Are many people misdiagnosed with Asperger's?

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Shoot... that's me. What's HFA?

High-Functioning classical autism

My MT says the problem with AS and HFA and PDD etc is they are all closely related and she doesn't feel they know enough. They haven changed my dx to AS yet however. My case manager wishes she could diagnose me cause she swears I am a AS kid.

But if the DSM criteria is ignored, how do we make an accurate diagnosis?

I have intense hyperfocus but I can do all of these things easily.

Under the new criteria, I don't have AS then.

These are not the new criteria, this is the 'explanation' (diagnostic guidelines) on how to understand the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR you quoted in your first post.

The criteria of the DSM-IV-TR are never to be read alone, but only with the elaborated text also found in the DSM-IV-TR.

But don't these effectively contradict each other?

It looks like it, absolutely, so I'm going to quote from the DSM-IV-TR because it's kind of hard to understand without. They left something important out of that criterion.

This one


is elaborated on in the expanded text too:


So what the criterion doesn't say is that it applies to early childhood. That's the time during which those with AS supposedly showing no traits of their AS. Before age 3, they're also still too young to have these huge and intellectual special interests that can interfere with acquiring basic skills massively.

This quote appears in a paragraph explaining the difference between social impairment in Asperger's and (i) Schizoid Personality Disorder, and (ii) normal social awkardness and normal age-appropriate interests and hobbies.

The DSM does not explain what is meant by "acquisition of basic skills," but I assume this encompasses basic social skills as well as other skills needed to function in everyday life. It does not state that the person cannot learn these skills (ie, this is not Mental Retardation), just that the social deficits and preoccupations "interfere" with the acquisition.

For example, a lack of Theory of Mind continually "interferes" with the acquisition of social skills and even life skills that are typically learned socially. Regarding preoccupations, NOTHING new (e.g., fact, rule, skill) registers with me until I devote focused, cognitive energy to understanding the new information and why I should follow it. New information has to beat out one of my current obsessions before that will happen. After I understand this new information/learned skill, it takes another level of focus to put it into practice; I need some cognitive compulsion to change my behavior.

They're just labels. In fact I have been told lot of aspies don't meet the AS criteria simply for those reasons I listed and there are other reasons too. Criterias are complicated because each doctor interprets it differently.

I think that this goes both ways. Many people are being misdiagnosed as having another disorder when they really are AS.

I have a cousin who meets all the criteria for AS but was misdiagnosed as having OCD. I don't see how a professional could over look his extremely obsessive narrow hobbies and his social functioning. Not everyone who washes their hands a lot have OCD. To be honest a lot of AS people like myself wash their hands a lot? Is it because of obsessive thoughts? NO. Actually I wash my hands a lot because I hate the texture and feel of anything on my hands.

Some people might be misdiagnosed, it's usually people with AS being dxed with ADHD instead, or borderline personality disorder etc. I don't think mine is a mis-dx, because it fits me well and it can't be a coincidence that I get on really well with the aspies at school.

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Thing is a lot of people with AS have ADHD. I am one of them. I guess in a way for many people they might get one problem DXed and not the other. Some people are just misdiagnosed all together.

Yes. We can still learn but need to use different learning techniques in order to master these skills. As for having basic skills (self-help ect.), social skills are excluded according to this criteria....

Skills set topic

I have dyspraxia as well as AS which accounts for my problems learning to drive. Hyper-focusing on one thing (in order to understand what I am doing) also hinders the ability to operate a motor vehicle. (I always pass the written exam.)