A very interesting article on the fate of Asperger's Syndrom

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I found this article to be very interesting so I've decided to share it. The author discusses the seemingly impending merger of AS with ASD and discusses the differences between the two and presents both sides of the argument.

http://www.child-psych.org/2010/02/auti ... itics.html

More interestingly, the subject of simply redefining the criteria for AS instead of merging it with ASD comes up.

Particularly interesting is this part

I find it interesting they should mention an age of onset for AS. Of course it is not as if people with AS socialize fine in pre-school and then suddenly don't. However I've noticed that hypersensitivity issues, and transition issues seem to peak sometime between 6-8 years old and I've always though that rather curious and wondering what neurological implications that had.

Doesn't the DSM already make those distinctions between AS and HFA? Why would the criteria be rewritten when it says in the DSM Asperger's is active but odd socially and HFA is aloof?

That was very interesting, thanks for sharing. I am of the personal opinion that HFA and AS are two different presentations of the same underlying disorder, but I think I am in the minority in thinking this.

Here is an extract from the article worth pondering over.....

I (the author) interact weekly with graduate students who are learning how to conduct neuropsychological evaluations for children and adolescents (with Aspergers). Often these students have already developed a schema, or prototype, of the child or adolescent with Asperger’s. They would describe such a child as someone who has intense and unusual interests, maybe superior skills in some area such as music or art, rigidity in behaviors and interests, and social and communication ‘deficits’ leading to difficulties interacting and relating to others. The problems begin when we start seeing actual assessment cases. For example, recently a doctoral intern and I sat in supervision to discuss a case of a teenage boy who could be described as having a “perfect” Asperger’s profile, fitting both the student’s schema and the DSM-IV criteria; except for one thing: the client had a documented history of language delays. There was no question about the diagnosis: If the teen had a history of “language delays’ the diagnosis is autism. My student then asked me, so if this is HFA, how does Asperger’s look like? I replied, just like this.

That's the best argument for merging AS/PDD-NOS and HFA. At different times these diagnoses can resemble each other, as if on a continuum which leads me to believe they are the same thing.

Interesting and thank you.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether advocacy has any effect on the final decision.

i thought aspergers was on the autism spectrum ? please correct me if i am wrong.

I don't agree on merging these two categories. The co-existence of these two categories is a clinical advantage once a proper distinction has taken in place.
(edited)

Though, I have my questions. Klin's proposal:

My experience with my possibly HFA friend combined with my self-knowledge is in line with this.

He had language delay (first spoke at the age of 3), I hadn't, I think the above distinction is better than what Ghaziuddin suggested: "communication style (oftenpedantic and verbose)" (regarding AS). My communication style in not the least pedantic, and only in some cases verbose. My friend's communication style is rather pedantic, yet not verbose. A bit mixed up. Also, I don't think lack of pragmatics and precocious language usage only characterizes me, it does my HFA friend too.

And, I would raise the question, how could we throw in the equation the several types of language disorders, such as stutter?

Does this criterion exclude circumscribed interests from HFA, or only refers to its interference with the person's functioning? I don't see the point, it seems to me just as arbitrary as the distinction based on language delay.

Last edited by OJani on 06 May 2011, 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

I seem to slip between HFA and AS. But I had hearing loss so that may have effected my development growing up. I did have a speech delay also. That could be why I was diagnosed with AS.

I'm another one who's on the cusp of AS and HFA. I was diagnosed with HFA as a child, but I'm sure that if I was diagnosed today, it would be AS.

By reading those points, I would conclude that on 1 and 3 I'm HFA and on 2 I'm AS, which makes me very confused.

Though I can't honestly say that I never, ever crave social interaction. That's part of why I'm here. But I doubt that autistic people anywhere on the spectrum never want it.

Very interesting article.

Ironic that it in no way settles the question.

I know that I am not LFA. I also know that I am significantly impaired in my social interactions, executive function, and general living "stuff". I personally have little interest in the particular label attached to my neurology. I am keenly interested it what to do about my issues. I have no particular trouble with seeing myself as autistic, pure and simple. When there are so called 'low functioning' people on this site that more clearly elucidate and mirror the states of my 'high functioning' mind than any neurotypical ever has, I see no way to separate myself from them.

Applying to me:

1 - self-isolation

2 - adequate/precocious language, perhaps with difficulties in the use of language (pragmatics)

3 - I have the special interests (althoug I think they are more "intense" than "circunscribed") but I rarely talk about them

Honestly, I don't know what to think when it comes to the proposed merging of AS into the wider autism spectrum in the DSM-V. Whatever'll happen is going to happen.

Well the error here is obviously that even among those with AS not everyone is going to externally present the same so apparently this research student is ingrained with some type of stereotype bias which not all of us are going to meet.

Hmm:

1) self-isolation and relative lack of interest. I have had social periods, but my interest required other people to work properly. Once I stopped doing that, I went right back to self-isolation.

2) I probably qualify as adequate or precocious language, although there were some interesting oddities about how I learned (that is, taught myself) language from reading. Somewhat atypical hyperlexia (very high reading/decoding ability, much lower comprehension, both exceeded the expected for my age, still caused problems for me).

3) I do the one-sided verbosity, although my primary interest seems to have gone mainstream over time. I'm not sure if it still counts as circumscribed if there are trailers in movie theaters for video games. Which is to say, my interest isn't factual, but it does interfere with my functioning. I have other interests that are only sometimes factual (specific television shows, SF/F novels, society-level power differentials and inequalities) but hmm.

I'm with wavefreak58, though. I worked out that I was on the spectrum originally by reading anbuend's blog three years ago, and trying to work it out last winter by talking to people diagnosed all over the spectrum led me to getting an AS diagnosis. If these things really are that separate, then maybe I should be diagnosed with autism or PDD-NOS instead.

I am pretty skeptical that they are that different. The article looks like instead of holding the line where it is, just finding a different line that they hope will provide a real distinction between "HFA" and "AS," but I question whether this will actually create a separate category that is really distinct from other autistic people.