Teacher Beats Student

[Martina]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

I am also VERY concerned that asbergers is being removed from the DSM and what that might mean for young ones...

My understanding is that this is going to benefit most families. If they qualified for Aspbergers, they will still get an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. More may qualify for additional services because of that since some states and agencies serve people with the latter diagnosis -- autism spectrum -- but not aspbergers. What little i know, though, is that some agencies rule out people based on functionality regardless of the diagnosis. For example, Regional Centers here in CA. But people are more likely to get services than not as a result of the change.

In general, i am told the objection to the change is more of a cultural one. Many people with Aspbergers like the term and want to retain it, but i have read that it's not that scientifically meaningful. It is not different enough from other spectrum disorders to merit a separate category. Other disorders within the spectrum are as different from one another as Aspbergers is from people with less severe forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The change will also affect people with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, but there really isn't a backlash there. i think a lot of people with Aspbergers understand themselves in terms of the diagnosis. It's like an ID. It's part of how they have found themselves and found ways of coping. There are support groups and chat rooms etc. They don't want to lose that, which is understandable. That's my sense of the debate based on NYTimes article i read this year .