So, to go along with my obsessive need for accuracy, there are two things in the DSM that would have me DXd HFA not Apsergers. First is this:
(in Asperger's list)
F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.
So if I were following a flow chart, this would be the first thing to ask relative to an Asperger's DX.
So moving over to the actual Autism criteria, I meet the criteria without question in all categories except perhaps language development. (everything bold applies)
Quote:
A. A total of six (or more) items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1), and one each from (2) and (3):
(1) qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(a) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(b) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(c) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
(d) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
(2) qualitative impairments in communication, as manifested by at least one of the following:
(a) delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
(b) in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
(c) stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
(d) lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level
(3) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least one of the following:
(a) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(b) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(c) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting or complex whole-body movements)
(d) persistent precoccupation with parts of objects
B. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play.
C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Rett's disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.
The only one impossible to answer with any certainty is
B. since I have no records but my memory. That said, my memory is that I have ALWAYS been this way, that my earliest memories are similar in 'feel' to those later in life that meet all the other criteria.
Since I am currently being evaluated, should I go through this step by step? I thought of even doing a flow chart with explanations of each point of agreement.
Yes, you are HFA, not Aspie. And is exactly because the two same reasons that several studies had came to the conclusion that nobody or almost nobody has AS and most diagnosed Aspie are simply HFAs who are misdiagnosed.
17 Dec 2010, 11:52 am
