How are Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Different?

[eidetican]

I'd argue that a lot more HFA goes undiagnosed than Aspergers simply because the slightly odd way that people with Aspergers respond to conversations stands out a lot more than say an impeccable memory. Society will always overlook social anxiety and that is a massive component of autism but if a child develops behavioural problems, maybe becomes a bit unruly by making inappropriate remarks in response to their environment, society tends to respond much more to this, hence why I think those with aspergers get noticed more.

However I think it's also important to consider how little autism gets diagnosed and the overemphasis on medical professionals pathologising autistic traits, treating them as symptoms of an illness to be treated with pharmaceutical drugs, rather than a normal aspect of someone's personality.

For example I know of someone who got diagosed with ADHD and dosed with ritalin but who is clearly autistic. He has some amazing abilities that would alone indicate he has HFA but then sometimes he says things that would come across as very rude to most people, yet for him this is normal. Maybe it's a response to the anxiety he feels. HFA people don't tend to have this problem in my opinion.

I don't mean to hijack the thread sorry but on the subject of the pathologisation of autism, I have spent a lot of time in and out of psychiatric services myself. I have never been hospitalised, suffered from psychosis or (with the occasional exception of alcohol) abused recreational drugs. I'm convinced that my problems stem primarily from high functioning autism that unfortunately wasn't diagnosed in my youth. The serious problems that I developed only occured when my environment completely changed, when I went miles away from home to study at university and when my housing situation became increasingly precarious.

My life spiralled out of control because of this as I became increasingly anxious, afraid, withdrawn and socially isolated. Throughout this I was plyed with various antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs which actually ended up making my health worse.

I have been diagnosed with OCPD and mild schizophrenia, I was also considered for Asperger's when I was diagnosed with OCPD. This diagnostic process only involved a clinical psychologist reviewing my medical notes and looking at how much the details matched the traits of each condition. HFA was never considered, it was like Asperger's was a synonym for abnormality, like it was the flavour of the month.

At no point was my intellectual ability tested, however I have (or at least had then) an eidetic memory and it would have been blindingly obvious what was wrong with me had they just allowed me to demonstrate it, say for example by being asked to repeat 15 numbers in sequence back to them. I also have a form of synathestia called ordinal linguistic personification which I later found to be quite associated with autism but wasn't picked up on at all.

The absense of 'unruly traits' and my ability to emphasise with people meant they completely ruled autism out and sadly what followed were more antipsychotic drugs. Had they been considering me for an 'autism spectrum disorder', I don't think this would have been the outcome at all.

 

[eidetican]

*autism spectrum disorder not an autism spectrum disorder, sorry.

 

[Crossbreed]

When my two severe children and I were first diagnosed, these were the standard designations:

1. Asperger's: autism with no observable cognitive deficits. (I'm 55)
2. Kanner's/HFA: autism with pronounced cognitive deficits. (He's 29 with a mental age of 7-10) If Asperger's is considered HFA, this level is referred to as Mid-Functioning autism.
   
3. Kanner's/LFA (officially, PDD-NOS): autism with severe cognitive deficits. (She's 22 with a mental age of 18 mos.)

Though somewhat consistent, even then, they were not universally accepted.

 

[ilovetochat87]

I was diagnosed high functioning autism but after being diagnosed at 15, a few years later I discovered I wasn't high functioning autism I was aspergers and there's differences but they are so minor that he might as well just be the same thing and if you're high functioning autism your aspergers and if you're aspergers your high functioning autism they basically just took out the high functioning autism and made it either autism or aspergers. What I was always told it is there's autism which is low functioning you don't really talk if any but you make some babies sounds to one-year-old sounds and when you're stressed out you don't really say anything you just grump and hit and push and you don't have any verbal language but I would think that would be where you teach the kid sign language so they can communicate even though they don't have verbal capabilities but they have also this heavy heavy uncontrollable desire to stick their hands under running water they flap their arms which is very indicative of low functioning and things like that well with aspergers you don't have the desire to touch water you don't flap your arms you don't groan and mumble you actually learn language and I learn the language very quickly I walked really late I was almost too when I learned to walk for the first time which is extremely late but my sister who is an NT learned to walk at nine months. andI learned to do what's called mind over matter I was able to learn through therapiesthat I took in high schoolduring free period with my counselor things like looking people in the eyes slowing down when I talk not looking at the ground when I walk in looking ahead of me and I learned how to make the right facial expression for what you're feeling and sometimes I'm watching a movie and I'm so engrossed in the movie that I look like I'm puzzled but I'm not puzzled I'm just really engrossed and I make a very engrossed in my TV show face but that sometimes makes people think why do you look like you're frustrated or confused and I'm like no I'm not I'm just engrossed in my TV show and I'm not really paying attention to you. had to learn that I don't always associate the right face with the right emotion that I sometimes don't pay attention to that and I learned how to make the right ones because I've obviously got the wrong when I was tested what emotion is this face making or can you make the emotion for that or can you make a motion for excited I sometimes got them wrong because some faces are similar to others and I mix them up but I learned them and given that I'm high functioning I can learn them whereas somebody with lower functioning probably could not learn them even if somebody tried to teach them. now there is high functioning autism which is basically aspergers they can basically learn to talk learn to do other things like people in the eyes when you speak slow down your talking learn how to figure out volume perception so they can learn when they're yelling thinking turn themselves down without having to be told like I learned they can learn to overcome with their overstimulated there's tricks and techniques they can do to relax when they're overstimulated they can mask themselves as a Nero typical in those kinds of ways because of them being higher functioning but they still have obsessiveness with things like water or sometimes when overstimulated they flap their arms or they sometimes throw tantrums but they are still like I said capable of learning to look people in the eyes and do what's called mind over matter and teach yourself to focus on something else when you're panicking like me when I'm at the doctors office and I'm getting my blood drawn it freaks the **** out of me and I don't know what to do so I panic and then you'll get stuck and then nobody can pull it out until I relax so I've learned to mind over matter think about something else talk to people listen to my music do anything just don't think about that and then it's over in seconds and then done and people say you're brave you get this congratulations hi5 things like that but somebody that's low functioning like said to be autism cannot do those things they cannot learn those things but if they are high functioning they can learn those things because they are on the higher functioning side but they still have trouble with tantrums once in a while and the flapping of their arms and obsessiveness with water screaming a lot and not realizing things that are said to be low functioning they still have high functioning behaviors as well so that's where they are considered in the middle not high functioning and not low functioning there in the middle because they have both but Dearmore on the high functioning side and low functioning but they still have several functioning behaviors I am aspergers because I do not have any of those functioning behaviors I just have a higher functioning behaviors of aspergers so I would not fall in the category of high functioning autism I would just be aspergers but they say that aspergers is the high functioning side of autism that is the high functioning side of the spectrum and that autism is the low functioning side so to say I have aspergers is to say I'm on the high functioning side but there's a difference between saying that and saying I have HFA. if you say HFA that can confuse people and think that you're saying aspergers and so it is a confusion and they just went ahead and took it out because there's a difference between saying aspergers and HFA but when people say high functioning autism they think aspergers and not autism so it's confusing and that's not necessarily what people want so they took it out and now it's just autism or aspergers and now people all over the place are all messed up and naïve and completely dumb and don't know what you're talking about and decided how about this whole thing is confusing I just have one altogether autism spectrum so we say everything is autism. and I do not choose to except that I still tell people I have aspergers and if anybody dares poke the bear and say you know it's not aspergers anymore it's just autism they will regret saying that because I stand firm in my belief that it's not one all-around autism that it's autism and aspergers and I do not EVER except that dumbass decision from the stupid medical dictionary! and I educate people all the time when they have that dumbass thought to tell me that it's not aspergers anymore and they try to correct me well I'm not stupid thank you very much I know that the dictionary changed and that some professionals decided that that was the way it's gonna be now but I don't except that because that's not true that's not how it should be and that's not fair especially to Millennials and any generation after millennial who is not autistic they are aspergers and they will no longer have the opportunity to be diagnosed as aspergers they will get a diagnosis of autism and be registered lower functioning than they really are and they will not have as many opportunities because they will only be allowed in lower functioning circles and there will be a lot of issues with that because they're gonna think it's not fair I want to fight for myself and no one can accept them because communities are not gonna accept aspergers anymore and so they're gonna call them low functioning because that's the diagnosis even though it's incorrect and they're gonna have a horrible stigma on them and they are going to not be allowed in certain circles given that they are with an incorrect stigma and that's not fair to them and they might give up hope because of that because nobody's listening and they might just give up and let people treat them like crap and drink themselves like crap and have self esteem issues and they might not be able to get help in learning how to overcome their disability and they might not get help in learning to mind over matter and they might not get help in learning to have social skills improvements that they need because if they're toward their low functioning people may not think that they have the capabilities MNI given that help even if they say they can and they want that help LaFranchi people may not listen to them they may not be given the opportunity to have those disability courses that teach them how to overcome similar disabilities like I did where I learned how to look people in the eyes and I learned how to understand nonverbal communication better and I learned how to interact with people better and learn how to make the right facial expressions for the things I was feeling because I got them backwards sometimes and they may not be given those opportunities because they maybe tonight those opportunities given the fact that people think there's a functioning and are incapable of that when that's not the case because they got misdiagnosed as autism when they have aspergers and it's not gonna be fair and whoever decided that it should be a overall single diagnosis of autism instead of saying autism or aspergers is a bleeping bleep that I will not be allowed to say on here without getting deleted but that's the kind of people I think those dumb professionals are to think that that's appropriate. now you know that's what the differences are between autism and aspergers and high functioning autism

 

[toothless]

When my two severe children and I were first diagnosed, these were the standard designations:

1. Asperger's: autism with no observable cognitive deficits. (I'm 55)
2. Kanner's/HFA: autism with pronounced cognitive deficits. (He's 29 with a mental age of 7-10) If Asperger's is considered HFA, this level is referred to as Mid-Functioning autism.
   
3. Kanner's/LFA (officially, PDD-NOS): autism with severe cognitive deficits. (She's 22 with a mental age of 18 mos.)

Though somewhat consistent, even then, they were not universally accepted.

those were not the standards used here/UK, as i was categorised LFA throughout my whole life,including when they thought i had severe intellectual disability and when i got to my late twenties,was locked up in a specialist ID hospital for extreme challenging behavior and they tested my ID for 4 months until they arrived at the subject i have mild ID, that would make me MFA under your standards,i wouldnt mind at all but MFA isnt a recognised label,definitely isnt over here,and i am certainly not HFA,i dont relate to HFAs in terms of functioning abilities and capacity and my presentation of autism is much more complex due to having been severely classic autistic up to my recent past.hope that makes sense,ive had meds.

 

[Fitzo]

From my research I think the criteria are still very 'malecentric' and are likely to be redefined again, and again over time as more becomes known and clinicians catch up with the latest data.

My favourite quote of the moment is " If you've met someone with Aspergers/Autism you've met ONE person with Aspergers/Autism.

 

[Ragnahawk]

High efficiency autism was not designed by Han Asperger, the man who defended us from Nazi Germany. Where's the reason for this diagnosis? I only see something prideful, arrogant. I'm not getting sold into a defective car without any solid foundation.

 

[ilovetochat87]

The short answer is they (the professional community) don't really know what or why the differences between individuals on the spectrum. They have classified/categorized certain symptoms or behaviors into groups. I.e. This set-severity of symptoms = HFA, this other set = .... But spectrum is applicable in the sense that it is a continuum without separation and overlap between these groups. For most people "spectrum" implies a 1 or 2 dimensional space, but 3 or 4 dimensional models are probably more representative of human neurology/psychology/behavior.

I'm not sure where you are the DSM-5 removed AS and reclassified it in with all other autism spectrum. Not all countries have adopted the DSM5, however.

Not all countries have adapted to that but they are starting to go more the route of how about we just say the whole entire spectrum is just autism . I mean when it comes to ADD or ADHD or OCD those are still gonna be themselves even though they are technically part of the spectrum they are like cousin disorders because people on the autism spectrum have little bits of OCD or little bits of hyperactivity or little bits of trouble focusing or even sometimes Turetsky come with it verbal or motor and the thing of it is since it's so related they just classified them all into the autism "spectrum" but there's so much going on here that the DSM five has just decided how about we don't want to deal with this anymore so we're just gonna say it's all autism. because it's easier than having to explain what the differences.

Professionals do not want to answer the question in this thread what the difference is between the two. When I was diagnosed in the early 2 thousands which was actually when aspergers was known, not the 90s because I got diagnosed with ADD in the 90s and my mom said that wasn't true and the doctor said I can't think of any other disorders that have hyperactivity and trouble focusing besides ADD or ADHD and it wasn't until the early 2 thousands that my mom really started seeing stuff about aspergers and started wondering .

But basically I was told high functioning autism and then turned around and found out I was probably aspergers because high functioning autism from what I thought from what I was understanding was basically the same thing as aspergers but a little more on the autism side. Like we can talk we can think we can reason we can do normal things without having someone to live with us and always help us do things we can do things that anybody who is NT can do which is basically the same for HFA but HFA has a little bit more tendency to somebody lower functioning behaviors even though they are more on the high functioning side

like I knew a guy that was HFA not aspergers and hehad an affinity to water and walking on his toes and he flapped his arms when he got panicked and he never grew out of that. I had those behaviors as a kid a little bit more affinity to water and walking on my curled in toes like the apes do and flapping my arms when I got nervous or scared or panicked and they thought I was HFA and then I grew out of those things and I learned the difference between the two and I was like oh maybe I am aspergers instead because I don't really have any of those traits that would even slightly yummy lower side and I learned that was what the difference was

there's a low functioning high functioning and an aspergers in that order HFA is almost identical to aspergers but there's that affinity to water sometimes they have Tourette's type motor things kinda like someone with lower functioning does and they can sometimes flap their arms when panicked or overstimulated but they are still able to speak and live on their own like a nurrow typical. whereas just plain autism will not be able to live on their own and they will always have some level of meeting personal assistant to always take care of them or their parents to live with them forever and they probably cannot talk they can it's very limited and very childlike

that's what I grew up knowing the difference what's but now because people have to sit down and explain in very big detail sometimes because there might be a person who's never heard of autism I get church I was telling someone about it because he asked me why can't you drive and he thought the reason I couldn't drive or for different reasons than I really couldn't drive for . And I had to explain the attention span the trouble focusing the depth perception trouble with spatial awareness and my time and we got into other things that question and I reasonably told him it was aspergers and he didn't never know what that was so I explained autism what he had heard of and I had to say well it's like autism but and I explained the differences and the DSM-V says that's too complicated we don't want to go through that trouble so we're just gonna say autism because more people know what that is and it's easier to understand but that's a bad thing to do very bad because that stigma on people that they should not have ever that would mean that I no longer get to tell people I have AS. and that would mean my paperwork has to be changed to autism.

of course there's a new program now where the people that give me services to and from work and help me go grocery shopping and things they I can still work with them but the person that holds my files and sees me once a month just to make sure I'm getting the right services that person is called services Cordinator and apparently they all have a conflict of interest because the people they serve are in the same county as them so it's a conflict of interest apparently so they have to bring people from the neighboring county to be our services Cordinator from now on so we get to have brand-new services Cordinator who don't know anything about us and don't realize that we're doing just fine with the people that we already have and they may not think in a different county the way that my county is so they may say you're no longer aspergers and then they say you're Optison now because that's what the DSM-V says so. so I made not be able to stay on the high functioning side of things anymore because some moron who doesn't know me says well I'm in charge now not the previous dude so this is how we're gonna play the game

for all I know that may not happen I don't know the next county's rules I don't know how they're gonna play the game I hope that they don't change the game and say wellthe DSM says this that's what we're gonna do.And that would mean my services would change because my diagnosis changes and that may cause me to lose all of the people that I've been working with and I may have to get lower functioning services that I'm too smart for and that's what's not fair people that are givin certain things are not gonna have them.

and a new child coming in that is only three or four or something and they have not been diagnosed yet but they are going to be able to get lumped as low functioning and that would mean that they lose in this game because Gabby will get services and they need services but they will get the wrong ones and if you're told something long enough you sometime start to believe it if you're alive you been told you're stupid and you're not worthy of someone being nice to you and you're just dumb and you're abused you're gonna start thinking maybe I am that stupid maybe I did something to deserve this behavior put up on me even though you didn't deserve it but you start to think people don't just be mean for no reason .

And the only reason that it makes sense for someone to do that to you is if you've done something to deserve it because people don't just hurt you for no reason and so you start to think maybe I didn't do something. You know that's the same thing people are gonna start thinking well my whole life I've been holding low functioning so I wasn't allowed in this place for this place or given this opportunity because of that and they don't know that they really are smart enough that's what that stupid DSM-V is gonna do to people know that they're loving everything as autism and not keeping everything separate

 

[Amy Susan Rose]

At only age two? Yikes. That's FAR too early for anyone to be making assumptions about functioning.

I agree; it will only result in labelling a child along with the parents and therapists subliminally giving the child cues that will further him/her certain autistic behaviors.