Why is "Asperger's" considered a form of Autism?

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I've seen autistic kids and I don't see much resemblance between myself and autism

Its a "spectrum disorder." On one end of the spectrum, you see more autistic traits and at the high end, you see fewer traits or you see different manifestations of the same themes. For example, flapping and rocking a lot in public can become rocking back and forth while waiting higher up in the spectrum.

Mainly, it's a spectrum of social awkwardness. We are very socially awkward but not as much as a severely autistic child with MR. It's not less difficult to be higher up on the spectrum. Some (including me,) believe it's harder.

I'm socially awkward and I have intense focused interests and poor gross motor skills but I don't do the flapping and rocking and yelling.

Aspergers and Autism are both neurological disorders that basically involves social interaction difficulty. Autism just happens to be much more severe then Aspergers which is the main difference.

That doesn't mean though that they are developmentally and neurologically related. Manic phase of bipolar disorder also involves social interaction difficulty.

Yes, well people with Asperger's can rock and flap and yell. Just means you're not as effected. It's all a spectrum. Typically the difference is you have classic autism if you have a language delay (but not always the case) and a lower IQ...

Everyone is affected differently. I don't flap, though I sometimes rock sideways.
High functioning autism and Asperger's are so similar you can't always tell if you have one or the other.

It started with Lorna Wing's "Asperger syndrome: a clinical account. Lorna Wing ... ". There's a link to it on the 'net (the first page on Google if you type that in, but it doesn't seem to be working now).

Of note, Hans Asperger was adamant that his disorder was separate to Leo Kanner's. He thought that Early-Infantile Autism was a psychotic process, much like the end stage of Chronic Schizophrenia, but from birth, whereas his disorder was a "stable personality trait".

The social interaction difficulties of the manic phase of bipolar disorder are not of the same quality as those seen in autism.

The spectrum concept is based on the common (to autistic disorders) triad of impairment (as initially conceptualized by Lorna Wing).
The three items are
Social impairment
Verbal and non-verbal language impairment and
Repetitive/stereotyped activities.

While you might have seen someone (or more than one someone) with autism and taken the view that superficially they are not much like you, people with Kanner autism vary greatly from one to another as do people with Asperger's Syndrome, and further any one individual might be quite varied (in superficial appearance) from one context to another.

I threw out bipolar as an example. Certainly other disorders from schizophrenia to mood disorders would qualify.

I wonder whether the social impairment of autism is different from asperger's. DSM-IV states no clinically significant delay in language for asperger's.

That's not always the case though. I didn't say my first word until I was 2 or 3.
I think someone a while ago on here said that those with classical autism have less anxiety in social situations than those with asperger's.

From the DSM-IV-TR in the expanded text:

ensabah6,

You are RIGHT! In fact, people might LAUGH at me if I said I thought I was autistic. BUT, and heer is the rub......

IMAGINE if an autistic person were smarter, more tolerant, better able to communicate, and had self help skills! They would seem VERY MUCH like they had AS!! !!

I have routines, a tendency to stick to one thing, hyperfocus, look to the ground, stim a bit, have skewed senses, am not social, tend to stick to my own, and have an ODD idea about what is hard/easy. That sounds AUTISTIC! But I am smart, gainfully employed, can communicate well, live by myself in a nice upper middle income area, have obsessive interests, etc.... and those sound more AS.

From what I have read, Asperger's does not have the speech/language delay that autism has. That is the only difference. In fact, many experts are now saying that is not much of a difference and that Asperger's really IS high functioning autism. Many cases of Asperger's are mild, but just as many are not. I have a cousin with Aspergers' who will probably never be able to live on his own. He can't dress himself, shop, prepare food for himself, etc. And then there's my son, who is high functioning autism, and he has been successfully living and working on his own for quite some time now. In fact, it is not obvious that he has any form of autism.

I'm somewhat confused...Asperger Syndrome is a type of Autism. Because it is in a spectrum. Like the rainbow. The rainbow is made up of different colors. Not just one. So is autism.

Here's how I see it:



THE AUTISM SPECTRUM:
mild......................................moderate..............................................severe
PDD-NOS.....Asperger's......HighFunctioning(Classic)Autism.......LowFunctioning(Classic) Autism....


But there is mild, moderate, and severe forms of each type of autism too....

how is PDD-NOS milder than AS?