Historical Context. Recently, Society Is Showing Concern

As research into autism spectrum disorders has increased over recent years and this has resulted in changes to the way that American psychiatry diagnoses autism spectrum disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is used by clinicians as a guide to diagnoses of mental health illnesses and since its first publication in 1930’s it has been updated every 20 years, and these updates reflect on new research and discoveries.

validation of the diagnosis” (Stiefel, I., Shields, A. K., Swain, M. A., & Innes, W. R., Asperger’s

However there is evidence that people are being diagnosed with this condition even though they have no problem with learning how to speak fluently and/or they have a high verbal IQ. Recommendations for several revisions in the listing and diagnostic criteria have been made, for the fifth revised issue of the DSM, that are causing quite a bit of controversy and could result in Asperger’s syndrome either being “subsumed under the category of ‘autism spectrum disorder’ or becoming a separate condition from autism (Chew, 2010).

In the 1940’s, Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician, observed children with autistic-like behaviors and social and communication challenges. These kids had normal intelligence as well as normal language development. Asperger syndrome is a type of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). PDDs involve delays in the development of skills, mostly around social, communication, imagination, and abstract thinking skills. Many experts argue that Asperger syndrome is a milder form of autism, referred to today as high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Asperger’s work consisted of a historical review of specific Autism case studies that were not representative of the entire spectrum even though they were a great basis for the upcoming research in the field (Draaisma, 2009).

Asperger’s Syndrome was first defined in 1944 by an Austrian Pediatrician named Hans Asperger. He referred to it as Autistic Psychopathy and described the children’s as having normal intelligence but lacking in social and behavioral skills. His observations were published but not widely known until the 1980’s when an English physician wrote about patients in her practice and referred to their condition as Asperger’s Syndrome. Although it is recognized as its own disorder, in 2013 it was lumped

Classification of mental disorders keeps improving and changing over time with the goal of providing more accurate diagnosis and proper intervention. As guides for clinician, the formal Diagnostic Statistical Manual has categorical description of a variety of illnesses that are classified based on symptoms (Kite, Gullifer & Tyson, 2012). Recently, the new version of the DSM raises many controversies since it suggests merging Asperger syndrome into the category of autism disorder to reduce confusion and therefore eliminating their differentiation. Their common diagnosis would now include early delayed linguistic and cognitive development which is only the case for autism but not for Asperger. For some researchers this slight difference create

The DSM-5 was published in 2013, after being revised by a task force and work groups of 160 researchers and clinicians (APA, 2017). The DSM-5 removed Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, and other pervasive developmental disorders to replace them with the umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in 2013 (Autism Society, 2016, para. 2). The reasoning for the change was that diagnosis was difficult, professionals would change diagnosis of the same individual often, and there was overlap of the previous disorders, therefore, a spectrum would make diagnosis easier. The spectrum includes Level 1, requiring very substantial support, Level 2, requiring substantial support, and Level 3, requiring support. AD is considered high-functioning

It did not receive its common name until Lorna Wing published several works on the disorder, calling it Asperger’s Syndrome. Dr. Asperger’s work, published in German, was not well known in English speaking countries until Wing’s writings in 1981 (“National Institutes of Health,” 2013). Today’s definition of AS is far different from that in 1944. Today, “Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder that is [a] severe and sustained impairment in social interaction and restricted, repetitive behavior, interest, and activity” (Myles, Lee, Smith, Tien, Chou, & Swanson, 2007). If one does not know the definition of Asperger’s, they often create many assumptions and misconceptions about people with the disorder.

Researchers found that these diagnoses were not always applied accurately across different settings. Under the DSM-5, individuals with ASD have to show symptoms from early childhood. It is an important change from DSM-IV criteria, which was geared toward identifying school-aged children with autism-related disorders, but was not as useful in diagnosing younger children (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition that affects a group of complex disorders of brain development. Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interactions, social communication and an unusually restricted range of behaviors and interest (David R. Simmons, 2009). It seems that autism is a new condition because most of research about this condition has occurred since the 1980. However, Autism has been around for a much longer time than that, people just didn’t know about it.

The DSM-5 contains reorganized, consolidated, and clarified content to adhere more relevantly to clinical practice. This included the consolidation of autism disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) into a single diagnosis of

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that is characterised by impairments in social communication, repetitive or stereotypical behaviours, and limited range of interests (Anagnoustou et al. 2014). These symptoms are often evident from early childhood and vary between individuals in their severity and influence on everyday functioning. This continuum of symptoms of ASD is reflected in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), a revision from previous diagnostic criteria in the DSM-IV, which identified four separate disorders in association with autism-related symptoms (DSM5, 2013). Another important aspect of the new DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ASD is the condition

The fact that it is being discussed leads a person to think there is not a consensus among the mental health professional community. There must be one consensus so the patient effected with ADS and their families can receive the care and treatment they need and deserve. Some point out those hidden or developing symptoms between ADS children and non-ADS children can sometimes be burry at best for the mental health clinician. Understanding between the 2 groups is a must for proper diagnosis in the ADS child and just important so the non-ADS child is not missed diagnosed. The DSM-5 is the next step in the diagnosis of autism based on research and clinical treatment since DSM-IV was

Autism spectrum disorder is a series neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs a child’s ability to communicate and interact with others. It also includes restricted repetitive behaviors, interests and activities. Autism was first identified and described by Leo Kanner in 1943. It usually begins in infancy. And ASD is also a diagnosis introduced in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). It incorporates the previously detached diagnostic categories of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder. Clinicians had long had difficulty distinguishing among these categories, and there was insufficient research to support maintaining them as

According to Lyons and Fitzgerald (2007), Leo Kanner (1894-1981) and Hans Asperger (1906-1981), were pioneers in the field of autism. Whereas Kanner was the first medical professional to describe Autism (1943), Asperger discovered and described a higher functioning variation of the disorder, which would eventually be named after him 50 years later (Lyons & Fitzgerald, 2007). Despite these early publications, Autism was not included in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1980 when it published its third version. At the time, the disorder was