"Asperger's Dropped from Revised Diagnosis Manual"

A rose by any other name....

I really could care less what they call it so long as my son gets the correct treatment. I think people are too damn fixated on the name anyway. I see parents on here that have two year olds they claim to have a diagnosis of Autism spectrum for. How?? These kids are so in flux at that age no reasonable doctor would do such a thing. Then they cling to that name to define who their child will become.

So unfair on those children.

If changing it to an umbrella and treating the symptoms improves this process how is it a bad thing?

It seems like every year Andy adds a new layer, sheds a few, he is not in any way shape or form the child he was eight years ago when he was diagnosed. Is that because he lucked into the umbrella PDD NOS instead of Aspergers? Who knows.

My other three are straight up ADHD yet over their lives they have been ADD ADD with some suffix, ADHD with some specific attachment.... Their treatment has never changed so what is in a name? Doesn't change what you are looking at.

Well... simply put, and really honestly over-simplifying it, they're NOT saying that Asperger's Disorder isn't an Autism Disorder. The entire DSM V has been overhauled so that all of the various Autisms no longer have separate names or categories. It will recognize that there are different levels of severity and that it's different for everyone that is autistic, but it won't classify them into Classic Autism, Asperger's Disorder, Rett Syndrome, PDD, PDD-NOS, Autistic Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.

People may still think of them (the classifications) in their heads, but the diagnoses will change and so someone who would have been diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder will now have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. It will J. be more simplified.

We knew this was coming. I was afraid that it was going to remove Asperger's Disorder completely and move it to a new category of neurological disorders, but it's not. My own daughter isn't an Aspie, she has Classic Autism, but I have many friends whose children are Aspies and their fears were about how these changes in the DSM-V would affect their children's special education services and state benefits. Luckily, they won't be affected at all.

In the end, it doesn't matter what it's called. What matters is that the children and teens and adults that need services and acceptance get it. What matters is educating people about it, and I hope that when health classes cover disorders in high school and college, they start covering Autism Disorders.

I would also love it if people stopped using "retard" and "autistic" interchangeably as insults and jokes. Neither is acceptable.

ETA: my daughter is very high functioning....no IEP or 504. So in her case, I don't consider Aspergers a disability or an illness. Its something my daughter needs to learn to live with. Although Im sure my daughter would prefer to be labeled aspergers vs autistic (even though on the same spectrum).

My concern with lumping it all together is parental research. When my daughter was diagnosed it was easy for M. to buy books and research online. What's the distinction between figuring out how i help my daughter from helping the an autistic child who doesn't speak?

The more they drop from the manual, the better. These aren't "illnesses," but rather lists of symptoms that deviate from a given "norm." I studied psychology in undergrad, but switched fields in grad school because I have serious philosophical criticisms of the whole idea of behavior "disorders." Put simply: this isn't science, J. social constructs gone crazy.

I cannot believe they added a temper tantrum category.

Asperger's is and has always been "on the spectrum" as a form of high functioning Autism. I hope that the removal of such a specific monniker will move the APA towards the "autistic continuum" view originally introduced by Dr. Lorna Wing waaaaaay back in 1981.

It's about time, in my opinion, that the DSM reflect that there isn't always a clean cut way to diagnose ASDs.

I don't really have a problem with it being put under the autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Although Asperger's sounds nicer and a bit closer to normal than Autistic does. But in reality that is what it is.

Our son has ADHD and frankly I don't care what they call it (assuming it's nothing embarrassing). It all comes down to getting the right treatment and accommodations and if this change makes a positive difference for those dealing with Asperger's, I'm all for it.

I had already heard about this from my sons dr,he was diagnosed as bipolar and under new guidelines would be called disrupted mood disorder until kids are older. It really doesn't matter what it's called his treatment plan is the same.
Added: my sons dr doesn't agree with some of the changes because he said there's a clear difference in kids like my son for instance and kids described in disrupted mood disorder.

It's a matter of streamlining for diagnostic purposes. People were starting to "split hairs" and in many cases attempting to make Aspergers entirely separate from Autism (this was one of the considerations as well for the DSM). Personally, as a clinician, this makes sense. Autism is the umbrella condition with various gradations encompassed. The diagnostic differences between High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Aspergers Syndrome are minor "on paper", but light years apart in reality. But what qualifies as HFA vs. Autism... or Autism vs. PDD... or (better yet) PDD vs. PDD-NOS.

The differential on these different gradations is very challenging and because there are no medical tests to confirm or refute, it's based on a clinician's opinions, observations and experiences.

Having ONE diagnostic code will make things much simpler for families as well. Very often children are diagnosed with AS or HFA and are considered "less needy" with respect to support services because they are so bright. Children diagnosed with Autism, however, have a whole host of therapies and services offered to them- often funded by insurance and the various state agencies.

Imagine a clinical world where a social skills group for an adolescent boy with Asperger's is covered by insurance... as a clinician, I really like that world! Otherwise, there are papers to be filled out, denial of services to fight, and fees to be collected from parents.

"This diagnostic guide defines what constellations of symptoms doctors recognize as mental disorders"

Several thoughts flit through my mind.

Unlike what is seen in the medical manual, what is decided is an "illness" or "disorder" gets voted on. I wonder why autism is even in the mental manual instead of J. classified as a medical problem? Is it J. because brain training can improve some of the symptoms? It can with stroke as well, and we don't call it a "mental illness" as alluded to in the article.

Another thought is about how we think. We think of Asperger's as "mild autism". So parents easily communicate that to others - "He has Asperger's, but it is mild." It explains certain social awkwardness to others, and yes, "Aspies" ARE often proud of their differences. It is not a "disorder" but who the person is, especially when "mild."

The label helps people with Aspergers find others like each other, and socialize, learn, laugh, commiserate, rejoice, share, etc... as shown by the popularity of the discussion boards at "Aspie Hangouts".

The last version of the DSM was issued in 2000 and that was an incomplete upgrade from the version published in 1994. So much research has been done in that time that this revision is overdue.

If you want more information on this publication, I would recommend going to the source, the American Psychiatric Association: http://www.psychiatry.org/practice/dsm/dsm-iv-tr

I thought this analysis on the Today Show yesterday was helpful in understanding the changes:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41521818/