On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 8:23 AM, John Horn <anar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Move to merge Asperger's, autism in diagnostic manual stirs debate > > > http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/11/aspergers.autism.dsm.v/index.html?hpt=C2 > > --------------------------------- > > I was wondering what the folks here feel about this. I know we have some > Aspie's here as well as parents of children with autism. As a parent of a > child with Asperger's, it definitely concerns me. I think the concerns in > the article about are right on about kids like my daughter. I undestand > that Asperger's is on the same continuum as autism. I just don't see that > she would have gotten the same support and services without that specific > diagnosis. I guess if it still considered a separate diagnostic 'name' > rather than mild/high functioning autism that might be OK. I don't know... > My son was very recently (~2 months ago) diagnosed with Asperger's, though we've suspected as much for quite a while. From what I've read, Asperger's was always placed within the "Autism spectrum", so this is more of a subcategory category naming issue than anything else. Or at least, I think the APA thinks that. I came across a New York Times article the other day (sorry, I don't have a link) that had more of a positive spin and basically explained the reasoning: IIRC, even within the Asperger's classification, there is such variation in symptoms that there are essentially no distinguishing factors from those associated with "plain" autism - they blur together. So the APA is thinking it's an artificial distinction. I don't know what to think, really - it's all too new to me, and we haven't really gotten anything in the way of support or services yet. -Bryon
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