What Is The Difference Between HFA and Aspergers?
Aspergers syndrome usually is one form of high functioning autism. However, it is not the only form of high functioning autism. One criterion of Aspergers syndrome is not having had speech delay as a child, but some people with high functioning autism have had speech delay, thus not meeting the criterion for Aspergers.
There may be additional differences at least on average between people with Aspergers and people with high functioning autism with a speech delay, but I'm not sure if there's any broad consensus about if/what they are.
There's no new term for Aspergers Syndrome. It's just part of high functioning autism/ type 1 autism or maybe in a few cases type 2 autism.
There may be additional differences at least on average between people with Aspergers and people with high functioning autism with a speech delay, but I'm not sure if there's any broad consensus about if/what they are.
There's no new term for Aspergers Syndrome. It's just part of high functioning autism/ type 1 autism or maybe in a few cases type 2 autism.
That's confusing cos I was diagnosed with Asperger's but I had to go to speech therapy.
I'm verbally dyspraxic.
I couldn't be understood til I was about 4. By anyone but my mother.
My mum's allistic but also verbally dyspraxic & didn't have speech therapy & she couldn't be understood all her childhood/teenage years til she was at college.
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There may be additional differences at least on average between people with Aspergers and people with high functioning autism with a speech delay, but I'm not sure if there's any broad consensus about if/what they are.
There's no new term for Aspergers Syndrome. It's just part of high functioning autism/ type 1 autism or maybe in a few cases type 2 autism.
That's confusing cos I was diagnosed with Asperger's but I had to go to speech therapy.
I'm verbally dyspraxic.
I couldn't be understood til I was about 4. By anyone but my mother.
My mum's allistic but also verbally dyspraxic & didn't have speech therapy & she couldn't be understood all her childhood/teenage years til she was at college.
Not every speech disorder is necessarily a speech delay. You can certainly have Aspergers and an additional disorder that impairs your speech. But there's a difference between not being able to speak clearly and not being able to speak at all or not attempting to communicate verbally at all. People with other forms of autism don't necessarily have a problem with speaking clearly or pronouncing words right, but they're late to start speaking at all.
There may be additional differences at least on average between people with Aspergers and people with high functioning autism with a speech delay, but I'm not sure if there's any broad consensus about if/what they are.
There's no new term for Aspergers Syndrome. It's just part of high functioning autism/ type 1 autism or maybe in a few cases type 2 autism.
Interesting. I don't recall hving speech delay. If anything my first words came out precise and clear at a very early age but then I said nothing until normal age.
However I hardly spoke much. It was not speech delay. It was me standing there watching others for quite a few years to learn how to act and behave. Also I then went quiet to avoid being the centre of attention, as due to masking I would try not to bring attention to myself.
So if I am on the spectrum it would be HFA?
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Yes, it would most probably be HFA, most probably the form of HFA that was earlier called Aspergers Syndrome but is no longer distinguished in the diagnosis.
I'm not sure which exact terms they'd use in the diagnosis. Like, I don't know if they use the term High Functioning Autism or Type 1 Autism or something else. But those are just different expressions for the same thing. So yes, it'd be HFA.
Last edited by NorthWind on 27 Sep 2020, 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
There may be additional differences at least on average between people with Aspergers and people with high functioning autism with a speech delay, but I'm not sure if there's any broad consensus about if/what they are.
There's no new term for Aspergers Syndrome. It's just part of high functioning autism/ type 1 autism or maybe in a few cases type 2 autism.
That's confusing cos I was diagnosed with Asperger's but I had to go to speech therapy.
I'm verbally dyspraxic.
I couldn't be understood til I was about 4. By anyone but my mother.
My mum's allistic but also verbally dyspraxic & didn't have speech therapy & she couldn't be understood all her childhood/teenage years til she was at college.
Not every speech disorder is necessarily a speech delay. You can certainly have Aspergers and an additional disorder that impairs your speech. But there's a difference between not being able to speak clearly and not being able to speak at all or not attempting to communicate verbally at all. People with other forms of autism don't necessarily have a problem with speaking clearly or pronouncing words right, but they're late to start speaking at all.
Ah ok that makes sense then
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Both terms, High Functioning Autism and Aspergers are now out of date, although some people still use these terms.
Autism Spectrum Disorder and level of support needed is the new way to refer to people who used to described
using HFA, LFA and Aspergers syndrome.
Autism Spectrum Disorder isn't split into two, high and low, but instead
is now considered an umbrella term that encompasses people who suffer from
a number of symptoms from several lists /categories of symptoms.
Low functioning Autism used to refer to people who have an intellectual disability (IQ lower than 75).
Aspergers syndrome was a term invented by Hans Asperger, a nazi doctor who discovered this strange
group of kids that he originally labelled "Autistic psychopaths" (thanks Hans, and we were thinking that the nazi's were the psycho's for murdering millions of innocent people...)
I understand why some may not want to be associated with a nazi doctor. I don't.
I prefer the term ASD now.
Basically, there is not difference between high-functioning autism and Asperger's. This was one reason for getting rid of the Asperger's diagnosis--HFA was never a diagnosis, but a descriptive term.
Tony Attwood discusses this here: Is There a Difference Between Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism?
This is the conclusion:
Having reviewed the literature, we may be able to answer the question, is there a difference between Asperger's syndrome and High Functioning Autism? The reply is that the research and clinical experience would suggest that there is no clear evidence that they are different disorders. Their similarities are greater than their differences. We appear to be taking, particularly in Europe and Australia, a dimensional view of autism and Asperger' syndrome rather than a categorical approach. (Leekam, Libby, Wing Gould and Gillberg 2000). At present both terms can be used interchangeably in clinical practice.
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Autism Spectrum Disorder and level of support needed is the new way to refer to people who used to described
using HFA, LFA and Aspergers syndrome.
Autism Spectrum Disorder isn't split into two, high and low, but instead
is now considered an umbrella term that encompasses people who suffer from
a number of symptoms from several lists /categories of symptoms.
Low functioning Autism used to refer to people who have an intellectual disability (IQ lower than 75).
Aspergers syndrome was a term invented by Hans Asperger, a nazi doctor who discovered this strange
group of kids that he originally labelled "Autistic psychopaths" (thanks Hans, and we were thinking that the nazi's were the psycho's for murdering millions of innocent people...)
I understand why some may not want to be associated with a nazi doctor. I don't.
I prefer the term ASD now.
Hans Asperger did not coin the term "Aspergers Syndrome", it was just named after him. The earliest use of the term that I found was in this 1971 journal article. It was Lorna Wing who popularized the term and was instrumental in it becoming a separate diagnosis from Autism.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Sorry, posted in wrong thread.
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Last edited by Joe90 on 28 Sep 2020, 6:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tony Attwood discusses this here: Is There a Difference Between Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism?
This is the conclusion:
Having reviewed the literature, we may be able to answer the question, is there a difference between Asperger's syndrome and High Functioning Autism? The reply is that the research and clinical experience would suggest that there is no clear evidence that they are different disorders. Their similarities are greater than their differences. We appear to be taking, particularly in Europe and Australia, a dimensional view of autism and Asperger' syndrome rather than a categorical approach. (Leekam, Libby, Wing Gould and Gillberg 2000). At present both terms can be used interchangeably in clinical practice.
In other words, it is as clear as mud.

Asperger's is an actual diagnosis but HFA is not. Also Asperger's is without any speech delay and HFA is not. Well nt nessicarly. Inreality tere erally is none.
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I am pieplup i have level 3 autism and a number of severe mental illnesses. I am rarely active on here anymore.
I run a discord for moderate-severely autistic people if anyone would like to join. You can also contact me on discord @Pieplup
If I understand your post correctly, you are saying that people diagnosed with Asperger's are NT?
If we are then I will be happy to be classified as NT. Please say you mean this in your post.


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The problem with the new ASD diagnosis is, it's so vague as to be meaningless.
I was told, yes you have ASD. You're somewhere on the spectrum.
So I had to ask, if I wanted to know more, what books should I read? What should I look up?
And they said, "Well, if you look in the HFA / Aspergers area you won't go far wrong".
It's important to ask that question.
But of course not everyone will KNOW they need to ask that question.
I also think people on the spectrum generally dislike vagueness so it's a diagnosis guaranteed to instantly disenfranchise those it is supposed to help!
When I am assessed, I need the results with whatever I will end up being (So I could be anything in theory from NT to ND) to make sense. What I dread is a result that makes no sense to me. I have had a lifetime of not making sense as nothing doctors in the past sugested made sense. It never really fit my experiences but I had to go with what they said because they were the experts.
But now I know more I need the assessment to back me up, or none of the last year or two makes sense!
Now I am not afraid to be either on or off the spectrum. If anything I would be more afraid of sitting somewhere in the middle not being one thing or the other as I feel that that would be the story of my life!
What I am afraid of is things which don't add up and make no sense.
When I joined this site at first I was afraid to be classed as on the autistic spectrum because of my pre-concieved views of what I thought autism is. It was the shutdowns I was trying to find what they were was how I ended up on this site, as for years and years I was trying to find out what they were and what was wrong with me in this way. Like I said. Nothing past doctors had said added up and made sense, though one did once suggest autism, but as my concept of what autism was was way out, I did not think I had it, and he did not explain well enough why he said it. (He was trying to find out what the shutdowns were).
I am one who would normally say nothing after having an examination or assessment etc when first told the results as I would need to inwardly digest. I am also one who by nature does not challenge things. I kind of say "If that is what you think fair enough" and walk away even if I thought otherwize. I am well used to giving up and walking away if that makes sense as the hastle and stress of challenging things is more then I want to face.
But anyway... I have not been assessed yet so....
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