correct me if I am wrong...

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However wasn't Temple Grandin diagnosed with AS? And she also had a history of speech delay right? I am not sure how she ended up with that kind of dx if she had a history of speech delay. Because in my case, my psych said I definitely do not have AS because I did have a history of speech delay. And besides, I don't quite "fit" the dx.

If I remember correctly she is autistic rather than AS. She was diagnosed with autism as a child and became more high-functioning as time went on.

You are probably right but I could have sworn on one of the videos she had created, she said as an adult she was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. If that is true, it doesn't make sense because of her history.

Maybe she was diagnosed with autism before people knew about AS? Then later found out it was AS?

Actually, AS is usually diagnosed because of the marked absence of speech dysfunctions. However, I know many AS boys who did have pretty significant speech delays. I've also known AS people who have no history of speech issues. I think that's why AS is such a conundrum. We span a lot difficulties. I think that is a big reason why the DSM-IV is so inaccurate right now.

Also, it could possibly show that the intervention that is given to young children is getting better. We know that the more intervention that takes place, the better the functioning level of the ASD individual will be, already.


Back to speech problems, however. A lot of AS kids born before about 1998 were not diagnosed autistic in any way because they had speech. What we knew about autism in the US at least at that time was actually just Kanner's classic autism. People who had some autistic features, and keep in mind that these had to be pretty significant features, but also had language were labeled pervasive developmental delay, non specific type. There were also a significant amount of sensory integration diagnoses after 1994 that did not get labeled as either autism or PDD-NOS. It's an interesting bit of history for autism and significant because it's the language piece that often was the deciding factor in whether or not a child was put on the spectrum at all.

P.S. I don't think that Temple was ever dx'd as AS. I think she's considered HFA, now. Again, I point to her significant language difficulties early on. I went to her web page and could find nothing at all that claimed she was AS rather than autistic of the HFA variety. Does anyone have a link showing otherwise?

I do believe that Dr. Grandin pushes for early intervention as a means of producing higher functioning individuals on the spectrum in general.

I found lots of things from other websites claiming that she is AS, but I don't think that she has ever said this about herself. At least not that I can find. I open it up to you research gurus to prove me wrong.

I read approximately 1.5 of Grandin's books and have others laying on the shelf because I couldn't make any significant connections between what she describes or talks about and my experience with autism so I couldn't read any further. It kind of scared me or stressed me out a little because she did remind me of my mother in a way pertaining to impulse control issues, etc. and which I couldn't at all identify with. Maybe I'm just missing something but I really didn't see it.

I think that Dr. Grandin's experience with autism is important, however, we can't all relate to it. What I related to when I read her work was the thinking in pictures part because it was the first time that someone had identified what I felt and given it a true name. I went, "yeah, that's how I think". Past that, though, there is little of her experience that I can literally relate to, but I still feel it's valuable.

Woo-hoo, only 19 more posts!

I related to that too, "thinking in pictures" although that aspect is sort of vague. There just wasn't much else that I could really identify with. That's just me.

That is how it affects her so we are not all going to relate to it. However, I just remember watching a few of her lectures on youtube which I thought were very good. I could have sworn that somewhere in there it was said that she was dx'ed with AS as an adult.

I'll have to find the video because she has a lot, but I definitely did hear from somewhere that later in her adulthood she was diagnosed with AS. In fact if you are on facebook there is a group about her and it states it as well (I think its called Temple Grandin animal scientist, or something of that nature)

Speech delay or the lack there of isn't a 100% proof either way. I've know Aspies that talked early and talked late. Temple does have AS and was diagnoed it. I've read 'Anthropologist on Mars' as well as one of her autobiographies and both said AS.

A delay of speech can be in Asperger's too (it just has to catch up to an age appropriate level); Gillberg's AS criteria allows for it, and old Hans had children with a delay in the development of speech.

Does she appear socially and emotionally withdrawn from others as an adult (except perhaps one or two people)? That's usually the best way to determine what someone "is" without going into too much detail on the differences in repetitive behaviours between AS and Autism.

Those with Autism usually appear more disconnected/disinterested in socializing than those with AS as adults (probably because it's harder, but that's not always the case).

Temple Grandin says in her thinking in pictures book,that if she was assessed today,they would probably diagnose her with aspergers,not AD.
maybe that is where the confusion of diagnosis comes from.

Is say HFA and AS that different from one another? They seem very similar with maybe the exception of stage of onset.