Is Asperger's syndrome distinct from High functioning autism, true or false?

[oskarandri]

Reaserchers have been saying that Asperger's syndrome is distinctive from high functioning autism, some think it's true and some think it's false, i think it's distinctive from high functioning autism because there are so many symptoms like trouble with social interaction, restricted,repetive behaviours and obsessive interests, many sensory issues, speech and language like loudness, pitch and much more, sleep problems and i doubt its not distinctive from high functioning autism because of the scale of the symptoms, do you think it's true or false? share your thoughts with this thread.

 

[. . .]

The whole high-functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome debate bothers me.

Everyone on the spectrum differs from the next person. You'll never find two higher functioning people on the spectrum who have the same traits. I can't help but laugh when psychologists say that people with HFA have so and so traits while the next psychologist says something completely different regarding HFA. I no longer bother listening to what psychologists have to say about HFA as they all say something different.

People on the spectrum don't all display the same traits as each other. Just because one person on the higher end of the spectrum autistic acts a little different another doesn't mean that they should receive separate diagnoses.

 

[oskarandri]

well people have different opinions.

 

[GhettoButterFly]

The whole high-functioning autism/Asperger's Syndrome debate bothers me.

Everyone on the spectrum differs from the next person. You'll never find two higher functioning people on the spectrum who have the same traits. I can't help but laugh when psychologists say that people with HFA have so and so traits while the next psychologist says something completely different regarding HFA. I no longer bother listening to what psychologists have to say about HFA as they all say something different.

People on the spectrum don't all display the same traits as each other. Just because one person on the higher end of the spectrum autistic acts a little different another doesn't mean that they should receive separate diagnoses.

Quoted for the truth and for common knowledge that everyone should know.

As for my opinion... it all depends who is doing the diagnosis. You might met one scale for Asperger's and then on another scale you might meet it for High Functioning Autism. Then on some other scale, you might meet the diagnosis for mental illness or ADHD. At the ultimate end, you'll have to go to a specialist anyways. Then again, no special agrees on the same thing. With that said, I guess my doctor friend is right, "It isn't about the label, it is how you achieve in life."

 

[Droopy]

I remain neutral with regards to HFA being separate from Aspergers Sydrome. It doesn't bother me either way but I don't understand why they're separate in the first place given that they are nearly indentical (that was one of the main things that confused me when researching Aspergers for the first time).

However, I do think that there should at least be some distinction between Aspergers/HFA and Classic Autism.

 

[GhettoButterFly]

Aww shoot, I made a typo in my post above. It should say "Then again, no specialist agrees on the same thing." :S

Anyways, I think I should be neutral but I don't know. Asperger's was researched upon during the WWII era or somewhere around there. So I guess if they were in the same country, then one might agree on something. Then again I wouldn't know. :S

 

[oskarandri]

It was discovered in 1944. Because some of his patients i think, showed autistic symptoms. They showed many skills of intellect, expertese and then many years later he contacted them again and many of them were successful. His patients were 300.

 

[oskarandri]

I definitely agree. I had to add ''definitely'' to make up the 10 words.

 

[whale_bone]

Technically speech delay is the main difference.

But, I think the history of the diagnoses is telling. Asperger's Autism was a diagnosis designed to protect the children in his care from the Nazi death camps; (the disabled and mentally ill were particularly vulnerable, and often the first to be sentenced to euthanasia). Kanner didn't need to protect his patients, as he was in the States not Nazi-Occupied Austria.

So basically Asperger's autism is a subset in the wider spectrum of HFA: people with obvious "useful" skills. Disability-redemption. I'm uncomfortable with the diagnosis for this reason.

However, I think it's useful because it can help determine what supports might be more helpful. For example as a child I was a precocious reader, and had an excellent grasp of language so speech-therapy wouldn't be very helpful for me. But I did (and still do) have difficulties transitioning from one task to another, picking up on sarcasm, and controlling my emotions; so some sort of support to manage that would be helpful.

I think it would be helpful if they introduced various subsets of HFA, that reflect the various skills and difficulties. My dad is (probably) an "aspie" but has crap language skills, whereas language comes easily to me. He'd probably get a HFA-diagnosis. He's an excellent carpenter because he has high visual-spatial intelligence. I am a terrible carpenter.

There is also overlap with anorexia, which is a possible explanation for the gender ratio. Anorexia is often characterized by rigid thinking, an obsessive all-consuming interest (food/body), and social dysfunction. Society mostly doesn't let girls get away with being asocial or indulging a narrow passion. Aspie girls often have less obvious "special interests": animals, fiction, etc. And even engage in group-play, although they tend to be more rigid and repetitive than NT-girls.

 

[142857]

As an adult, the distinction between HFA and Aspergers can seem pretty meaningless. I had significant delays in developing speech, therefore I have HFA. But I am more high functioning than some aspies I know.

 

[katcha]

"Autism" is a label to anyone who acts in a way to meet the criteria. "Autism" is technically a group of semi-related disorders, that have similar end results.

For example, Around 30% of people with aspergers have hyperserotonemia. (Too much serotonin in the blood). This should technically be a subgroup, as they'd more than likely share behaviourial quirks.

The truth is, each cause of autism should have it's own name, with it's own list of problems. At present however, that is beyond current knowledge and it would cost too much to find out said cause for each individual with an ASD. There should be a lot more than two catagories.

Do you have a faulty serotonin transport protein? Do you have a problem with a specific serotonin receptor? There are many!

Dopamine receptor, glutamate receptor and gaba receptor adnomalities can all cause autistic behaviour and the effects all differ from each other.

Do you have an autoimmune disorder that causes autistic like symptoms? Do you have a chromosomal adnormality? Do you have organic autism? (Can be caused by mercury from fish ingestion, not from immunity shots).

Until testing improves and all the causes are known, and names are given to all the different causes, we'll just have to make do with the diagnoses present.

 

[nintendogurl1990]

When I was very young one doctor diagnosed me with high-functioning autism, then when I was 16 a psychologist diagnosed me with Aspergers. I don't really see the difference because they both have similar symptoms.

 

[lyricalillusions]

From all I've read, the only difference I've seen is that apparently, people with HFA don't start to talk until 3+ while people with Asperger's apparently start talking at normal ages or even sooner. So, personally, I don't see a difference between the two because I don't think the age that speech began should be enough to separate the two.

 

[jaws]

It seems that what all I've read has indicated the delay in speech and normal to lower IQ equate to Autism and no delay in speech and normal to high IQ equals AS. To avoid offending anyone, I think that the IQ issue is relevant to ones natural ability to learn innovative ways for working around the social issues of AS, and that those with HFA would not have a natural ability to overcome certain issues but could eventually learn some of the same workarounds. Overall, this does leave me in the neutral area of them seeming similar enough to possibly be the same condition, but a lack of distinction would result in either talking down to an AS person or having unrealistic expectations of an HFA person, when it comes to counseling.

 

[whale_bone]

IQ can be a bit unhelpful... it samples a few (somewhat arbitrary) skills that our society believes make a person "intelligent". And it neglects some important aspects like the ability to make things (my dad can make sophisticated machines and structures... but is crap at verbal reasoning), emotional intelligence and artistic intelligence. If a person can produce beautiful music but can't do a simple word recall test, does that make them unintelligent? No. It means they have unevenly distributed skills and deficits. Some people, like savants do brilliantly on IQ tests but can't manage to do daily things on their own. And what about people with disorders like William's syndrome where they have excellent ability to read emotions in the eyes, but struggle with other things... I'd consider that a form of intelligence too.

I took a psycho-educational assessment recently, which examine key cognitive functions... and I found I was in the 99th percentile for some things and 2nd percentile for another. Right, so I'm a genius and retarded. fantastic. If you averaged out those scores I'd be in the average to above average range... But in reality that doesn't tell me much... it's much more useful to look at what my strengths are so I can choose an occupation that caters to my abilities, and identify what I struggle with so I can work on those things.

 

[katcha]

IQ can be a bit unhelpful... it samples a few (somewhat arbitrary) skills that our society believes make a person "intelligent". And it neglects some important aspects like the ability to make things (my dad can make sophisticated machines and structures... but is crap at verbal reasoning), emotional intelligence and artistic intelligence. If a person can produce beautiful music but can't do a simple word recall test, does that make them unintelligent? No. It means they have unevenly distributed skills and deficits. Some people, like savants do brilliantly on IQ tests but can't manage to do daily things on their own. And what about people with disorders like William's syndrome where they have excellent ability to read emotions in the eyes, but struggle with other things... I'd consider that a form of intelligence too.

I took a psycho-educational assessment recently, which examine key cognitive functions... and I found I was in the 99th percentile for some things and 2nd percentile for another. Right, so I'm a genius and retarded. fantastic. If you averaged out those scores I'd be in the average to above average range... But in reality that doesn't tell me much... it's much more useful to look at what my strengths are so I can choose an occupation that caters to my abilities, and identify what I struggle with so I can work on those things.

Couldn't say it better myself