Asperger's Disorder and sensory sensitivity

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Something interesting; the DSM-IV-TR doesn't mention sensory sensitivity at all in its description of Asperger's. Do you feel that this is wrong if you have been given a diagnosis of Asperger's in the US [or another country that uses the DSM-IV-TR], or that it perhaps wasn't "severe" enough to warrant inclusion into such?

Here it is from Autism (it isn't there in Asperger's; it does mention "mild" motor clumsiness, good rote memory/verbal ability, and overactive and inattentive behaviour as common in Asperger's):

Is it wrong to you (I haven't really read up on such)?

I know that people who lump HFA and AS together, like Professor Attwood, notes that: But this is listing noise and touch, rather than odors, hyposensitivity to tactile experiences (lack of pain), sensory seeking behaviour, tantrums due to these things ("meltdowns"), etcetera.

I think that the DSM criteria for AS needs to be drastically revised. It does not describe the syndrome well at all. Sensory issues and clumsiness definitely need to be addressed, if nothing else. It also bothers me that most everyone refers to it as "Asperger's Syndrome," but the DSM calls it "Asperger's Disorder." I hope that we all see a change in criteria when the DSM-V is published.
-OddDuckNash99-

The Manual is often behind the current understandings of disorders/illnesses. I agree that it needs to updated. There has been some advancement in understanding Asperger's, although in my opinion, it still needs to be furthered.

that's funny, I don't think there's a lot of people here who don't have sensory sensitivity on some level.

I'm very mildly AS and socially I'm pretty good so I don't fit the official criteria that well. my sensory sensitivity is quite serious though, so is my stimming which isn't an official AS criterium either (unless you consider it an obsessive behaviour but in my opinion it's far from it).

this manual definately needs to be revised.

Yeah, most people here, diagnosed and not, seem to suffer from sensory problems to some extent (I use suffer due to the discomfort it can cause).

I don't know if Autistic Psychopathy had it listed or not; Asperger's from the DSM-IV-TR comes from a subset of those with such, but who weren't accurately depicted in the prior iterations of the DSM-IV-TR.

From Lorna Wing, the woman who brought AS to light on such; she seems to follow the DSM:


I'm betting it's "severity", rather than being absent altogether (i.e., it's disabling in Autism). The DSM says that people with Asperger's have minor problems with speech, but it's of no concern (this statement was only added recently when people pointed out that verbal communication problems are in AS), for example.

I just posted a thread in Random about my Dentist reacting to my sensitivity to pain. I have a low threshold, and I'm overly sensitive to sound.