Janissy wrote:
It isn't possible to have a low IQ and an Aspergers diagnosis. Part of the defintion of Aspergers is that there be no cognitive disability: no IQ score in the mentally ret*d range. Whatever the underlying neurology may be that leads to different IQ scores for different people, doctors can't write "Aspergers Syndrome" in somebody's medical records if they also have a recorded IQ test score <70, the cutoff for official mental retardation. It's disallowed by the current DSM definition of Aspergers.
In the new DSM, that all may change. If "Aspergers" ceases to exist as a category, then people will simply be "autistic" regardless of their IQ score. But the current edition requires an IQ test score >70 for an Aspergers diagnosis.
No, the diagnostic criteria do NOT require any particular IQ score. They don't say anything at all about IQ. It says "no clinically significant delay in cognitive development". Yes, some people equate that to having a particular IQ score. But it's not a given that cognitive development has to be judged that way.
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not aspie, not NT, somewhere in between
Aspie Quiz: 110 Aspie, 103 Neurotypical.
Used to be more autistic than I am now.
13 Dec 2010, 8:06 pm
