Recently diagnosed...just a question

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My diagnosis letter says "It suggests you fall within the category of Autism." and explains I met the cut off point for Autism for both communication and social interaction.

I'm kind of left wondering whether I have been diagnosed with Asperger's or Autism. I was hoping somebody here might be able to tell me going of off my letters words...


PS. What really is the difference between Autism and Aspergers?


Thanks

Many people believe there is no difference between Autism and Asperger's. In the DSM 5 it has been proposed that classification of Asperger's Disorder be merged into Autistic Disorder and that Asperger's Disorder no longer be considered a distinct diagnosis.

On this site, many people have stated that if a person being diagnosed began speaking at a time that's considered developmentally normal they would be classified as having Asperger's, but if a person did not begin speaking at a time that's considered developmentally normal they would be classified as having autism.

That doesn't tell me if you have been officially diagnosed or not. Maybe unofficial you have.

It doesn't matter anymore about Autism or Asperger's because they are removing Asperger's from the DSM.

aspergers is like an autistic personality without the major deficits. idk what your diagnosis does mean. seems to me like you should go and get the psych to explain it to you.

i am trying to simplify something while i'm squishy sorry.

My diagnosis was also "autistic spectrum", but they explained to me that I relate to Aspergers or HFA (though my speach was not delayed but weird: I didn't talk at all till 18 month and then I talked immediately in whole sentences). They said, that they call it officially "autistic spectrum", because also Aspergers is autism, and because as I need special help it has to be called "autistic spectrum".

As far as your dx, it sounds like they used the ADOS, since you mention categories of social and communication. If it says you met the cutoff for autism, then it means you have autistic disorder. Otherwise, it would say that you met the cutoff for "autism spectrum disorder," and they would have diagnosed AS or PDD-NOS.

Asperger's isn't actually definitely being taken out of the DSM, it's only a proposed change. I for one, am not supportive of this. There are differences between Asperger's and Autism. For example, I read this on a Facebook page about keeping Asperger's in the DSM, "people with Autism have trouble communicating due to a developmental delay, while people with Asperger's trouble communicating due to an inherent lack of social skills" So yes, there are differences.

Thanks for the informative and helpful replies. I think you're right SuperTrouper, they did use the ADOS assessment.

My son's developmental paediatrician dx him as having HFA/Aspergers - when we went to see a child psychologist, she said she prefers to distinquish them as their treatments differ, she said Aspergers as he has no significant speech delay (he is 4)