Difference between Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism?

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cato4797
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03 Jun 2015, 8:15 pm

I was recently (in the past 3 years) rediagnosed as having High-Functioning Autism rather than Aspergers. I was just told this tonight (apparently I forgot) and may be on the brink of an identity crisis. Whats the difference between the two?



ASPartOfMe
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03 Jun 2015, 8:29 pm

cato4797 wrote:
I was recently (in the past 3 years) rediagnosed as having High-Functioning Autism rather than Aspergers. I was just told this tonight (apparently I forgot) and may be on the brink of an identity crisis. Whats the difference between the two?


Usually the difference is language development before age 3.

Maybe you were rediagnosed because in 2013 Aspergers Disorder in the DSM diagnostic manual was eliminated and subsumed into the catch-all Autism Spectrum diagnosis. The elimination of Aspergers was the subject of a lot of debate but strangely High Functioning Autism is often perceived as a official diagnosis even though it never has been one.


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04 Jun 2015, 9:16 am

There isn't really one. Officially, failing to hit early developmental milestones (walking, talking) used to be used to differentiate, but in practice it used to be pretty arbitrary which diagnosis people would be given (autism v Aspergers), so they've been merged. The difference was always pretty superficial and there wasn't much reason to assume they were different disorders.



Jono
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04 Jun 2015, 9:21 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
cato4797 wrote:
I was recently (in the past 3 years) rediagnosed as having High-Functioning Autism rather than Aspergers. I was just told this tonight (apparently I forgot) and may be on the brink of an identity crisis. Whats the difference between the two?


Usually the difference is language development before age 3.

Maybe you were rediagnosed because in 2013 Aspergers Disorder in the DSM diagnostic manual was eliminated and subsumed into the catch-all Autism Spectrum diagnosis. The elimination of Aspergers was the subject of a lot of debate but strangely High Functioning Autism is often perceived as a official diagnosis even though it never has been one.


If you were diagnosed as having Aspergers by the DSM IV criteria, then doesn't that automatically put you in the ASD category? From what I understand, you shouldn't automatically lose your diagnosis.



ASPartOfMe
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04 Jun 2015, 1:51 pm

Jono wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
cato4797 wrote:
I was recently (in the past 3 years) rediagnosed as having High-Functioning Autism rather than Aspergers. I was just told this tonight (apparently I forgot) and may be on the brink of an identity crisis. Whats the difference between the two?


Usually the difference is language development before age 3.

Maybe you were rediagnosed because in 2013 Aspergers Disorder in the DSM diagnostic manual was eliminated and subsumed into the catch-all Autism Spectrum diagnosis. The elimination of Aspergers was the subject of a lot of debate but strangely High Functioning Autism is often perceived as a official diagnosis even though it never has been one.


If you were diagnosed as having Aspergers by the DSM IV criteria, then doesn't that automatically put you in the ASD category? From what I understand, you shouldn't automatically lose your diagnosis.


The DSM manual recommends that those that were diagnosed with "Aspergers Disorder" have their diagnosis renamed "Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1" or "Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 2" , or " "Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 3". That is the "subsumed" thing I wrote about. But in the OP's and other cases they are getting their diagnosis renamed "High Functioning Autism" . Also it was recommended that those diagnosed with PDD-NOS also have their diagnoses renamed "Autistic Spectrum Disorder" with a severity level but a few studies are indicating many in this group are getting undiagnosed. In the prior DSM "Aspergers Syndrome" was never an official diagnosis but people received it anyway. The stated purpose of the DSM 5 was to ease this diagnostic confusion. From what I see diagnostic confusion is just as bad if not worse now.


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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“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