Might my correct diagnosis be autism rather than Asperger's?

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I meet and read about people with AS. All aspies seem to have mild symptoms in contrast to my problems.
Let's tell you what I mean:

- I touch an object over and over again, and twiddle it.
- I club my head into tables and walls when I'm stressed or overwhelmed.
- Sometimes I scream without a reason while being disconsolate and unreachable.
- I wail loudly and panickedly while pressing my eyes, and curling into a ball.
- I swing back and forth for hours.
- I flap with my hands when I'm excited.
- I crawl and meander on the floor like an infant.
- I line up things.
- I have problems with the spoken language. Both interpreting what people tell me and talk myself. Sometimes I just say: "Hungry, hungry, hungry!!" or "Happy, very very happy!" in a childish way, because I find it difficult to create whole sentences verbally.
- I react extremely strongly when I see animals on TV. I jerk, jump a lot, rock incontinently and repeat words like "cute", "love it" or "want it" hundred of times, so that Mum must calm me down (which is difficult). I become insane and start rushing around in the apartment and lose control. I become mad when the animal disappears from the TV screen. I yell: "Must see, must see, must see" and throw myself around in the couch. Then I may talk about that cute animal for days.
- I have problems changing groundwork. For instance, if I have walked on the asphalt for a while, and then have to walk on grass, I refuse to.

In practice, if you have normal intelligence and no speech delay, you usually are diagnosed with AS (even if DSM says that, if you match both Autism and AS criteria, you should be diagnosed with Autism).

Please don't take offense at this...

Well, you might, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that, and this is just my opinion, I am NOT a doctor, and...

I haven't had that much exposure to anybody with full blown Autism. So take this with heaps of salt:

You aren't saying you think you have classic Autism, but:


All the symptoms you describe (put together as a whole) appear to me to be classic Autism, not AS.

Are you the one with the symptoms, or are you posting for someone else that has them? The reason I ask is that it's hard for me to believe that someone with symptoms that pronounced would have the skills to articulate them this well on a forum, and the post is written in first person.

I'm not a doctor, but it really seems odd that anyone with Autistic symptoms as severe as the ones you describe would posses that level of written articulation.

The apparent contradiction confuses me.

You'd be surprised.

I've seen YouTube videos of some of the most intelligent people on this board, and it's almost like you're looking at an entirely different person.

I'm talking about classic Autism though, not AS or any other form of high functioning Autism. The OP is asking whether we think she has classic Autism (the way I'm reading it) based on these symptoms. I'm basically saying based on her post alone, "No, I don't think so."

But I'm also saying the symptoms appear to be more severe than high functioning ASD's. It may be that part I'm wrong about. Maybe they fit perfectly with HFASD. If that's the case, then my answer would still be the same. I highly doubt she has classic Autism.

But....

I'm not a doctor, and I honestly DON'T know as much about classic Autism as AS.

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised by the videos at all. I have three kids on the spectrum (all high functioning) and I know exactly what you're talking about. They amaze me every day, but it's been going on so long now it never surprises me anymore.

I'm very aware of all my problems.
I wasn't asking about classic Autism. I meant highfunctioning.
I didn't know that I had to write "highfunctioning", since Autism doesn't have to mean development disorder.
I do have these symptoms. I haven't made them up.

Edit: My investigator said that it was similar to classic Autism, but the only thing was that my intelligence was far too high for that diagnosis. People who meet me think that I behave in a classic Autism way.

Last edited by Withdrawn on 19 Jun 2010, 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Never meant to imply you didn't have them. I was just explaining why I was confused, and that it may only mean I don't realize enough how severe symptoms can be with HFA.

By classic definition, Autism IS a developmental disorder. It affects how we develop.

But yeah, it sure sounded like you were asking if it could have been classic Autism, and that's what confused me. We do take things very literally don't we?

That being the case, now that I know what you were asking, I have to say, "Beats me! I don't know!" All can do is give you my best guess, and I don't really know as much about forms of Autism other than AS.

Asperger's is autism. The difference in diagnosis comes down to communication delay/difficulties, and potentially number but not severity of other problems (in other words, you can be specifically diagnosed with Asperger's if you have no communication delay and some other issues, or you can be diagnosed with Asperger's if you have no communication delay and many other issues, and you can be diagnosed with autism if you have a communication delay/difficulty and many other issues.)

DSM4 - Autism

and

DSM4 - Asperger's

It's all a bit silly so mainly just wait for

DSM5 - Proposed

Into which we can all cheerfully squeeze.

Last edited by Ambivalence on 19 Jun 2010, 3:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Not necessarily. Some of the posters in the Nonverbal thread over in the Haven section are extremely articulate writers, and I mean very much so.

We've cleared this up. I thought she was asking about classic Autism, not HFA. Just a misunderstanding. Had I not misunderstood that, I wouldn't have asked the question.

Uh, i think HFA *is* classic autism.. As in, what is currently diagnosed as "autistic disorder."

No...

HFA is "High Functioning Autism." and will usually not be diagnosed simply as Autism, but more likely either Asperger's Syndrome, Kanner's Syndrome (?), Autism Spectrum Disorder, PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified). There may be others I haven't yet learned about.

Classic Autism is extremely low functioning and those with with classic Autism generally cannot function independently. It's a MAJOR disability, much easier to recognize than HFA.

But what people here usually refer to as "HFA" is a high-functioning person with "Autistic Disorder." "Kanners syndrome" is just another name for "autistic disorder"... and i'm pretty sure "classic autism" is aswell. The diagnosis of "autistic disorder" encompasses people with "LFA" and "HFA"(which are in no way official classifications).. I think you're confused about the classifications. And, i'm sure someone else with come in here and explain this in more detail.

Correct. It is Autism, but it is not Classic Autism. Autism, when it was first identified, was originally suspected to be related to Schizophrenia. In fact, it was called Autistic Schizophrenia originally. It wasn't until years later that it was proven to be a totally separate condition. Asperger himself actually had a lot to do with that distinction being proven.

Before Asperger came along though, and for many, many years thereafter Autism DX's were limited only to the most severely debilitated patients. Most could barely communicate, if at all.

We now know Autism is a much larger spectrum than at first thought. There are now many cases of mild, and/or High Functioning Autism, that are much harder to identify than classic Autism.

Uhhhgg.. Will one of you DSM obsessives please jump in here? I'll try, but i don't know how great i am at explaining it.(plus, whenever i try to explain something to someone, it always becomes an arguement for some reason.)

See, the official classifications are Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, and PDDNOS. Aside from CDD and Rett's, that's it. If you had a language delay, you usually get put into Autistic Disorder instead of Asperger's. There are "high functioning" people with all of these diagnoses, but the most severe are generally Autistic Disorder, but sometimes PDDNOS. "Classic autism" is just a phrase used to describe Autistic Disorder. "HFA" usually refers specifically to high-functioning people who are diagnosed with Autistic Disorder(as opposed to Asperger's).

When the topic asks if their correct diagnosis is autism rather than asperger's, they're asking if they should have been diagnosed with autistic disorder rather than asperger's. But, yes, they are both types of autism, so wording it as "autism" could be confusing when they mean "autism" to mean "autistic disorder"(which is the official name for "classic autism" and "kanners syndrome"). They would be high-functioning(therefore "HFA"), but functioning levels aren't diagnoses.

As far as I can see, we're in agreement on all but one thing, and that's what "Classic Autism" is.

Maybe people here use the term more liberally than I do. Classic Autism is a very narrow part of the Autistic SPECTRUM. All the rest comprise a broader part of the spectrum, combined with Classic.

YES! Classic Autism IS used to describe Autistic Disorder, in the "Classic sense," that is, the oldest understanding of what Autism is. To include High Functioning Autism you'd be talking about the Autistic Spectrum, But not Classic Autism.

ALL DX's ARE Autistic disorders. I'm not disagreeing with you there. But Classic is not all Autistic Disorders. Classic Autism is as specific as Asperger's Syndrome, and all the rest (except, of course PDD-NOS, which is very non-specific).

I think I said Kanner's was high functioning, but also said I didn't now much about it. Well it's not I just learned. Kanner's, I now know, is one term for classic Autism. Classic and High functioning are not the same thing.

Classic Autism is severe, and not high functioning.

Link to one explanation of Classic Autism

Link to another explanation