Are many people misdiagnosed with Asperger's?

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timeisdead
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29 Mar 2009, 11:57 pm

Quote:
.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

Quote:
E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment
in childhood.


I believe many are misdiagnosed because both of these are prerequisites to having AS according to the DSM-IV. Many who claim to have AS, however, claim to be unable to drive, unable to cook, or even have trouble dressing themselves. Many also claim to have a language delay, which goes against the AS diagnostic criteria.



kip
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30 Mar 2009, 12:16 am

I think the main problem is that HFA and Aspergers can be pretty easily mixed up, except for those two points. If you go get a diag from someone who's not a specialist, I'm sure it's possible that you could be misdiagnosed. Also, there's probably a large incidence where people are just pushed through, which means the shrink wouldn't have time to do all the sessions he needs.


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30 Mar 2009, 12:20 am

It really varies, apparently.

When I joined these forums, I entered feeling I'd be able to relate since I was officially diagnosed with a minor degree of Asperger's earlier this year. But now I think that I would have been able to relate to everyone here from, maybe, when I was in elementary school to the beginning of high school. My thoughts on this are:

a.) I "grew" out of it.
b.) Therapy taught me very, very well (plus, I have a very social job).
c.) I was misdiagnosed.

Half of the Asperger's symptoms don't apply to me at all, but the other half are major parts of my life. So, I can't really tell right now. Maybe I should go for a re-test?



30 Mar 2009, 12:27 am

timeisdead wrote:
Quote:
.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

Quote:
E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment
in childhood.


I believe many are misdiagnosed because both of these are prerequisites to having AS according to the DSM-IV. Many who claim to have AS, however, claim to be unable to drive, unable to cook, or even have trouble dressing themselves. Many also claim to have a language delay, which goes against the AS diagnostic criteria.



Yeah I have noticed that and it seems like lot of doctors don't follow the criteria. My psychiatrist did but diagnosed me with it anyway saying it was the closest match he could get to for me for a diagnoses. He couldn't diagnose me with PDD-NOS or did he just drop that part from the criteria for me because of my hearing loss? :?



timeisdead
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30 Mar 2009, 12:29 am

Spokane_Girl wrote:
timeisdead wrote:
Quote:
.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

Quote:
E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment
in childhood.


I believe many are misdiagnosed because both of these are prerequisites to having AS according to the DSM-IV. Many who claim to have AS, however, claim to be unable to drive, unable to cook, or even have trouble dressing themselves. Many also claim to have a language delay, which goes against the AS diagnostic criteria.



Yeah I have noticed that and it seems like lot of doctors don't follow the criteria. My psychiatrist did but diagnosed me with it anyway saying it was the closest match he could get to for me for a diagnoses. He couldn't diagnose me with PDD-NOS or did he just drop that part from the criteria for me because of my hearing loss? :?


It's amazing how so many people believe a psychologist who doesn't even follow the DSM-IV is more qualified than a person who spends time objectively reading about the diagnostic criteria.



sketches
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30 Mar 2009, 12:32 am

By the way, where'd you get those quotes from?

Edit: Nevermind, it's a book! :D



Last edited by sketches on 30 Mar 2009, 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

alienesque
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30 Mar 2009, 12:35 am

sketches wrote:
It really varies, apparently.

When I joined these forums, I entered feeling I'd be able to relate since I was officially diagnosed with a minor degree of Asperger's earlier this year. But now I think that I would have been able to relate to everyone here from, maybe, when I was in elementary school to the beginning of high school. My thoughts on this are:

a.) I "grew" out of it.
b.) Therapy taught me very, very well (plus, I have a very social job).
c.) I was misdiagnosed.

Half of the Asperger's symptoms don't apply to me at all, but the other half are major parts of my life. So, I can't really tell right now. Maybe I should go for a re-test?


You are smart, I like you. That's very much the case. I suspect you will find that you are indeed an Aspie, but one who has acquired new NT behaviors. Adaptation is the answer to many of the issues. I also 'grew out' of them. Behavioral Traits are learned traits.

The problem with too many Aspies, and others who claim to be Aspies, is that they shun the NT world and seek no improvement. It is pointless choosing to sit at home by yourself and saying you have no friends and don't want any. This seems to be a convenient crutch for a lot of Aspies.

I have studied Psychology, so here's my take on this. Misdiagnosis is common and 'convenient' for some. Resignation to one's symptoms is a cop-out. Improvement and Self-Development takes work. Aspies who want to be part of this world, have to push the boat out further.

I posit that it is INEXPERIENCE which causes the Social Retardation associated with AS; without acquiring this experience there can be no NEW social behaviour traits. There is only way to overcome a fear of something and that is to go out and do it. Go out and make it something you have done, and you will no longer fear it. This also applies to social skills. Learned skills and the techniques of Vizualisation, is what rewires the brain, but you have to make a point of doing this and affecting this change. I did it, so can others.
8)



30 Mar 2009, 12:53 am

timeisdead wrote:
Spokane_Girl wrote:
timeisdead wrote:
Quote:
.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

Quote:
E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment
in childhood.


I believe many are misdiagnosed because both of these are prerequisites to having AS according to the DSM-IV. Many who claim to have AS, however, claim to be unable to drive, unable to cook, or even have trouble dressing themselves. Many also claim to have a language delay, which goes against the AS diagnostic criteria.



Yeah I have noticed that and it seems like lot of doctors don't follow the criteria. My psychiatrist did but diagnosed me with it anyway saying it was the closest match he could get to for me for a diagnoses. He couldn't diagnose me with PDD-NOS or did he just drop that part from the criteria for me because of my hearing loss? :?


It's amazing how so many people believe a psychologist who doesn't even follow the DSM-IV is more qualified than a person who spends time objectively reading about the diagnostic criteria.


It was a psychiatrist who diagnosed me and he specialized in it and diagnosed other patients in my area. He even diagnosed Roger Meyers, a local aspie here who's written a book on AS and runs a AS support group I go to.

Well if an aspie is unable to drive because he or she has epilepsy or dyslexia, it shouldn't disqualify them from the AS criteria. Also if they don't drive because they don't own a car, it doesn't mean they can't drive. They just can't afford to own a car.

If an aspie had hearing loss so it made them speech delayed or developmental delayed, shall it disqualify them from the AS criteria?

What if an aspie doesn't like to cook so he or she doesn't cook stuff but only makes simple things they can make, shall it disqualify them from the AS criteria?
What if they have troubles understanding the cooking directions so how can they cook then?

Also poor gross motor skills is common in ASD so aspies might have that problem too so it can effect what they can do such as tying their own shoes so shall that disqualify them from meeting the AS criteria?


I think DSM criterias are bull.



Danielismyname
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30 Mar 2009, 1:02 am

This is why laypeople shouldn't touch the DSM-IV-TR:

It's talking about early-development in comparison to Autistic Disorder; it doesn't apply to adults.

From the DSM-IV-TR, in the expanded text that explains each criterion in-depth:

Quote:
In Asperger's Disorder, the social deficits are quite severe and the preoccupations are all-encompassing and interfere with the acquisition of basic skills.


Cooking, driving, doing the dishes, getting dressed, grooming, etcetera, are all basic skills that can be absent in individuals with AS due to their inability to do anything but focus on that one thing. Whereas the individual with Autistic Disorder lacks the mental capacity to do these things, i.e., cognition.



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30 Mar 2009, 7:29 am

I don't know for certain, but I'm inclined to think some folks are misdiagnosed with Asperger's just because the Autism diagnosis isn't properly considered first. (Since one of the Asperger's diagnostic criteria is not meeting the criteria for another specific PDD.)

As for other types of misdiagnosis of Asperger's, I'm sure it happens occasionally, even if it's not generally a problem.



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30 Mar 2009, 7:36 am

Spokane_Girl wrote:
timeisdead wrote:
Quote:
.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

Quote:
E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment
in childhood.


I believe many are misdiagnosed because both of these are prerequisites to having AS according to the DSM-IV. Many who claim to have AS, however, claim to be unable to drive, unable to cook, or even have trouble dressing themselves. Many also claim to have a language delay, which goes against the AS diagnostic criteria.



Yeah I have noticed that and it seems like lot of doctors don't follow the criteria. My psychiatrist did but diagnosed me with it anyway saying it was the closest match he could get to for me for a diagnoses. He couldn't diagnose me with PDD-NOS or did he just drop that part from the criteria for me because of my hearing loss? :?


If you mean the first part above only, yeah, I can a delay in language not counting against an Asperger's diagnosis if the person was hearing impaired (past tense because of referring to childhood, not the present) and wasn't around sign language.



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30 Mar 2009, 7:40 am

I myself apparantely had a language delay, yet I was still diagnosed with AS. Sometimes I do wonder if it was actually HFA instead.


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30 Mar 2009, 7:48 am

Exactly... As written, Autism really should be the correct diagnosis for a huge chunk of the Asperger's cases. We recently talked about how many of us had low "functional IQs" (refer to the Vineland scale), and many of those people had an Asperger's diagnosis. I believe that about 90% of AS cases also qualify for Autistic Disorder, including mine, because having enough social, activity, and communication traits to be diagnosable as Asperger's without also having some significant self-help delay is extremely rare. Asperger's becomes relatively useless as a diagnosis, because it doesn't mean for practical purposes what it means as written, since most Aspies are technically not Aspies at all; and the Autism diagnosis is now so broad that it doesn't predict anything about the strength of the traits, which would be the point of having an Autism versus Asperger's diagnosis in the first place

I can really only see two solutions to this problem.

First solution: Make Autism and Asperger's into a single category with the current definition of Asperger's and Autism combined (well, you'd have to think of exactly how to combine them). The functioning level range is already pretty broad, so I don't see the problem of sticking a few Aspies in there. Then you'd have a big category, much like "developmentally delayed", that contains people you'd have to add more information to describe (like the mild/moderate/severe/profound labels). Benefits: It forces people to see individual cases more than the overall Autism diagnosis. Drawback: You could still be pigeonholed into mild/moderate/severe/profound category. I'd much rather they categorized it like ADHD, with sub-features such as "Autism with speech delay", for example; but I think they are much more likely to try to group it by severity, because people just like to create hierarchies like that.

Second solution: Remove the "delayed self-help skills" criterion from Asperger Syndrome. Having two basic criteria to differentiate the two is what has given Autism the lion's share of the Asperger cases, because having either one of those automatically dumps a case into Autism. Remove one, and the split is more equal; also, the artificial functioning-level line, which was always nothing but arbitrary, is now gone. That means Asperger's now has no IQ or independence definition; just requiring the appearance of functional speech that is not significantly delayed beyond what can be accounted for by global MR, but may be unusual. That also makes it possible to divide many cases of autism along the only clear line I've ever seen--that is, where peoples' strengths lie, verbal or visual. The people with verbal strengths, whether they have an IQ of 30 or 130, would be Asperger's, because those strengths would've let them speak pretty much at the same time as someone of their overall intelligence who didn't have any kind of autism.


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30 Mar 2009, 7:54 am

SpongeBobRocksMao wrote:
I myself apparantely had a language delay, yet I was still diagnosed with AS. Sometimes I do wonder if it was actually HFA instead.


It depends on how delayed you were, really. "Mild" delays are often reported in AS, as well as problems with pronounal reversal and echolalia.

The average age of individuals with HFA to start talking is 4 1/2. If you didn't start talking until you were four or so, it'd be likely that you have HFA rather than AS (plus, there's many other signs that point to one or another at that age).



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30 Mar 2009, 7:58 am

i think many people are "mis-self diagnosed AS"



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30 Mar 2009, 9:06 am

Danielismyname wrote:
The average age of individuals with HFA to start talking is 4 1/2. If you didn't start talking until you were four or so, it'd be likely that you have HFA rather than AS (plus, there's many other signs that point to one or another at that age).

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