what would my autism look like in the old classification

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In the evaluation, I had the autistic spectrum, but I am not an aspie because my intelligence is borderline, but my autism is mild. What would be the old name of this mild autism

The DSM-4 also considered speech delays in determining AS/Autism. AS required no "clinically significant" speech delay, which seems very open to interpretation to me.

Autistic Disorder under the DSM-IV, probably.

What do you mean when you say you have “borderline” intelligence?

"A bit weird." If pressed for a diagnosis, a doctor would search for some other quirk that did have a name, such as shizophrenia or paranoia, and you would be abused accordingly.

I believe that according to the most recent diagnostic criteria, there was no need to have a higher than average intelligence in order to be given an AS diagnosis. Keep in mind that Asperger's "little professors" were sometimes deemed dim-witted or mentally deficient in various ways, inciting their placement in his clinic, although also they were sometimes placed in his clinic solely for behavioral problems...he nevertheless had a talent for seeing the potential in others which society at large was not able to see. What many would see as a disability, he saw as unique ability not being recognized. So even if you were to score in the average range on a verified IQ test (the way psychologists like to measure intelligence), I personally would not be all that convinced you are necessarily of average intelligence, without getting to know you as a person.

Aspergers.

Intelligence was not really a factor in Aspergers. Most were average (100), with some in low average (85) and some smart (120). When you got higher or lower in intelligence it was hard to say if the autism behaviors were truly autism or because of the same atypicalness that caused the high or low intelligence score. For example, if you have a 65 IQ score, no one can tell if you are choosing not to answer correctly, or having cognitive problems. If you score 150, you may understand any test better than those who wrote it, and may be giving unusual answers because of that.

The key was functionality. If your autism behaviors only mildly affect your function, it was Aspergers. If they significantly impact your function, it was Autism.

Probably they mean they have an IQ right at the borderline of 70- the cutoff between "normal", and "sub normal".

Over 70 put you into "aspergers". Under put you into "autistic"- with the informal adjective of "low functioning" tacked in front.

Autism emerged from Kanner's autistics ("Kanner's Syndrome") which was itself a narrow view of autism and tended to be more extreme in its impairments mainly of social and communication variety...initially had to be separated from schizophrenia (to distinguish that these children were not experiencing psychosis in their odd behaviors) which took a while...but ultimately Kanner was overly exclusive in thinking this was a very rare condition and refused to see it as a spectrum, also refused to see it as inborn, and blamed parents for forcing these special interests and eccentricities on their children in lieu of providing them with unconditional love and affection. His model basically crashed and burned over time, but he did nevertheless make some breakthrough discoveries about these individuals' condition which would be later seen as genetic...and part of the same spectrum as Asperger's.

"Asperger's Syndrome" emerged from Asperger's patients who were older than Kanner's...they were more verbal, could communicate very well compared to Kanner's Syndrome children, and tended more towards over-linguisticism than paucity of language, but nevertheless seemed "autistic" to him due to their focus on their own inner worlds, lack of friendships with other children, literalness and logicality of mind...but wouldn't have fit in with Kanner's Syndrome group.

So you can see that Kanner had a very limited view of Autism and likely it did encompass the more severe and low-functioning cases, but at the same time you can see he honed in on peculiar or remarkable cases, where the children had sometimes very extreme and seemingly useless abilities (on the savant spectrum), sometimes of prodigious levels (autistic children who had memorized great amounts of information which he attributed to, again, parenting style which valued such useless information due to flaws in the parents, rather than genetic neurological differences that granted these children special gifts).

They were two very different models that kind of came together over time. I think today, the vast majority of cases diagnosed "autistic" are in fact more Aspergian in nature. Nevertheless I think the idea that it's a spectrum -- Asperger's idea initially -- does hold up well, and he would have accepted Kanner's group into his although probably wouldn't have called them "little professors" and might've had another name for them. If someone knows about this maybe they can chime in here, I still have relatively cursory knowledge of all this on some level...but I'm always trying to learn more.

FWIW I'm about half way through Neurotribes (which has been my resource for some of the above info), which is a really interesting book! I've read a handful of books on Autism, AS, etc., but I think this one is my favorite so far...very comprehensive and well-written.

Most likely, Autistic Disorder, albeit mild. I have low average intelligence and no speech delay but I had an Autistic Disorder, moderate, diagnosis.

I think borderline intelligence is an IQ between 71-80. The word borderline meaning significantly below average, but not intellectually disabled.

Likely PDD-nos. Maybe HFA but apparently that's not a diagnosis. I'm also not sure that you need above average intelligence. I think that you just need no intellectual impairment. It seems people foten define high functioning autism as having speech delays while asperger's doesn't. It seems HFA is also define as having no intellectual disability.

PDD-NOS makes sense.

I was confused by my diagnosis as I was told I had ASD Level 1, but the assessor said that it wasn't Aspergers. I don't know how to make sense of this distinction based on what I have read

Very easily. If there’s a speech delay, no Aspergers

After I began to speak, I came across as being quite Aspergian.

They didn’t have the diagnosis in the 1960s. Still, it would have been impossible to diagnose me with Aspergers under the DSM-IV.

Aspergers, to me, is a form of HFA.

I've always seen "Aspergers" used of people who had no delay learning to use language. "High-functioning autism" of people who did have a significant delay, but caught up later.

I think I'd be "aspergers" in the old system, but the people who diagnosed me refused to be drawn on that. For all I know, I could've ended up somewhere in the whole "PDD-NOS" mess had I been diagnosed earlier. I still don't quite know how to tell anyone about it. "Autistic spectrum disorder" or "autism" just leads to confusion as many people associate that with the most severe forms. ("Autistic? So why aren't you strapped to a bed in a 1970s mental hospital, then?") "Apsergers" gets the message across, and using it probably saves you some awkward questions even if you did have a language delay. But it offends my sense of accuracy to use an obselete diagnosis!

It’s not obsolete yet under the ICD-10.

What I don't understand is that people online seem to relate Level 1 Autism to be the equivalent of having Aspergers, but I was told different by this professional.

I am kinda finding this all hard to navigate, as if it was something worth worrying about then why Level 1.

Just seems like a nothing level, and I think I require help to cope better, as my functionality is hard fought for, and this diagnosis seems to demean what my personal experiences are.