Will Asperger survive?

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Oh, definitely. Technically that's what I have, though my doctor referred to it in his explanation as "atypical Asperger's." And then even Aspies say, "oh, you're just a faker, yadayadayada," and NTs are like, "you're a freak, but we don't want to help because that isn't mainstream autism."

The DSM-III category which became "Asperger's Disorder" in the DSM-IV was Schizoid Disorder of Childhood and Adolescence. I don't much care for the term "Asperger's," preferring simply "autism," but I like "schzoid" even less.

I now introduce myself to all my students, on the first day of classes (which was just last week), as an autistic man.

humanity wont survive...let alone aspergers

And I was having such a positive day, too.

I prefer 'autistic cousin' (meaning, someone with a neurological type that isn't autism but has similarities) rather than 'subclinical autism' (which makes autism sound... well... clinical).

I'm told that there are different cognitive profiles among autistic and AS people, such that the difficulties match up, but the abilities (which are, apparently, a significant part of autism in themselves) do not.

However, I think that this is more than likely because if you select out a particular group of autistic people for having more typical language skills from an early age, they'll test better in linguistic areas and on whatever areas are required to gain those linguistic skills to begin with. i.e. somewhat circular.

The last thing we need is for all of the ASD's to be compressed into one diagnosis. Already people I know hear the word "autism" and think "ret*d antisocial special-ed kid" when in reality I am quiet but fully capable of interaction and function in society. You'd think Autism Speaks counted for enough stereotyping without the psycs f**king up the way these disorders are diagnosed. No, sir, leave as is.

Emphasis added.

This is interesting to me. On the performance part of the IQ test, I did terribly at things that required good eyesight for details (like the pictures sequencing) and motor co-ordination and for these subtests got very low scores (in the range of like 1-5), but on the parts like matrix reasoning, I got a sub-test score of 14.

On the verbal portion, I got to think my answers for 24 hours, and then have the questions repeated and type them. Most of the subscores were at or a standard deviation below average, and came up at just above 90.

So my verbal score was a standard deviation above my performance, whereas when I was tested at age 10 with Stanford-Binet, I scored with visual-spatial scores a standard deviation above verbal scores (which correlates to academic performance more, as I am very good at pattern-finding, and while I had exceptional vocabulary when young, I understood very few of the meanings of the words I used).

My language acquisition was quite odd (such as starting with single words at age one just like my sisters, but by age 3 still primarily or only using echolalia, non-communicative, delayed and immediate), but the delays weren't noticeable by my parents, and though I use a lot of echolalia to this day, my parents generally don't recognize it for what it is, and respond as if I'm really meaning to talk about whatever it is. (Nobody ever told them about echolalia, since I was diagnosed with AS I guess, and when I use immediate echolalia, it's usually not the whole sentence, just a part of it, like the end of it.)

So what are the patterns that are typical for people with language delay versus those without? My language has always been odd, but not with marked delays or loss of previous language skills. I am told I am above average both in things like language and math, spatial things, though while I can read complex things my understanding tends to lag (my reading comprehension was tested at sixth grade level versus writing level above 12th grade level, and when I was in sixth grade my "reading level" was tested at grade 12).

However, I am far quicker at grasping things that require little or no language to understand (such as math, physics, chemistry) than at things like English classes, which are very difficult. I don't think in words, but not quite pictures either - more like motions, rhythms, which can come through body movements or songs or moving pictures. Is there nothing about me that is clear-cut diagnostically, even when it comes down to cognitive styles/abilities?

The likely direction for the DSM-V, from what I have been reading, is that various conditions, like "autism spectrum disorder," will be given a number of dimensions. One of those may be OCD. Another may be intellectual disablement. However, no one really knows at this point.

googling "Ass burgers"

lol
http://www.google.com/search?q=ass+burg ... =firefox-a

the ED article comes up

urban dictionary says

asspie is similar
http://www.google.com/search?q=asspie&i ... =firefox-a

I'm sorry, but every time i hear that i lose another quantum of faith in humanity.

From now on, I will be referring to instances like this as a *douchebag alert!*

I don't think "level of autistic traits" is a good indicator of functioning level in society, so such a basis for diagnosis doesn't seem useful if diagnosis is to be used for disabliity support. Mostly it seems like severity should be messured by which conditions are comorbid (ADHD, OCD, Dyslexia, sesintive senses, and things like that). Therefore I think it is a good idea to only have a single "autism spectrum label" and combine this with descriptions of comorbid conditons.

if it's an ED article, it's understandable.

nominalist,

If you read the DSM-III, you'll find that Asperger's is easily accounted for in Childhood-onset Autism and Atypical PDD.

I'd also add the "chronic" Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders that predominately feature the negative symptoms, like "Simple Schizophrenia", Schizoid and Schizotypal PD, into "Autism, atypical/part-disorder" As there's symptom overlap, but not the full list with the Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders (nonverbal cues for example).

I suppose the cognitive profiles, if there's any marked differences between Autism and Asperger's [and the SSDs], would be a way to sort out the disorders if they match up with the symptoms for the majority of the cases, like Autism #1, 2, 6, 8, etcetera. But this would require quite a lot of work if there's no neuroimaging studies in the near-future that can map the various differences between one disorder compared to the next.

I'm looking forward to seeing the DSM-V, as there's many competing institutions involved, as well as politics.

I hope it does not survive. the aspergers is far too general and it is over diagnosed. there are clearly people on here who should not be diagnosed aspergers yet they seem to have been.