Difference between Aspergers and High Functioning Autism?

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Our youngest (4) just got diagnosed with High Functioning Autism.
Our oldest (7) is an aspie.

We asked the doctors what the difference was and all they could tell us was that HFA has additional language problems. Not very descriptive.

Anyone got any better info?

I thought Asperger's was a form of HFA?

That's pretty much it. An inability to initiate and sustain a conversation in individuals with adequate speech is the defining point ("marked impairment" actually); a delay in the acquisition of speech may be present; or there may be a total lack of acquiring speech (18% of those with autism, it used to be 40%).

He certainly has the language but can't sustain a conversation - he's only 4.

If it improves in the next couple of years, does it get "upgraded to the Aspergers specific form of HFA"?

Interesting question, I was told by one psychologist that some who're lower down on the spectrum as children (see: autism), can improve as they develop and are deemed as Asperger's later on in life; one thing, professionals tend to only see how the child/adult interacts with them (so their perspective might not be completely accurate).

They still like to keep autism and Asperger's distinct from each other for the reason of verbal impairment; those who have it are usually worst off later on in life in most facets of functioning (not to say those with AS have it easy).

Anyway, if they said your son has HFA, he is diagnosed with autism/autistic disorder; people with such usually improve throughout primary school, but they may "regress" to how they were before the improvement from the onset of puberty.

I'm considering writing my Masters thesis on this topic. It has to be a lit review though, because I don't have time to go through the IRB for approval to experiment with human subjects (it takes ages to get approval). Too bad, because otherwise I'd want to carry out some language evals on kids with HFA and AS to assess the extent of language impairment in each population.

High Functioning Autism they tend have deficits and developmental delays while Aspergers does not have deficits and developmental delays.

I hope that you are aware that this thread is over ten years old.

Why should I be aware that this thread is 10 years old?

I guess the main thing about it being 10 years old is that my 4 year old is now 14. He talks a lot more now. Interestingly not as full-on non-stop chatty as my Asperger's son but certainly enough to get by.

I used to think that once the speech delay disappeared, they basically get their diagnosis "upgraded" to Asperger's but thinking about it now in relation to my 14 year old, he's much less social. He'd be happier to be with just his computer.