Autism or Asperger's... it might depend on your doctor

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I was diagnosed with autistic tendencies back in the day, and my son has been classified as HFA. Neither one of us had delayed speech, but he did have speech therapy in school. He gets support in school for organization and help transitioning, and I have managed to blunder about on my own and kind of learn on the way.
I'm wondering if we would fit the current or upcoming definitions of HFA, especially with the changes that seem to be coming up in the DSM-5. It would be sad if we were considered too well functioning, because I've seen what a huge help that little guidance and support can make in a situation. Especially if that became unavailable to people it would enormously benefit.

Just because you don't need help from another person every day doesn't mean that you don't have a significant disability. For a physical analogue, think of spinal cord injuries--say, a low quad or a paraplegic, completely independent except for really specific circumstances like getting around non-wheelchair-accessible areas. You wouldn't say they weren't disabled, and like any disabled person they have to do things differently and take longer to do them.

There are many ways you can measure disability, and the scales aren't all the same. The ones I like are the ones that are useful for providing services--like the ones that say, "This person will need an aide every day," or, "This person can manage on their own except in special circumstances or high-stress periods." Or the ones that say how well you're managing at home and at school. Things like that. Those scales aren't supposed to measure your subjective well-being, nor should they, because there's no relationship between how much you like your life and how much you can do on your own.

Ah. Well--I don't like "high functioning" as a term, to begin with. There's the implication that you're not "allowed" to have any of the problems they associated with "low functioning" people, and that you don't really need help, you just need to try harder. And of course if they label you "low functioning", then that means you are not allowed to have any of the skills that "high functioning" people have, and will be underestimated and assumed to be incapable until (and perhaps not even if) you prove otherwise. It's frustrating. This is why I don't like functioning labels as global as that. I would much rather make a statement like, "I require limited support" or "my latest GAF rating was 45." Those are much more specific and don't paint over everything with such a broad brush.

I always thought the only difference between HFA and AS is speech delays. AS kids had normal speech development (but might have communication troubles of course, speech and communication are different things). HFA have delayed or various issues with speech and tend to fall into PDD-NOS category as children. As adults they're probably exactly the same.

The clinics here tend to put most kids into PDD-NOS. It's actually very rare for a child to get Asperger's diagnosis.

I think if you didn't get diagnosed when you were little, you pretty much can't know if you have HFA or Asperger's. Mom's memory probably isn't all that reliable. If you ask my mom she'd say what a perfect child I was and just an angel, not a single problem. My own memory go back to only age 3, and I remember lots of meltdowns, echolalia, weird interests, very picky about food taste and texture, and never playing with other children. My grandma who watched me when I was a baby said I never cried, which of course was just wonderful for my mom and add to the picture of the perfect childhood.

I remember reading about this. Sometimes the diagnosis depends on the doctor and where you live.

Well, HFA isn't really a dx anyway, in my understanding. Its classical autism where the person is pretty functional, able to partly cope, etc. as opposed to Asperger's, which is also autism but seems to have distinct features, like clumsiness/motor problems (me 100%!).
The old viiew was more severe autism was related to mental retardation. Says who? Read Donna Williams comments about "Alex" an autistic boy everyone thought was severely ret*d. He just didn't speak, he could write like any adult when given a typewriter/WP. It would be best for everyone if the professionals forget Mental Retardation unless clearly demonstrated. oops, I'm digressing
Truthfully, each of us is his or her own person. Generalities will probably fail, people cannot be neatly fitted into categories like everyone seems to think.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I'm fairly certain the main criteria that separates aspies from classic autistics is a developmental delay in very early life.

The low functioning/high functioning is an IQ label applied to the autism condition, which just represents mental ret*d/not mental ret*d.

mild/moderate/severe is a label attached to autism condition that represents level of dependance on caregivers and support.

pdd-nos is a catch all for any form of autism that is not clearly diagnosed as classic or asperger.


I think that's how it works...in theory, at least. Whether or not someone gets the most accurate diagnosis is dependent on opinion, so will naturally vary based on who is diagnosing.

Seems about right. I was diagnosed with Aspergers, even though I had a reading delay and speech issues that required me to be in speech therapy when I was growing up.

I was Diagnosed at a younger age with HFA due to speech delays and Aspergers was not as known in the 80s. I might have both HFA and AS due to this. If it is possible to have both. Not only would I be an Aspie but an Aspinaut

It may depend on what your doctor had for breakfast that morning.

So, does this mean HFA include AS? That AS is a sub-group of HFA?

I suspect some of those clinics give them the "autism" label because that's what the schools need to get extra funding to help the kids. Sure Asperger's is a type of autism, but some school districts might not have a category ID for that. You need correct codes and IDs to apply for anything. Calling them "autistic" might make the paperwork a lot easier.

How eggsacly are clinicians diagnosing Asperger's in children nowadays? Are they basing it entirely on speech delay or lack thereof, or how much the child talks and interacts with them in the office, or VIQ, or following an Asperger's child stereotype? Each person probably uses a different Very Important Criterion, I guess, and that is why diagnoses are so inconsistent across sites.