my opinoin on the aspergers vs hi functioning autism topic

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once again i am new to this site and very poor at grammer. i have a proposal or what i think would help define as the essence of what is called AS that should be changed in the new dsm for 2012. i think aspergers syndrome and hi functioning autism are the same yet not the same. i tend to think there are people with AS that are not autistic at all, probly 50 50. i think aspergers should remain in the dsm but not under autism spectrume dissorter . i think hi functioning autism should be intencly obverved by phycoligist and reqire testing thats more refined and overseen by the docter for some time, if the person does not fit all the critera then i think they should be put under the aspergers lable since there are so many that are diagnosed with this that are not very autistic persay!! i know this sounds almost foolish coming from a person that did not even make it to highschool and got expelled in jr high and barely attended, but this would keep AS in the dsm and also put autism in a severity rating from low fu to high fu autism, leaving aspergers as a high functioning autism like personality trait or a variation of a non autistic yet very close syndrome that is not set in stone as an autism spectretrum dissorter persay, yet the treatment and help would remain the same depending on the indavidual, what most do not understan is autistics are just as diveres as nero typicals and have their own personalitys and traits also!! do you agree or not agree

If you don't have AS, you are not autistic.
If you have AS, you are autistic.

I do kind of agree. AS and HFA are similar but aren't exactly the same. I'm not sure if it's because if most with AS seem to be mild, but I seem to have more autistic characteristics. And I've seen it in others who seem more autistic than others with AS. I think it should be separate too because one problem people are having with the DSM V change is that those with AS will be put into special classes and have to learn things slower when they need to be in gifted classes, because they are fast learners.
It's a good theory.
As of now if you have AS you are autistic, but not in three years time. And some people with AS seem even less autistic than others with it.

People think I'm Aspergers all the time because I'm really high functioning, but I wasn't always like that (was severely and moderately autistic for most of my childhood) and I have many problems still that are more hidden now.
I wish I could find a really good definition of HFA though, it would help make this discussion more functional.

There isn't one. Well, anyway, there's no definition of HFA that differentiates it from Asperger's.

The difference between them is that if you are closer to the stereotype of Asperger's, they diagnose you with AS; and if you are closer to the stereotype of Autism, they diagnosed you with HFA. It's an observable difference, but it's a difference in how you look to professionals, and that's not at all fundamental to what autism actually is.

AS people don't have delayed communications. HFA people take longer to learn to communicate. That's about where the differences end.

AS people don't have delayed communications. HFA people take longer to learn to communicate. That's about where the differences end.

Not even that. You can be diagnosed HFA without a delay in onset of speech, if you didn't play imaginative games, used language in an unusual way (echolalia, neologisms, scripts, pronoun reversals), were unable to keep up a conversation with other people, or had a delay in adaptive skills.

That covers most people currently diagnosed with Asperger's. I know it covers me. I should've been diagnosed autistic as a child; today I've lost the language issues and should properly be diagnosed PDD-NOS because I still have adaptive skill delays.

But, because I fit the Asperger's stereotype (pedantic, logical, talented with science), I'm diagnosed Asperger's.

I think in terms of IQ testing people who have high verbal intelligence with a lower performance intelligence are more likely to be diagnosed as AS, whereas those who have higher performance intelligence than verbal are more likely to be diagnosed as HFA.

In my experience most aspies seem to be HIGHLY verbal, and it's more the case that communication (in particular NON-verbal communication) is perhaps exhausting, affected by anxiety, maybe slightly unusual rather than totally non-existent.

I think aspies in general would tend to be more verbal than someone with HFA.

I'm really not sure whether AS and autism is the same thing but one thing is for sure that it seems to come from the same gene pool as there are lots of families where there are incidences of both AS and classic autism so maybe they really are related.

I reckon that what will happen is that even if AS is reclassified in DSM-V people will still use the label AS as well as high functioning ASD. It doesn't make that much difference because everyone with any kind of ASD will have their own individual needs anyway.

Don't people with HFA have special interests that are more intense?

Maybe when looking at the overall population of high functioning autistics it might be a trend but from observing other people with Aspergers and even many NT's, my interests (im HFA) seem to be less intense than theirs, but to be honest i dont think i really trust myself when it comes to observing and relating myself to others so i could be very wrong! lol

EDITED for spelling

I think there could be an HFA 1 and HFA 2 for the new DSM. I personally think that is the most logical way to go about it. I've never really met anyone with true HFA outside of AS, so I can't really personally state what similarities or differences there are between the two. From what I understand, the only difference is the fact that those diagnosed with AS had early to normal speech development (no older than 2 years, I believe). If HFA is simply more intense than AS, then it would make sense to combine them, because there are still many degrees of functioning in both HFA and AS. Some people diagnosed with AS may be less "functional" (such as able to live on one's own, learn all the proper social cues, etc.) than a person who was diagnosed with HFA. We all know that autism is a sliding scale that has two very different ends, so I think we either need more or less definitions within the spectrum.

I am A-OKAY with saying I have "high functioning autism" rather than "assburgers" in all honesty.

NOTE: Friendly tone here! I only mean love.

By this logic I would actually be better classified with HFA because I have AWFUL verbal skills. I was speaking in full sentences by the time I was about 15 months old or so, but I sound like a complete idiot when I talk out loud. I sound more like Yoda than anything else. I tend to switch pronouns and sentences come out all backwards. Sometimes I have a complete verbal "Safari has closed unexpectedly, would you like to re-open the browser?" moment. Really funny when I'm taking a writing course, and my teacher/professor thinks I'm a moron until I hand in my first written assignment. I am way too cool for school.

Yup. You're in the same situation I'm in--you seem verbal and the doctor's afraid of saying "autism", so you get diagnosed Asperger's. Honestly, I'm gonna be glad when they merge them; the way it is, you're either Asperger's and never need any of the supports that "Autistic" people need; or else you're "Autistic" and can never be expected to amount to anything. They might still do that by stressing "Mild" or "Severe", but at least it won't be two entirely different diagnoses, each with a functioning-level stereotype.

I never really like the premise of conversations like this because they always depend on splitting autism arbitrarily in half and calling one part of it high functioning. And I don't like that. I'd rather have a conversation about AS vs autism if anything and leave out the functioning labels.

Not because I'm somehow unaware autistic people differ from each other. But because HF vs LF doesn't capture the differences very well and tends to depend on a small number of superficial traits.

well lets look at it from this way!! nero typicals are diverse some learn faster some learn slower not 2 are identacal ! same goes for ASD the delayed speech is just a variation just as green eyes are to brown so yes i would say they are the same but differant due to the fact everyone is differant not 2 things are the same in reality .they might be so close one might asume they are duplicates but they are not its imposible almost. but i think all theese self diagnosed aspeis that think they have it should be put in a new catagory called aspergers personality dissorter if they exibit the traits of autism yet they fail to meet the extensive testing and childhood history info needed to make a true autistic aka aspergers diagnosis, in my case this seems to be the problem! i have many sighns of autism yet most did not apear until later in life therefore its unlikly im autistic but i have alot of theese traits, yet they come and go so maby a new lable along the lines of pdd nos and aspergers should be made for the new dsm something inbetween the 2. however i must stress that the docters do not test as extensive as they should for aspergers and this has lead to alot of problems within this community and within myself, for i never get the same dx after i see a diff doc , now i cant get ssi due to all theese misdiagnosis, i cant spell at all and my anxiety is so bad i cant work plus i cant focus on a job since im thinking and i see images of intrest wen i think to the point hours go past me like im watching a movie unfold, it is hard for people to grasp my way of wording since its very disjointed and all over the place to them. so i think the dsm should call for stricter guid lines to dx aspergers syndrome, and yes i think if your not diagnosed throughly and at least by three docters you should not assume 100 percent you have this, im diagnosed but i feel that just due to the fact im odd and have some traits of aspergers an adult still does not mean i have it. thats why in the new dsm stricter guid lines for diagnostic critera should be met, and those who fail those lines should have a autistic like personality persay and be under a new lable to better define the essence of aspergers and autism in my perception this would solve alot of confusion and end the self diagnosing of AS wich in my opinoin is very bothersome, i mean if your not diagnosed dont say you have it say you think you have it!! like isay i am diagnosed but i dont think i have it so im the odd ball of this forum as i am in other forums