linatet wrote:
Quote:
There is and has ever been only ONE difference between Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism, and that is a "clinically significant speech delay in early childhood" - that's all. Other than that one slight detail, they are one and the same disorder.
It's not a detail. It's a great difference if one's brain is not wired to be verbal and another can be hyperlexic, starts speaking early with huge vocabulary etc.
Me and Willard are in our 50's so one difference 5 decades ago means little to us now. The levels of Executive Dysfunction and Sensory sensitivity, Social Communication difficulties mean a lot more to our daily lives.
The different diagnosis based on language development has it roots in the 1940's. Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger discovered autism at about the same time. Kanner's patients had language delay, Aspergers patients did not. This diagnostic divide lasted until the DSM 5 and remains in the ICD 10
But childhood is important in that the scientific consensus is if you were not autistic then, your autistic traits now are not from Autism.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman