I am posting this (new) thread in News and Media because This is currently (for the last year and a half) arguably the most reputable source for how people on the autistic spectrum are being described/portrayed.  (I say reputable meaning as opposed to wikipedia or aut sqks and the like - meaning in court, whose descrption would be believed as most accurate/correct - the DSM )

What do you all think?  Do these words (below) accurately describe many of your nuerologically based differences?

If you have various dx's and one of them is aspergers or HFa or autism, do these words fit you?

Are any of you worried that the wording - as it stands now -where one must have A, B C & D will actually take YOU (or someone you know) OFF of their the spectrum diagnosis?

or lose benefits due to this ?     /- in my country their are none)

Does it feel like you would lose your identity in some way?

Me? I am pleased with the version that is out there this past year and a half. I do not see any negatives - things that make someone dx'd as ASD seem unuseful or a drain etc., Do you?

How about you? Read the below (I am sure you all have already actually) But please read it so it is fresh in your mind...Your thoughts please?


Revised January 26, 2011
Autism Spectrum Disorder

Must meet criteria A, B, C, and D:

A.    Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across contexts, not accounted for by general developmental delays, and manifest by all 3 of the following:

1.     Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity; ranging from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back and forth conversation through reduced sharing of interests, emotions, and affect and response to total lack of initiation of social interaction,

2.     Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction; ranging from poorly integrated- verbal and nonverbal communication, through abnormalities in eye contact and body-language, or deficits in understanding and use of nonverbal communication, to total lack of facial expression or gestures.

3.     Deficits in developing and maintaining relationships, appropriate to developmental level (beyond those with caregivers); ranging from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit different social contexts through difficulties in sharing imaginative play and  in making friends  to an apparent absence of interest in people

B.    Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities as manifested by at least two of  the following:

1.     Stereotyped or repetitive speech, motor movements, or use of objects; (such as simple motor stereotypies, echolalia, repetitive use of objects, or idiosyncratic phrases).  

2.     Excessive adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior, or excessive resistance to change; (such as motoric rituals, insistence on same route or food, repetitive questioning or extreme distress at small changes).

3.     Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus; (such as strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).

4.     Hyper-or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment; (such as apparent indifference to pain/heat/cold, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, fascination with lights or spinning objects).

C.    Symptoms must be present in early childhood (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities)

D.         Symptoms together limit and impair everyday functioning.



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Me? I look at the list and say, (for my dx'd son) yup to almost every one - and my son is (supposedly)(probably) (arguably) looked at by (teachers/strangers/doctors as "high" functioning which USED to somehow have some sort of distinction from aspergers.(whcih I could never see) He is officially Aspergers (and yet the Aspergers dx did NOTHING, other dx's had to be added to have him looked at as anything other than a smart kid with repetitive patterns, social delays etc., etc., /which he is MUCH (exponentially) more complicated than that) He is Multiply disabled on paper now - multiple dx's. Meanwhile every thing on the list below is him - in varying degrees OF COURSE.

Should I try a poll?... here it is:

This post was last modified: 05-15-2012 05:07 PM by windy.

I still don't understand the new criteria or if I meet it. I am confused by it, maybe during childhood I might have met it someway or another (some of the possible signs), but as an adult I may not meet it. This basically serves as a criteria for children and not adults. :S That's just my opinion. They shouldn't had rid of the Asperger's label, I know it will help (the merging) although some aspects of society isn't ready for it.

Overall I am truly indifferent by it. Functioning label wise, I am just maintaining. I am not "low functioning" though, but yet I am not as well established as some (See Sherk, Gareth, Skyblue, and others I forgot to name* for an example of established). I am multiple diagnosis, and that's all there is to it. I just wish back during my public school days that they labeled me as multiple instead of Autistic. Would of been better in the long run. I had more developmental issues not related to the Spectrum than Spectrum issues.

I'll keep reading this thread to see what comes up.

*If I forgot to name ya', then don't feel blue. I just don't remember everyone. :S

(Note mariolovesbowser how no one clicks on my threads) 40 "looks" and one post in 8 hours) bump

and I actually want to know to give input during public comment period...

This post was last modified: 05-16-2012 12:15 AM by windy.

24 hours and still one post.

It probably will not change my life very much.

If the DSM-V stays as it is - version on Autism Spectrum Disorder Jan. 2011 - are you worried?  See poll and read first post, if you please.

Just goes to prove (never know who and why threads get ignored)
3 posters in 3 days... see marioloves bowser ?!

This post was last modified: 05-18-2012 03:17 AM by windy.

Time for the evening bump (no pun intended).

I will see your bump and raise you a bump.


I meet all the criteria for the Revised January 26, 2011
Autism Spectrum Disorder definitions.

Dont care if the new DSM makes me just an HFA

Dont understand why they keep revising the DSM, so frequently.

My understanding is that anyone previously diagnosed with any PDD will be grandfathered in.  However, under the new criteria, I would probably be borderline ASD instead of borderline between Asperger's syndrome and PDD-NOS.  They're introducing a new category called "subclinical AS traits" that's a non-diagnosis for people who have enough autistic traits to be outside the range of "normal variation" but not enough to be diagnosed with ASD under the new criteria.  I imagine that it could cause difficulty obtaining accommodations for people at the milder end of the spectrum who need them, especially if they continue to not recognize SID or SPD as a diagnosis.

By the way, you can comment on the proposed new criteria at http://www.dsm5.org and your comments will be read by the committee.

Yes, I am looking to try and use some of the data from on here for my comments.

I see 4 votes for yes and 4 for No...but the ones that are worried have not said why they are on here...
I imagine there may be someone but have not met any one yet that is worried... hence the poll ....Are you worried?

( I guess poll is private but there are more votes than posters... I think so far the wording is pretty good, any one think it isn't?)

I never knew the DSM existed till I saw a 1994 copy one time -_-

I think I don't meet A3 and D criteria at the moment, that is while I have a job. As soon as I'd be unemployed, I'd meet all of the criteria.
What bothers me, though, is that I don't understand what the frame of reference in A is. What's the "appropriate [to] developmental level" of someone with a doctorate and an IQ in the 99th percentile: other doctors with high IQ or a "normal" person with IQ = 100. Because compared to the last ones there won't be deficits, while compared to other doctors there are many.

I'm not entirely sure whether I'd meet the reciprocity criterion.  I am known to wind up having one-sided conversations, but I'm not sure if it's really extreme enough to warrant a check there.  Also, the part about impairing daily functioning is very subjective.  I was undiagnosed throughout childhood and most of college, and I live independently and make a pretty good salary without requiring any services.  That being said, the DSM-IV AS criteria had a similar item and it didn't prevent me from being diagnosed.