When you hear the word autism, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Pity, sympathy, or maybe familiarity and understanding. These feelings are completely normal because we're humans and we are preprogramed to put things into boxes. There are two big categories under the umbrella of autism: Asperger Syndrome and plain old autism.
“Plain old Autism” or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a communication disorder that has a very broad range of affect. Each case has differing symptoms and someone can be very high-functioning while there are people at the other end with more acute symptoms. In most cases, the symptoms will deal with “difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors” (Autism Speaks). So, in reality, there is no “plain” autism since autism is not only very complicated but difficult to understand and categorize.
Asperger's Syndrome is on the autism spectrum and is considered to be more on the “higher functioning” end, according to autismspeaks.org. Many know people with Asperger’s to have issues with nonverbal communication like with facial expressions and gestures, and have an inappropriate understanding of social interactions. People with Asperger’s are known to be awkward and are prone to obsessing over certain topics. When most people think about autism, one normally thinks about the more nonverbal individuals, but according to Autism Speaks only 25% of diagnosed autistic people are actually nonverbal. When you think of Asperger's syndrome, you think about that excessively awkward kid in high school who obsessed over Yu-Gi-Oh cards or video games.
So much of media has shaped the way we see people with Asperger’s syndrome and autism. Take these two iconic characters: Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory" and Sherlock Holmes from "Sherlock." Would you have guessed they are on the autism spectrum? Sheldon Cooper portrays classic signs of a person with Asperger’s. He's fixated on routine, can’t understand sarcasm, and doesn't know how to act in a normal social environment among other things. With Sherlock, he displays more of an autistic savant side on the autism spectrum. Lacking in empathy and being antisocial are also parts of being autistic. There seems to be a little confusion between autistic and sociopathic tendencies.
They are not the only characters to display savant-like syndromes in media. More often than not, movies and dramas will have characters that portray savant-like tendencies. They'll be on the higher end of autism or have Asperger’s, like Sheldon and Sherlock. Due to this, there is a misconception that an autistic person will be either a high functioning savant or have extremely acute autistic tendencies.
I had never actually seen a high functioning autistic person until I went to an elementary school to observe the resident Speech Pathologist and she told me that one of the incoming kids was a high functioning autistic child. I immediately thought of a savant and assumed that's what this child would be like. Instead, I was introduced to a child who displayed very classic signs of Asperger’s syndrome. The speech therapist, seeing my confusion, later explained that they no longer used the term Asperger’s to define these children but instead called them high-functioning autistic. Having worked with autistic people before, I was immediately hesitant to use “high-functioning autism” to describe these children with classic Asperger’s syndrome.
The question is: should we call Asperger’s syndrome high functioning autism? This is where it gets complicated. I want to suggest we keep classifying it as Asperger’s syndrome. There might be less confusion because according to Autism Speaks.org, ‘“High-functioning autism” and Asperger syndrome share similar challenges and benefit from similar treatment approaches. Having these two terms separate means that there will be less confusion over where the person falls on the autism spectrum or the Asperger’s spectrum. Especially when working with younger people, having that distinction makes it easier to distinguish the kids because it established a baseline of communication.
For example: when you are working with a kid who jumps from the middle to high spectrum of autism versus working with a kid who displays classic signs of Asperger’s, you are going to give them different types of treatment.
Regardless of what kind of disorder any child has, you are going to love them and do your best to administer therapy.
