Remove Aspergers as a Diagnosis?
November 4, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
In 1944, an Austrian pediatrician, Hans Asperger, wrote about some characteristics he was seeing in some people, such as clumsiness, repetitive routines or rituals, different speech patterns (monotone, overly formal), inappropriate social behavior, and difficulties with non-verbal communication.
Over the years, not much notice was taken until the 1980s when a doctor in the United Kingdom, Lorna Wing, noticed children with similar characteristics and she named what she saw as Aspergers syndrome. Since then, the disorder was studied more, and in 1994, Asperger syndrome was labeled as an autism spectrum disorder. With that, it was officially recognized in the “bible” of the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).
Asperger syndrome is not the same as autism, although it is in the same family. The NINDS has a good description of what Aspergers is. Having a separate diagnosis is important to many people because it helps give the disorder an identity, rather than lumping it in with something else: autism. That being said, there is now a movement among some psychiatrists to take Aspergers out of the DSM-V (fifth edition) and put it under autism spectrum disorders.
For parents who fight for rights for their children with Aspergers, this is like lumping all of cancer under one category, said Margot Nelles, who founded the Aspergers Society of Ontario, Canada, in this CBC article, Psychiatrists debate Asperger’s label.
What do you think? Should the doctors leave it as is or are they right to want to put the disorders together?
~~~
Image: iStock.com
No. Please no. The idea of removing “Aspergers” and lumping these kids into a group of dislike symptoms and issues is horrifying to me. These kids already deal with enough misunderstanding in their life they don’t need more of it.
My nephew came out of his shell so well once he learned his diagnosis had a specific name and list of symptoms. It had a name, so he was able to understand that it wasn’t just him that’s different. The list of symptoms specific to his life gave him a reference point to determine for himself how much he was struggling.
Autism Spectrum is too broad as it is, let alone removing a more specific diagnosis. If anything should be removed-I’d lobby for “autism spectrum” to be removed so that any child able to comprehend what it means to have a diagnosis and can learn to use the tools that a specific diagnosis gives them can experience the comfort my Charlie has experienced.
My rant is over. Thanks for reading.
Whether or not to remove Aspergers as a diagnosis should depend on whether treatment is ultimately very different. If the treatments and interventions are largely similar, then it makes sense to place them under one category despite the feelings of comfort some may feel for having a distinct disease category.