DSM: difference between HFA and Asperger's

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To read your posts, I would never have guessed. You write so well now. Did you have therapy, and if so what do you think helped you most?

Speech therapy helped with my...speech. I had it for one year when I was four; I had broken/grammatically incorrect speech when I first started speaking sentences at four.

My mother, a teacher and a remedial teacher put much effort into helping me read/write in grade 1, 2 and 2 again; I got it eventually. Personally, I just think my brain learnt to adapt and used another portion for its verbal ability, but that's speculation. It kind of hurts when I write, even here, they say it's not "normal" for writing to hurt.

Perhaps my cognitive delay finally caught up; I'm still below average now in verbal ability.

Aside: I never had problems with math.

Although I am now a high-functioning aspie (didn't used to be high functioning), I can kind of relate to what you wrote. It sometimes hurts (my back, legs, etc.) when I try to initiate some face-to-face associations with people - not always, but in certain cases. It is like i know what to say, but it doesn't come out.

danielismyname and nominalist, that's funny you mention the hurting thing. When I engage with people socially, I hurt. My face especially, but also my neck and legs. I used to think it was a product of different postures, and some of it might be, but I get this even when I am talking over the phone (made worse by never knowing when it is my turn or how to wrap up). Heh. I guess it's just my body isn't used to doing so? No matter how I feel, I always have to "recover" from anything that has me engaged socially. Afterward I want to be alone and unbothered for a while, usually hours.

I hope my son is good at math So far he has an amazing ability to remember things. He knows his alphabet (by 22 months) and can point out all the letters when you ask, "Where is Q?" and so forth. He's a thinker, just not a speaker. It seems, like you, a lot of people with speech delays are sort of developing other things in their minds. It's kind of fascinating how it works.

When I spoke of the "pain" I experience, it's a similar [mental] pain one feels when in an overwhelming social environment, not as bad obviously, but the same feelings are there.

Speaking of "thinker" over speaker, my mother always said I was a walker rather than a talker.

Autism is withdrawing into self after all; we're thinking, we just aren't sharing it.

Yes, the mental pain, I feel as well.

I'd be troubled to see something as significant as a language onset not considered clinically. I've read the hypothesis that a severe language onset delay is caused by the analytical functions of the brain temporarily usurping the language areas of the brain. It would be interesting to look at all high-functioning autistics (regardless of age of language onset) to see if you could determine greater analytical ability in those who had some degree of language onset delay.

From what I have read, the issue is not whether language onset should be considered clinically. It is whether it serves as a significant way of distinguishing between HFA and AS.