Avery Boulware, Campus Carrier Sports Editor
Asperger’s syndrome doesn’t exist anymore in the eyes of professionals. It has been absorbed into the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Because individuals with Asperger’s typically have normal communication skills, a diagnosis is harder to nail down. Treatment today for these individuals has become an even greater obstacle due to one of the latest diagnostic manuals.
In June of 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finalized the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Throughout history, the DSM has evolved and adapted to new studies in the psychiatric community — changes which are for the most part beneficial. For instance, the APA considered homosexuality a mental handicap until it was taken out of the DSM in 1973, according to the American Journal of Psychiatry.
However, the most recent edition of the manual has made some potentially detrimental changes. In the interest of reducing the number of autism diagnoses in the United States, several disorders that are closely related to autism have been combined into the ASD. These illnesses include autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome and “pervasive development disorder, not otherwise specified,” or PDD-NOS, which is a kind of catch-all for individuals with non-specific symptoms.
Benedict Carey, a neuroscience reporter for the New York Times, wrote about this change in 2012. He reported that, under DSM-4, to be considered on the autism spectrum, an individual had to meet any six of the 12 behaviors listed under the three symptom domains: social impairment, communication deficits and repetitive or restrictive behaviors. Under the most recent edition, DSM-5, there are only two symptom domains, and a diagnosis is only given if an individual exhibits three deficits in social communication impairment and two repetitive or restrictive behaviors.
According to Science Daily in 2014, 83 percent of children who had been diagnosed with autism prior to the DSM-5 release fulfilled the criteria for a diagnosis under the new manual. The remaining children were diagnosed with social communication disorder (SCD). This means that 83 percent of children are still receiving the treatment they need, and the other children are receiving more specific treatment than they would have before.
Science Daily cited a Yale University study about how the changes in the DSM affected children with Asperger’s syndrome, a disorder that hinders to read and respond to social cues. According to the study, 91 percent of children that had previously fallen under the Asperger’s diagnosis are now considered extremely high-functioning ASD. With this new classification, 6 percent are identified as SCD and 3 percent fall under some other non-autism disorder diagnosis.
Asperger’s has almost disappeared due to professionals. This wouldn’t be a problem if Asperger’s was essentially an arm of autism. But it isn’t. Even though every child is different, it is easy to see the difference between a middle-of-the-spectrum autistic child and a child with Asperger’s. Both children need treatment, but because of the DSM-5, it is increasingly difficult to receive it.