Asperger's No Longer a Diagnosis?

lookingforanswers · **Joined:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:55 pm **Posts:** 1908

Quote:

November 3, 2009
A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis
By CLAUDIA WALLIS
It is one of the most intriguing labels in psychiatry. Children with Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism, are socially awkward and often physically clumsy, but many are verbal prodigies, speaking in complex sentences at early ages, reading newspapers fluently by age 5 or 6 and acquiring expertise in some preferred topic — stegosaurs, clipper ships, Interstate highways — that will astonish adults and bore their playmates to tears.

In recent years, this once obscure diagnosis, given to more than four times as many boys as girls, has become increasingly common.

Much of the growing prevalence of autism, which now affects about 1 percent of American children, according to federal data, can be attributed to Asperger’s and other mild forms of the disorder. And Asperger’s has exploded into popular culture through books and films depicting it as the realm of brilliant nerds and savantlike geniuses.

But no sooner has Asperger consciousness awakened than the disorder seems headed for psychiatric obsolescence. Though it became an official part of the medical lexicon only in 1994, the experts who are revising psychiatry’s diagnostic manual have proposed to eliminate it from the new edition, due out in 2012.

If these experts have their way, Asperger’s syndrome and another mild form of autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (P.D.D.-N.O.S. for short), will be folded into a single broad diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder — a category that encompasses autism’s entire range, or spectrum, from high-functioning to profoundly disabling. Story continues here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html?_r=1

lookingforanswers · **Joined:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:55 pm **Posts:** 1908

What do parents and people with Asperger's think of this? Where I live, the Asperger's parents form their own support groups that are separate from the autism and PDD parents. I wonder what would happen if everyone had mostly the same diagnosis?

Janie · **Joined:** Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:18 pm **Posts:** 718

I think it's absurd to give all spectrum kids the same diagnosis - it's just not descriptive enough. It's like saying, oh, it's just cancer, not something specific, like leukemia. We need more and better ways to describe what our kids have to help teachers and therapists learn how to help them. Eliminating Asperger's especially will just make this harder.

Alex's mom · **Joined:** Sat Mar 18, 2006 2:11 pm **Posts:** 1625

I don't think they should be lumped together diagnostically. There are many things in common that people with Asperger share that don't apply to children with classic autism- and viceversa. I also don't think that some of the autism treatments are very applicable for Asperger- and again some of the Asperger intervention may fly right over the head of an autistic child. Granted there is a lot of overlapping features too- perhaps a diagnosis that would convey more exactly the areas of challenge would be best?
And I think it would be wonderful for the ND movement if the distinction was more clearly made. This way a group of highly articulate adults can pat each other on the back without having to tell the parents of a severely disabled child how normal their child really is

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Dani · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:46 pm

It doesn't make any sense to lump Autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger's into one diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

Autism is so very different in each person and having a way to say exactly where the needs lie is very helpful. There are far too many variations within the spectrum. A diagnosis of ASD doesn't tell me anything of where the individual's needs are. A diagnosis should reflect the person's current level of functioning, and where deficits are.
We need to distinguish between the levels of severity, not lump everyone together. It's a step backward to take away the diagnosis PDD-NOS and Asperger's.

There is a world of difference between a higher functioning person who can go to college, hold a 9-5 job, live independently on his/her own, etc. like those in the Neurodiversity world who love to speak for all autistic people, and a person who cannot communicate basic needs and is unable attend to ever live independently. The former can participate in the world, and latter will need a lifetime of care. It's not an apples to apples comparison. Having a Neurodiverse highly articulate Asperger's person speak for all autistic people is like having nearsighted people be the spokespersons for the blind.

autismgal · **Joined:** Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:13 pm **Posts:** 378

lookingforanswers wrote:

What do parents and people with Asperger's think of this? Where I live, the Asperger's parents form their own support groups that are separate from the autism and PDD parents. I wonder what would happen if everyone had mostly the same diagnosis?

I see major differences between autism and Aspergers like delayed or absent speech vs. being verbally precocious.

Many adults with Asperger's and parents of kids with AS say they're autistic so getting rid of the Asperger's diagnosis is a natural progression from that. If people prefer to call themselves autistic, the Asperger's diagnosis will probably be removed over time anyway.

momofboys · **Joined:** Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:33 pm **Posts:** 195

From a biomedical standpoint, treatment for children on both ends of the spectrum follows the same path. Also, the same sources are causing the damage whether it's Aspergers or wherever else the child is on the spectrum. In this way I see them together. If a child recovers enough to lose their diagnosis, they still would have followed the same type of path biomedically to get there.

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