Whats the primary difference between Aspergers and ASD?

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Hello,

I took a few online tests. I took the Aspie Quiz and got a 167 (answering honestly), then I took the AQ-50 test and got a 41 (which is supposed to be a strong indicator that AS or ASD are likely), and I also took an EQ test and got a 33 (which was supposed to be quite lower than mainstream).

Just a few more things about my childhood. I Tested high with IQ when I was a child and didn't have too much problem speaking in fact I talked early at 6 months and walked late at 18 months. I also had motor skills problems and had been diagnosed with ADHD as a 6 year old. I had a lot of trouble focusing in class and it wasn't because I was running around the room, with a huge amount of energy, and disrupting class. I was very quiet, kept to myself, shy etc. I just daydreamed a lot because I didn't pay attention to things that didn't interest me. Most of the kids were talking about sports and I wanted to talk about volcano's, space ships, life on other planets and animals. So I 'never really had any trouble functioning beyond the norm. I had not really heard about Aspergers until a year ago or so and now after analizing my behavior as a child I am inclined to believe that I was misdiagnosed with ADHD when its actually AS because AS wasn't known about in the 1970's really.

I was just wondering what the primary differences are between AS and ASD? Someone told me a while back that the main difference is that ASD affects normal day to day functioning and AS does not.

Here's an analogy. Autism is to dogs what Asperger's Syndrome is to Collies.

Autism is a huge category on a spectrum, and Asperger's Syndrome is a variant of ASD, with very specific traits, as far as I can remember.

Thanks, I seem quite a lot of AS traits.

ASD covers every form of autism;it is THE autism spectrum.

classic autism is what are thinking of, most of us with it are on the low functioning spectrum,meaning we have some level of intelectual disability 'flavouring' our autism, to be diagnosed as such people with AS cannot have functioning problems; autistic functioning is based on having an IQ over 70 or under it.
however aspies may have HFA moderately or severely-the traits of which will cause various clashes to going about a typical day what is expected of them,plus they often have executive dysfunction, anxiety and other impairments that cause barriers and misunderstandings.

Not really. The main difference is pretty much a question of whether or not the person had a significant delay in language development directly related to autism. To be diagnosed with classic autsim such a delay must be present, and to be diagnosed with Aspergers there cannot be a language delay.

Just to clarify...The term Autism Spectrum Disorder is often incorrectly used to refer to just classic autism, while it actually usually refers to the group of disorders that make up the make up the autism spectrum which includes both Aspergers and classic autism. But since the introduction of the DSM V in the US, Aspergers and classic autism no longer exist as diagnoses and were replaced with the term "Autism Spectrum Disorder," although this change did not occur in the rest of the world.

Oh I understand a little better now. I know in addition I have had motor skills problems. They are pretty much okay now, however I still misjudge where I am walking and bump into things and still can't catch something like a ball if thrown to me with one hand or even two at times like most people can. I can write and draw pretty well now. I also had moderate anxiety and mild depression, but its gotten better since I left my 20's.

Some of the things I still can't seem to change are talking monotone and looking a little robotic, which I don't do on purpose, its just how I walk sometimes. Oh then theres the social skill problems and being extremely introverted. I guess its not a bad thing, I just don't like being around people that much...

So basically if I went and got a professional diagnosis, the answer would be I have Autism Spectrum Disorder even though all my symptoms point to Aspergers and the fact there was no speech delay?

Exactly. Now all types of autism spectrum disorders including what were formerly classic autism and Aspergers Syndrome are all merged into one disorder. In the US Aspergers doesn't "exist" anymore. The symptoms and everything do, but the name or the label "Aspergers" does not exist anymore. The same with "classic autism." So it is not now possible to receive a diagnosis of "Aspergers" because the same set of symptoms now has another name.

Since I was formally diagnosed before the debut of the DSM V, I was diagnosed using the DSM IV criteria and terms which means that my formal documentation lists my diagnosis as Aspergers. But since the DSM V, I technically have Autism Spectrum Disorder, even though my original diagnosis was Aspergers.

Honestly, this is all really confusing for everyone. Whenever I'm filling out paperwork and I have to list my diagnosis, I'm often unsure of what to put. My doctor now writes Autism Spectrum Disorder, but I tend to write something along the lines of either "Autism(Aspergers Syndrome)" or "high functioning autism" or a combination of the two, because the change over is just still so new and there's not really a firm understanding of the sheer breadth of the spectrum in regards to the severity of symptoms and level of functioning.

There isn't a difference.

Aspergers Syndrome is basically just another name for High Functioning Autism. The two used to be regarded as separate conditions, but the only real difference was that people with Aspergers Syndrome didn't suffer any cognitive or linguistic delays, and typically scored higher than average on IQ tests. The DSM V regards them as being essentially the same condition, and effectively obsoletes the term "Aspergers Syndrome". It kind of makes sense in my case, since I had a language delay, but I was an "aspie" in all other respects.

I still use the term "Aspergers Syndrome" when describing myself, as my language delay didn't make that much of a difference by the time I was diagnosed. As well, "Aspergers" is stereotypically portrayed as being a "genius disorder", and I kind of like the idea of people thinking of me as a genius. I know, that probably makes me a bit of a narcissist as well.

DSM-V is USA only. Most of the rest of the world uses ICD-10.

My diagnosis is based on ICD-10 F84.5 - Aspergers Syndrome.

As far as I know then ASD is the whole spectrum that includes low functioning autism,high functioning autism and Aspies. I might be wrong on this but low functioning autism has a low IQ<70, high functioning autism 70<IQ <100 and aspies 100<IQ. Those are not hardcaps, so you can have an aspie with IQ with a IQ of 90. But if we look at the broather pictures then I think it is like that

I think both AS and HFA requeres only an IQ>70; the difference is not suposed to do with IQ, but with AS being a kind of residual diagnosis (if you have enough symptoms for a diagnosis of autism, you have HFA; if not, you could have AS).

This is perfectly consistent with ADHD, Innattentive subtype



A necessary condition for a diagnosis of AS is (or was) "the disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning".