What's the difference between Aspergers and Austism

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I know you have what tie you started speaking, but im trying to start a conversation?


What's the difference.

I know the DSM 5 says its a spectrum but it isn't.

can autistic members also explain the differences?

Thank You,

Here we go again

I'm sure it's more complicated than this, but...

Aspergers, Autism, ADHD, OCD etc etc are just labels trying to describe various conditions/difficulties etc.
The labels change over time, as the professionals learn more about the conditions, or new professionals come in with a different view on them.
The labels will never become perfect, will always be a bit blunt and sometimes miss the target completely.

For a relatively short period of time, the term Aspergers was used. It has now (for the most part) been declared defunct, since the professionals realized/decided/whatever that people earlier labeled as Aspergers had more in common with those labeled with Autism than what warranted a separate label.

So they decided that where the label previously had been Aspergers they would now use the label Autism level 1.

In my diagnosis it sais Autism level 1 according to X and Aspergers according to Y. (Where X and Y are DSM 5 and whatever the other standard is called.)

Edit: Found the dates when Aspergers was used, it entered the DSM in 1994 and was removed in 2015.

/Mats

Aspergers is to autism what "Nebraska" is to "the whole USA". One is a subdivision of the other.

Asperger's is a less 'severe' (sorry if that isn't the right word) version of autism. Usually people with Asperger's don't get diagnosed until adulthood (except me ), and just come across as shy and awkward and anxious.

Usually Asperger's is coupled with general anxiety disorder and/or social anxiety, which can be similar to an NT with anxiety. (Autism people are more likely to get anxious if there's loud noises or their routine changes, where as Asperger's people are more likely to worry about everything, like social and political stuff).

Asperger's isn't usually obvious on the outside, and many people with Asperger's (seem to) make friends with their NT peers (unless they're Joe90).

Basically Asperger's is enough social smarts to know when being socially awkward, not enough social smarts to know how not to be awkward.
Or
Too autistic to be neurotypical, too neurotypical to be autistic.

I like analoges.
Let's say covid was always here, some would get Delta and some Omicron.
At first the scientists decided to call the people infected with Delta to be called ABC, and the people infected with Omicron XYZ.
Then they realized that it was basically the same thing and started to call it ABC type 1 and ABC type 2.
Some people who were earlier called XYZ didn't like that change of definitions since they didn't want to be associated with the ABC people.
And some people who were earier called ABC didn't like it because they thought (right or wrong) that their problems would not be addressed if they were lumped together with all those XYZ people.

/Mats

Whether it's a spectrum or not is a matter of definition.
We could say that all who has cancer is on the cancer spectrum. Or we could describe the conditions with separate names.
It doesn't really matter.

If you don't like the term spectrum, feel free to not use it, but be prepared for a bit of confusion/misunderstanding when communicating with people who likes it.

/Mats

The word "spectrum" is used as in the color spectrum. There are different degrees but also different types that present very different from each other.

I feel "Asperger's" can be used in at least three ways:

1. Asperger's "discovery" that many kids who struggle socially and educationally have a condition that is connected to classic autism.

2. DSM-IV used it to provide alternate diagnosis to encourage diagnosis of these kids knowing that there might be reluctance to use the "autism" label for these kids. It seems to me the speech delay criterium was picked for lack of better diagnostic criteria. The criterium was vague and it seems to me it didn't mean much since ASD is much too "pervasive" to use such a narrow criterium.

3. The "Asperger's" stereotype which was described by Asperger and named his "little professors". Typical includes sophisticated vocabulary at a young age, overly literal use of language, pedantic speech style and poor conversational style.

I could joke that difference is "5 letters". They both start with an A and have an S.

I have read a number of scientific studies looking for differences between people who are diagnosed with Asperger's and Autism. Study after study found no real scientifically verifiable differences.

There were differences between individuals with the degree they needed help and has social skills challenges.

To reflect this the DSM 5 eliminated the Asperger's diagnosis and added "quantitative measures". There are two different measures, each with 3 levels marked "1, 2 and 3" - presented as a sort of rubric of observable behavior.

People often associate the new quantitative levels "1" with they types of behaviors that would have been diagnosed as Asperger's under the DSM IV, but there is strict one-to-one correspondence necessarily.

The ICD, similarly, moved Asperger's under Autism as a sub category - or an alternate name for a subcategory.

One definition of what something "IS" has to do with what it is made of - if you think of human behavior having to do with the neurological systems and the brain - Autism diagnosis in the DSM seems to correlate to increased probability of seeing certian identifiable brain differences when compared to controls. There are also differences in brainwave scans and genetics - statistical differences. There are also differences in executive function - measurable with things like finely timed reaction times, which also correlate to different measurable activity patterns (correlated to blood use) in the brain.

Another definition of what something "IS" has to so with what it "DOES". The DSM is almost entirely defined in terms of observable behavior.

I think this thread is also related to this topic:

● wrongplanet.net - Forums - What's The Differences Between NT Brains And Non-NT Brains

As of 2013, Asperger’s is now considered part of the autism spectrum and is no longer diagnosed as a separate condition in the DSM.

For most of the world, they're separate conditions. Ignore the silly American's who think the DSM is the global standard. They get lumped together because of similarities, but there are a lot of conditions that share a lot of traits, that doesn't mean they're the same thing or have the same cause.

ICD has dropped it as a separate diagnosis as well

/Mats

Amen.

Also see my reply to another thread on a similar topic here

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=403867&start=80#p8989859

There is no Aspergers in the ICD=11 which officially took effect at the beginning of the year. However most member countries have not implemented it yet but eventually they will.
Individual clinicians are not mandated to follow the manuals.

Even if not officially a medical term “Aspergers” remains a popular colloquial description.

And … just to be a pain in the a**

It isn’t “Aspergers”

It is “Asperger’s”