is there a spectrum of aspergers similar to autism itself

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Do you think Aspergers has a graded level or spectrum of severity in the same way Autism itself is described? I'm wondering this because I've never had any problems interpreting tone of voice or facial expressions or when people are being sarcastic or reading double meaning into peoples intentions or utterances. I'm self diagnosed awaiting professional opinion so it may even transpire that I don't have AS and have extreme social anxiety.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I understand it, Aspergers IS part of the autism spectrum.

I kind of think of it as a spectrum, too, although perhaps in multi-dimensional space shall we say. For example, some people might have greater or lesser sensory issues and in different areas. Greater or lesser needs to stim and for alone time to emotional process. Etc, etc.

I'm also pretty good at reading tone of voice, and am trying to add skills of less perfectionizing in social interaction.

As far as social anxiety, well, that along with depression is relatively common just in the general population. And I think those of us on the Autism / Asperger's Spectrum are somewhat more predisposed. I mean, the greater risk of lack of social interaction if nothing else.

I also have read that because human biochem is complex and tends to be somewhat individual, that the first medication doesn't always work and it's valuable to have a doctor you can halfway talk with. And this can be either a psychiatrist or a regular doctor like an internist or family practitioner.

If you take a rectangle and cut a smaller rectangle out of it, isn't the smaller rectangle still a rectangle?

If you've met an aspie, you've met an aspie, yes Aspergers is a subspectrum. Its like how there is the electromagnetic spectrum, the visible light spectrum, and the red spectrum.

Thanks for the replies, I'm still open-minded about being NT, I've done the Aspie test numerous times and I've come out as NT. as an Aspie and as a combo of the two, so maybe I'm on the cusp.

It is. But I think the OP is asking whether Asperger's, which is a smaller part of the autism spectrum, has spectrum traits itself--variations within Asperger's.

The answer to that is yes; you just have to hang around WP, or get to know a few Aspies, to gather that. Aspies are simply autistic people with good verbal ability, and autism is variable.

Don't get me wrong, though; the autism spectrum is not a single continuum. It's many different ones. Autistic people vary along so many dimensions that you can't really rank them along a general autism spectrum, or a general Asperger's sub-spectrum for that matter. You could rank them by language ability or math ability or social skills or sensory integration or anything else, but you'd have to be specific to that thing. The spectrum would look different for any other trait.

I use cat analogies because I love cats, so let's do a cat analogy. Say there's a cat spectrum, and some of those cats are short-haired; so you could say there's a short-haired-cat spectrum. But you could rank them any way you liked: Dark to light fur color, small to big size, short to long body, outgoing to reclusive personality. And, just like any two traits on the spectrum (say, sensory integration and social skills) don't depend on each other, neither do the traits of the cats. A small cat may have a dark fur color, but that doesn't mean that large cats must have light fur.

There is an autism spectrum, and an Asperger's spectrum, but only if you recognize that a "spectrum" can be multi-dimensional.

Callista already did an outstanding job Explaining, but I wanted to add simply that you can use any Multifaceted, Complex Living or Not thing as a metaphor. I tend to use Computers, or Ships personally, but only because I know more about them because they were interests of mine at one time or another. I find Computers work well for Neuro/psych things because all the workings are internal, and as such focused on working internally with electrical systems (Similar to brains anyway, IMHO, though of course the direct means by which they accomplish what they do are very different).

And yes, just to reiterate, its a spectrum of spectrums. And of the "Sub-Spectrums" can be anywhere on their respective scales. I Have yet to see any empirical data about trying to make a correlation about positionings on the Sub Spectrums with where one sits on the "Overall Spectrum" of autism/Aspie, but then, though pretty much everyone agrees this a spectrum of spectrums, I have yet to see anyone actually sit down and map this spectrum out comprehensively on paper. But of course, Autism is still moderately early in its research (In my opinion anyway).

Anyway, Good Luck,
Aldran

Not everyone with AS or Autism fits every trait on the symptoms list. Every person with AS has different complications with the condition. Some only have very mild symptoms while others are more severe, even with AS. The severity of AS is varied from person to person. AS is just the less severe part of the Autism spectrum and has a spectrum of severity within itself. AS isn't a separate condition than Autism, rather it is a less severe form of it.

I disagree with the concluding statement, even if the spectrum was linear, which it is not, AS would still be a subspectrum as AS still has variation along the axis the it's boxed in portion of. Using my light analogy there is still variation among the wave lengths of red light, even though there is less variation than in visible light, which in turn has less variation in wavelength than the full electromagnetic spectrum.

I think what Callista's meaning is that there isn't an 'autistic spectrum' at all, if you don't recognize it as multi-dimensional, because its not a spectrum. Ranking someone as "higher functioning" is often meaningless. I have graduated college (a semester early even), but can't drive. Someone else might take twice as long to get through college, but have driven since they were 18. Our challenges aren't identical, and which one of us is "higher functioning" depends entirely on the situation that we're discussing.

Even claiming that someone who is verbal is better at communicating than someone who's non-verbal isn't necessarily true.

I like this analogy with the spectrum of light, and the acknowledgement that AS is nonlinear.

I also like Callista's analogy with cats.

(I like cats, guinea pigs, dogs, snakes, in fact most animals.)

I might be an example of this. I graduated from high school in 1981 but did not graduate from college until 1991, and yet I've been driving since age 16!

And I've gone back to school several times, still looking for good job paths.

Part of it is that I'm really interested in writing and that's a longshot way to make money, whether a person is on the spectrum or not.

Does autism spectrum include "PDD-NOS spectrum" too?

One additional dimension could be age, since most traits (symptoms) may vary with it. Some get better, some worse, and it affects essentially how an autistic individual appears to others. In other words, they might not even fulfill every criterion of one or another dx any more.


Or one can have better skills (even talent) at writing and disadvantage at speaking, or vice verse.