Is there such thing as 'mild' Aspergers?

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craola
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28 Apr 2008, 3:12 am

What is the difference then between mild Aspergers and PDD NOS and which are you most likely to be diagnosed with or are they totally different things?



Danielismyname
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28 Apr 2008, 3:20 am

PDD-NOS has several labels under it.

To be diagnosed with Atypical Asperger's (this resides in PDD-NOS), you need one point from each the social and repetitive behaviour groups from the Asperger's entry in the DSM-IV-TR, plus the other points needed for AS (Asperger's needs two for the former social grouping). Also, if your manifestation is different to the norm, but you still have a lifelong severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction along with repetitive behaviours, they can put one under the Atypical Asperger's label.



victorvndoom
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28 Apr 2008, 3:33 am

i have mild asperger


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craola
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28 Apr 2008, 5:17 am

Oh right so if (im sorry I have to say things back to make sure I've understood sometimes)

If you exhibit typical symtoms but mildly then that would or could be AS, if you exhibit some of the symptoms/most of the symptoms but some of them are different or show themselves in different, more unusual forms then you are more likely to be diagnosed PDD-NOS?

What else comes under PDD-NOS if you don't mind me asking?



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28 Apr 2008, 6:17 am

nomadic28 wrote:
An inexperienced psychologist is going to be looking for someone with AS to be fascinated by ceiling fans or obsessed with vacuum cleaners to the point of not functioning well at all. I think we all know AS comes much "milder" than that.


The DSM says NO clinically significant impairment of selfhelp skills or cognition other than social. Someone looking at objects like that all day would have BOTH! Frankly, I don't know how some psychologists pass college without realizing they have to reconcile that sort of stuff!



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28 Apr 2008, 6:27 am

craola wrote:
What is the difference then between mild Aspergers and PDD NOS and which are you most likely to be diagnosed with or are they totally different things?


Daniel misspoke, I'm sure. Aspergers means they fit the aspergers criteria. PDD-NOS according to english and standards, etc.... Means they have a PDD that doesn't fit, or can't otherwise be placed, into the other catagories. NOS DOES mean NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED! It is almost like the idea of IDIOPATHIC(Which literally means SOMETHING is wrong, but we don't know what! Idiopathic is ALMOST like an NOS-NOS!)! Granted, idiopathic is about cause, but NOS kind of is also. BOTH really come down to labels where some disease or problems's definition just doesn't quite fit.



Danielismyname
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28 Apr 2008, 6:34 am

Fascination with moving/flashing/bright objects is more of an autistic disorder (HFA/LFA) thing rather than AS.

craola,

Generally, one will fit PDD-NOS with, "... presentations that do not meet the criteria for Autistic Disorder {or Asperger's--Daniel's note} because of late age onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these." The latter two of the three can be applied to Asperger's.

Atypical Autism
Mixed Atypical Autism and Atypical Asperger's (a bit of both in other words)
Comorbid Autism: a person with an unrelated neurological disorder who so happens to have some autistic features
Residual Autism: Children who had Autistic Disorder, but they improved naturally as they developed



Catster2
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28 Apr 2008, 6:46 am

There is but I think it is misleading because even mild aspies have incredible difficulties in social interaction, isolation, making and keeping friends, getting work etc. I have "mild AS" but my difficulties are still pronounced in terms of friendships etc.



2ukenkerl
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28 Apr 2008, 6:51 am

Danielismyname wrote:
Fascination with moving/flashing/bright objects is more of an autistic disorder (HFA/LFA) thing rather than AS.

craola,

Generally, one will fit PDD-NOS with, "... presentations that do not meet the criteria for Autistic Disorder {or Asperger's--Daniel's note} because of late age onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these." The latter two of the three can be applied to Asperger's.

Atypical Autism
Mixed Atypical Autism and Atypical Asperger's (a bit of both in other words)
Comorbid Autism: a person with an unrelated neurological disorder who so happens to have some autistic features
Residual Autism: Children who had Autistic Disorder, but they improved naturally as they developed


I LIKE your definition. Some look like they were written by IDIOTS! But your definition actually says the truth, is logical, and matches what I am saying. Simply put,

1. they DO have a problem!
2. it's closest match IS PDD!
3. it isn't really anything below it.

The idea of atypical aspergers in this case is simply that that is the CLOSEST match, but still not good enough for a diagnosis.



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28 Apr 2008, 8:02 am

There is also non-verbal learning disorder, which seems to be some of the AS traits, but others are missing. NVLD is clearly on the spectrum as well and may get rolled in to AS later as the labels get updated. When I was getting fitted for a dx most recently, it was one that was considered for me by the neuropsychologist. (I flunked the block test, yet I have learned how to be high functioning most of the time.)

Quote:
Asperger’s Disorder was not originally thought of as having a continuum of severity that included these subtle forms, whereas NVLD did not start with the assumption of more extreme difficulties. As information about AD becomes more widely circulated, and increasingly more subtle cases are being identified, the culture is in some manner changing the original “intention” of the category. While that may dilute the clarity of the diagnosis, it will more accurately reflect the variety of developmental presentations in nature.

http://www.nldontheweb.org/Dinklage_1.htm


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themonkey
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28 Apr 2008, 10:36 am

I've red people with asperger actually thinks they are 'milder'' than they really are.



KatieMiller
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28 Apr 2008, 12:21 pm

Aspergers, just like the autism, is a spectrum, and open to interpretation. What one person would call mild, another might call severe. Am I mild? I don't know. Most laypeople wouldn't think of aspergers upon meeting me, and I wasn't diagnosed until adulthood. However, I have and have always had significant problems in all of the diagnostic areas.


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DanteRF
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28 Apr 2008, 1:04 pm

Yes, and the majority of those on these forums have it from what I can tell. They are way to social and get things. Not me though



28 Apr 2008, 1:10 pm

I think I had atypical autism. I did read in my IEP records from when I was five that I am not classically autistic. I had it interpreted as I don't have it but I act like I am. But my boyfriend told me it means I am autistic in my own way but it's not classic autism I had. So were my teachers saying I was autistic?



28 Apr 2008, 1:15 pm

themonkey wrote:
I've red people with asperger actually thinks they are 'milder'' than they really are.



Well I think I'm mild. I have watched family videos of me from when I was little and I looked pretty normal. Sure I had a loud voice, odd body postures, and me talking on and on about something, talking when my parents be talking, and me not being able to throw a snowball very far. Also I saw my brother getting upset and my mother yelling at me and I seem I don't even care I am being yelled at or not and not even care I got my brother upset. I think people would just see that as normal behavior for a child.



28 Apr 2008, 1:27 pm

craola wrote:
What is the difference then between mild Aspergers and PDD NOS and which are you most likely to be diagnosed with or are they totally different things?


Mild AS is how less effected you are by it. You appear normal and people wouldn't even guess you have it. But it still limits you, you still struggle in social skills, get bullied in school, still have troubles fitting in, might not like changes, you can still have sensory issues and have anxiety and OCD. I have been wondering the milder it is, the easier you can learn to cope with it so it seems like the condition goes away a lot quicker in your adult hood because you learned how to adapt. Very few have actually outgrown it by the time they are in their late teens.


PDD-NOS is when someone doesn't meet the criteria for AS, nor autism so they get labeled with PDD. They show aspie and autie signs but they don't meet either criteria. I'd say it's between AS and autism. I should have been diagnosed with that instead but I didn't. I think I was given the AS label so my parents could use it to stop my school from putting me in a class with violent kids. With a PDD-NOS label, it probably would have given the school the power to win.

But lot of doctors don't follow the criteria it seems like. They go by how you are functioning at now. My shrink told me my mother worked with me so I was developmental delayed till about age five and then I developed normal and my speech wasn't delayed anymore so it brought me to the Asperger's level. I have heard temple Grandin was labeled with AS in her adulthood. She had autism when she was a kid.