type of sensory issues as an autistic person might, although they have lessened. I used to not be able to get in a hot tub without feeling like I was boiling alive, but now it is one of the most relaxing feelings to me. I tend to stim as well; I've noticed I rock in rhythm to whatever song is stuck in my head.

To me, Asperger's is definitely on the autism spectrum. It is much less severe, but that is what makes autism a spectrum: the varying symptoms and severity.

I think that the differences between Kanner's and Asperger's types are no greater than the differences you might get if you divided the overall "autistic" group by some other criterion. There are definitely differences; it's just that the differences they've chosen to divide the two groups are fairly arbitrary, and other differences could be used just as well--for example, the VIQ/PIQ gap, the extent of desire to socialize, the presence or absence of a working theory of mind...

If I had my way about it, I would re-name them and have them like this: Asperger's is just "autism without specific language delay", and Kanner's is "autism with specific language delay". IQ has no bearing on it, for two reasons: One, an overall developmental delay will lead to language delay even if there is no specific difficulty with language. And two, IQ and autism don't really mix well to begin with.

That would lead to a group of people who are autistic and have functional speech at or near the level one would expect from their other skills (average level, in this case, since those skills can be so disparate). Another group would have speech either delayed or absent. That would be a useful diagnostic category, because one group might benefit from speech/language therapy, and the other group wouldn't need it. Both groups might be developmentally delayed, average, or gifted. You could of course jump from one group to another if you caught up with your language ability.

There could be other tags you could put onto the autism diagnosis, too... for other important features of that particular case, like executive dysfunction, problems with novelty and transitions, etc. I don't know whether you'd have to put that in the diagnosis. I'd just write down "Autism" and then put down the biggest features. They already do this with both ADHD and schizophrenia, both of which are as varied as autism, and it works for those categories to define the specific features of a case even when the overall category says little or nothing about them.

People, both NT and autistic, have an extraordinary capacity for denial when some truth or likelihood doesn't meet their psychological needs. It seems to me that some AS, and those close to them, look down on non-verbal Kanner's autistics and don't want to be associated with them. These people therefore vehemently deny that their condition is related, even though all the evidence is to the contrary. I agree with the observation that AS autism is equally autistic as Kanner's type.

wildgrape: I wasn't trying to deny the importance of the neurological underpinnings of what we call autism, I was trying to say that the fact that we take this particular range of neurological wirings and lump it into a category called "autism" rather than just calling it "cognitive styles" or "perceptive styles" is because of a social reality. That's not to say that these wirings are not real and are not responsible for the personality types, thinking styles, and perceptive styles of people we call "on the autism spectrum," it's to say that it's for social reasons that we lump all these neurological quirks together and give it the name "autism spectrum." Particularly, because people with these cognitive and perceptive styles tend to have similar troubles relating to those of us with more common cognitive and perceptive styles, which you autistic people, out of necessity, have dubbed "neurotypicals." If there weren't these communication gaps between "AS" and "NT" (and perhaps someday there will no longer be, as technology improves and, hopefully, appreciation of neuorpsychological difference for what it is improves), the labels "AS" and "NT" would probably not be necessary, as the differences that distinguish between the two are no longer socially relevant. That's not to say that people would not have these wiring differences, though.

GhostsInTheWallpaper: