What is the difference between HFA and AS?

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I've been reading about it and it's so confusing. I know HFA isn't one of the official diagnoses under the PDD's, but I always see it lumped in with AS.

i've read the people initially diagnosed with "classic autism" who now are able to speak are called HF, because they have gained those skills (temple grandin for example). then i've also read that people with AS are "high functioning autistics" because there was no delay in language development.

can anybody shed some light on this? i'm very curious...tnx

In Asperger's Syndrome there is no delay in language development. I am not sure exactly what the difference is myself.

The way I understand it is that HFA there was language delay where as with AS there was none.
Damo (my son) for example who I suspect to be HFA didn't really talk till about 3.5-4 years old. He had almost no speech till that age. Even at 5 years he won't talk much in certain situations and has speech problems.
He was delayed in everything apart from being born, he was 1 week early

The main difference is one is served with cheese on top.

AS is a higher functioning form of autism, but, HFA is not necessarily AS. HFA can be used to describe any type of autism, as long as it is considered to have high function.

In many cases, they can be used interchangeably.

The only difference I know of is that with HFA, there is a delay in speech, whereas, with AS, there isn't. But both exude the same symptoms. Yet, I might be wrong. But this is what I thought to be the difference between the two.

Over here in Australia, they're effectively the same thing; many of the autism specialists use Gillberg's AS criteria that allows a delayed development of speech, but it catches up to adequate speech in time.

To those above, it's:

AS: autistic, but can talk adequately as an adult
Autism: autistic, but cannot talk adequately as an adult

According to the DSM-IV-TR: a diagnosis of autistic disorder without an Axis II diagnosis of mental retardation equates to the mythical "HFA":

Autistic disorder/HFA is autism with a verbal impairment that's lifelong, in those with adequate speech there's an inability to initiate and sustain a conversation, and there's a propensity to speak with echolalia and its relatives (repeating phrases over and over again for no apparent "social" reason). There's also a chance of a marked inability of imaginative play an a child (this seems to affect one's social functioning); "HFA" will also fixate on parts of objects, parts of an interest, rather than the whole interest.

AS is severe social impairment, the same as autistic disorder. There's no delay in the acquisition of speech; those with AS can speak adequately, albeit with difficulty in social interaction, as well as inflection, odd voice characteristics, prosody, etcetera. There's also a pursuit of an interest, but it's more "broad" than that of autistic disorder, liking the whole English language compared to liking metaphors.

That's the two schools of thought I'm familiar with (I'm sure there's more).

right on. thanks for all the replies

One has an extra letter....

Couldn't resist and when I thought about it, it really WAS an Aspie answer.....