Social communications disorder..is it on the spectrum?

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That's interesting, it makes sense that it might be BAP. They should widen the spectrum to include it though, for those that feel lost.

"Law and sausage are two things you do not want to see being made." - attributed to Prince Otto von Bismark.

I'd add the DSM-5 to that list. The whole thing, particularly the decision to get rid of AS, was political (in the APA, not at a governmental level), and I suspect SCD was a compromise.

It would be very nice if someone who sat on the commitee could sit down and give a candid interview, but the odds of that anytime soon are not good.

According to the DSM, it is a ND; for the present version of the ICD-11, no.



If you don't have RSB, how you are/were an aspie? Or you have only one RSB symptom (within the threshold in the DSM-IV, but without in the DSM-5?

I found a photo of the description of "repetitive behaviors" in the new DSM, posted by ASdogGeek http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5439775.html#5439775
I'm very surprised that hypersensitivity and focus is under the same category.

It is quite an offensive term really, as it basically means "having strong preferences" (or strong dislike to everything else) - If you like something, of course you will do it a lot. The differences are not in moderation, but in how much we love things (and probably other factors too). NTs often do not have to restrain themselves from "repetitive behaviors" because they do not feel the need for it.

Anyway, even without repetitive behaviors, I think your aspie-score reflects reality better than this new diagnosis does.

Social communications disorder sounds similar to NVLD.

Here's my personal perspective, as someone (female and identifying as a woman) who struggled with social skills as a child and teenager, dated an Aspie for a while (diagnosable with DSM-5 ASD based on childhood history), read a boatload about Asperger's and concluded it only "half fits" at most, and has been perceived as having Aspgerger traits by some and normal by others:

Officially SCD is not on the spectrum. They created it because they felt they had to draw the line somewhere, and I think where they drew the line makes sense. People who are definitively on the spectrum tend to struggle a lot with sensory and information processing in ways that I don't, or only ever did a little bit when I was very young. Until maybe age 8, maybe a little later but I don't remember it afterwards, I was a little under-sensitive to pain and over-sensitive to loud noises compared to, say, my sisters who are close in age to me. But when I read about personal accounts of autism as an adult, I feel that my sensory processing falls much more toward the non-autistic side overall. I also never engaged in classic autistic-type repetitive behaviors to any significant degree, neither in my memory or that of those who grew up with me.

I did, however, take things literally, say the darnedest things (aka unintentionally rude things), and was pretty thick-skulled when it came to picking up the appropriate behavior pattern and why it was necessary in many situations for a very long time. I was never the type who could just fake it 'til I made it - far from it. I was openly neurotic. I also was more analytical and, though still able to see the big picture in many cases, fascinated by certain details, and more prone to absorbing myself in somewhat offbeat stuff compared to your average non-autistic person. I became an avid 4-leaf-clover hunter as a pre-teen, for instance, often wandering off into the fields when everyone else was talking and eating and playing games. And psychology, and topics in psychology that fascinate me, may also kind of resemble a "special interest."

I'm in my 30s now, and have learned a lot even since my early 20s, so I usually don't have trouble anymore socially apart from the occasional confusing non-verbal interaction or joke taken seriously. In fact, the very honesty that was once considered a lack of social skills, now more mature and refined, is seen by some as refreshing and a good friend quality. Does that mean I'm cured of the SCD I likely suffered from as a kid? For clinical purposes, I would probably say yes - I seem to be doing fine without professional help now. But in other ways, I'm no more "cured" than a dyslexic who learns to read well enough for everyday life purposes is cured. That dyslexic probably still processes information differently from non-dyslexics. And so I probably still process social information differently from most other non-autistics. A long-time friend of mine has noticed, and found kind of strange, that I'm not very interested in fiction and stories, rarely "miss" people, and otherwise tend not to be interested in people in the same kind of intuitive way most people are. I'm also not a big fan of irony and sarcasm - I don't always fail to understand them, but almost never use them myself, because it just doesn't feel right or make much sense. I'd be a lousy hipster.

Some people speak of a "broad autistic phenotype" where the autism spectrum blends into neurotypicality. I think it's what John Elder Robison calls "proto-Aspergian." And I think social communication disorder is basically intended to span that range, kind of its own spectrum in between the autistic spectrum and classic non-autistics. Some may be closer to autistic, and may possibly even develop toward SCD from having previously been diagnosable as autistic, and others, like me (if I have/had SCD), may eventually come off as mostly just a quirky to those who get to know us and indistinguishable from other non-autistics to those who know us less well, sort of like the social equivalent of a mild dyslexic who eventually learns to read "well enough." 'Cause the deal with SCD is that you have to not qualify for an autism diagnosis on the repetitive behavior/sensory issue side, and SCD might range from none of that at all to just barely not enough to get diagnosed as autistic. It's quite a controversial diagnosis, but I think it would explain a lot that neither Asperger's/autism nor the ADD label that I'd ended up with for a while for lack of anything else can quite cover.

Nonverbal learning disorder

Why? Yes, I know that could be very subjective to decide if someone has RSB at a relevant level; but the same occur for almost every symptom of almost every disorder listed in the DSM (for example, could be also subjective to decide if someone has social impairment.

And also, i was not aware that pre-dsm5, if a person did not show stereotyped and repetitive behaviors then they would not be an aspie, so what would that have made me pre DSM5?

Social communications disorder sounds similar to NVLD.

Because I believe they have invented a category that doesn't exist.