so, are they saying aspergers is a boutique diagnosis?

[datasuspect]

'Aspies' cling to Asperger's as an elite diagnosis and balk at proposal to lump it with autism


LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer

9:32 a.m. CST, February 11, 2010


CHICAGO (AP) — In the autism world, "Aspies" are sometimes seen as the elites, the ones who are socially awkward, yet academically gifted and who embrace their quirkiness.

Now, many Aspies, a nickname for people with Asperger's syndrome, are upset over a proposal they see as an attack on their identity. Under proposed changes to the most widely used diagnostic manual of mental illness, Asperger's syndrome would no longer be a separate diagnosis.

Instead, Asperger's and other forms of autism would be lumped together in a single "autism spectrum disorders" category. Some parents say they'd welcome the change, thinking it would eliminate confusion over autism's variations and perhaps lead to better educational services for affected kids.

But opponents — mostly older teens and adults with Asperger's — disagree.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-ap-us-med-aspergers-diagnosis,0,322415.story

[nolabear]

1. It's interesting this is coming out as a news story because it's not really a change.

Asperger's Syndrome has long been considered to be in the Autistic Spectrum by therapists; it's just not listed that way in the DSM-IV, which is pretty old by industry standards.

[KamaAina]

2. Person with autism here

I have no problem being a person with autism, though I am verbal, a cum laude Yale graduate, and have well over 10,000 posts, all of which would seem to qualify me as part of the "elite".

I often think that people say "Asperger's syndrome" in kind of the way they say "Hodgkin's disease" instead of the dreaded "cancer".

Aside: I did much of the data entry and analysis for the Yale study that got Asperger's included in DSM-IV in the first place, back in 1994. The main clinical distinction hinges on IQ subscores. Asperger's is indicated by a higher score on the verbal subtest, while a higher score on the performance (block designs, etc.) subtest is characteristic of classic autism. (The tests are normed so that "neurotypicals" score within a point or two on both.)

This didn't work out so well when they tried to diagnose me, 'cause both of my subtest scores were off scale...

[Odin2005]

4. My verbal score is MUCH higher than my performance score.

My verbal score is almost off the charts, while my performance score is almost exactly average. my "total" IQ is 135, but that is pretty much meaningless because of the broad variation.

[Odin2005]

3. This Aspie prefers Autism over Asperger's because of the "Ass-Burgers" jokes.

And us Aspies are really not all that much different that "high-functioning" non-AS autistics like Temple Grandin besides lacking a language delay.