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niclong intro

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niclong

New Member
Hi! I'm the mom of an 11 year old with Asperger's, but I didn't think it was called that anymore. I usually tell people it's high functioning autism, but I never knew until today that there was a difference in HFA and Asperger's. I need a new moniker to describe it to people.

We had a late diagnosis; at age 6.
 
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Hello, and welcome! I'm sure you'll find plenty of resources here along with aide and advice from some other parents who're still sticking around here who were in the same boat as yourself at one point.

To start off, a great article to take a look at would be "Autism is a Spectrum" Doesn't Mean What You Think » NeuroClastic which breaks down the meaning of Autism into more palettable chunks, while it turns some misconceptions onto their heads.

That said, I hope you enjoy your stay and make new friends in the process!
 
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Asperger's (in the USA) used to be a specific type of autism diagnosis. Not any more. Several years ago they rewrote the book and lumped everything together as ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). I think mainly because they realized they have no idea what is going on and if these are seperate things, or all related, etc, etc. But they did find something to sub classify people based on the level of support they would require in life. Which is ASD1-3 with 1 needing least support and 3 the most. 'High Functioning Autism' is not an official term or title and never has been. It is just a vernacular term used by some and generally can be equated with ASD-1. The terms I hear most in the special education venue are 'Autistic', 'Has Autism' and on 'On the Spectrum'. I don't know but would imagine in the medical field 'ASD1-3' are used as well. The Asperger's diagnosis is still used by most other counties in Europe however. As far as what we like to be called ourselves, it is much debated and things like Neuro-Diverse come up.

Personally I don't really care what you call me, as long as it isn't 'Johnson'.

;)
 
The WHO still uses the term Asperger's and considers it useful.

The DSM 5 decided to lump everyone with certain general traits under Autism Spectrum Disorder, saying it is really all the same issue but just different degrees of disability. It didn't change anything in reality, it is just a method of slicing the autism pie into manageable pieces. The term neurodiverse (ND) was coined to include other cognitive issues like ADD.

From Wikipedia:

The term neurodiversity refers to variation in the human brain regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions. It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept along with journalist Harvey Blume.
...​
The term "neurodiversity" has since been applied to other conditions and has taken on a more general meaning; for example, the Developmental Adult Neurodiversity Association (DANDA) in the UK encompasses developmental coordination disorder, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome, and related conditions.
 
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