Is aspergers autism too?

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Aspergers is autism. It is a type of autism

Whether or not Asperger's is autism will not change. Only the official acknowledgement of whether or not it is will change. Asperger's will still be what it's always been, and so will autism. People with Asperger's will not suddenly be any different. So, either it is or it isn't already. I think there's plenty of reason to believe it is, but I'm not an expert. I just happen to have an opinion.

"6. Asperger syndrome is sometimes mistaken for autism. Debates about how these disorders are related continues, and we still don’t know whether they are related at all. They do have much in common. However, signs of autism usually appear before the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome.
Source: http://asperger-symptoms.net/"

"Dr. Keith Steward answered:
In 2013 the new diagnostic manual will include Asperger's disorder as part of autism spectrum disorder. The research supports including Asperger's disorder as part of the autism spectrum, and there are a variety of reasons for this. However, the main one is that individuals with Asperger's have the same core characteristics as individuals with Autism - social communication weakness and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
Source: http://www.sharecare.com/question/asper ... der-autism"

Get it right, Aspergers is not autism. It will not be autism till may of 2013. I finally found the source. There is no official word yet saying aspergers is autism.

So I guess I should wait until may 2013 then post on here saying I am right I think it is kind of official if in less than a year asperger's is going to be on the autism spectrum. And it is common knowledge that it is a type of autism

As I said, our neurology will not change. Only official acknowledgement of it will. There's a difference between a reality and the acknowledgement of it. The research, as your quote from Dr. Steward notes, already supports the reality. As a result, the DSM will simply be updated to officially acknowledge that fact.

asperger-symptoms.net is not a valid source..at all! There was a thread here explaining why, and the owner of it even visited saying he wanted us all to help out improving it, but it was removed by the moderators.

Glad to here from other posters that your first source is crap. Who the hell are the people in your second source? Never heard of them.

Here is my source, I think people have heard of this person Dr. Tony Attwood
http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.php ... Itemid=180

Conclusion
Having reviewed the literature, we may be able to answer the question, is there a difference between Asperger's syndrome and High Functioning Autism? The reply is that the research and clinical experience would suggest that there is no clear evidence that they are different disorders. Their similarities are greater than their differences. We appear to be taking, particularly in Europe and Australia, a dimensional view of autism and Asperger' syndrome rather than a categorical approach. (Leekam, Libby, Wing Gould and Gillberg 2000). At present both terms can be used interchangeably in clinical practice.

Given that Asperger's and Classic Autism change throughout a person's life, its actually hard to say if they are seperate. But yes, in general, Asperger's is a type of Autism. And the impairments are not always mild.

Sincerely,
Matthew

autism is a spectrum

From the Tony Attwood article:
"a child may receive a diagnosis of severe autism or High Functioning Autism at one point in their developmental history and Asperger's syndrome at a later stage."

This is exactly what happened with me. First I got a diagnosis of HFA and several years later they changed it to AS. I'm assuming that it was just a difference of opinion rather than that I might have changed during those years.

I suppose changing the diagnosis to a single broad one will prevent shifting diagnoses over the course of a lifetime. Either you're on the spectrum or you're not, and the only changes you might experience are whether or not your being on the spectrum is acknowledged and whether or not any co-morbid conditions are recognized.

Does anyone know if subcategories (Asperger's versus Kanner's, HFA versus LFA) will be used or recognized anywhere anymore, either officially (in the DSM) or unofficially (in clinical settings by those who still find them useful and relevant)?