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I still think "Aspie" is too cute and clubish . . . I don't buy that it is used simply as an abbreviation. A.S. could be used.
Aspie!
How FUN!!!
It really is. I talk among people with Asperger's all the time and it's used widely. Blindie and sightie are also used in the blind/visually impaired communiity. Deafie and hearie are used in the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community. Wheelie and walkie are used in the para/SCI community. Just do a Google search of any of those terms and you'll see for yourself.
If you really want some cutesy names for Asperger's, try A$$-pie and A$$-burger.
I think right there sums up the problem with all these labels.
Why is it that "autistic" now covers kids who sit and bang their heads all day and can never talk, make eye contact, or learn much of anything all the way to kids who learn on their own quite well but fail to do or turn in homework and don't care for parties much -- yet "normal" has now become very precise, a child is normal if and only if he has a tidy desk, is eager to sit still and attentively even for hours on end, turns in every assignment and has a large group of friends.
I think right there sums up the problem with all these labels.
Why is it that "autistic" now covers kids who sit and bang their heads all day and can never talk, make eye contact, or learn much of anything all the way to kids who learn on their own quite well but fail to do or turn in homework and don't care for parties much -- yet "normal" has now become very precise, a child is normal if and only if he has a tidy desk, is eager to sit still and attentively even for hours on end, turns in every assignment and has a large group of friends.
I think that's an extreme oversimplification, and really a disservice to those on the autism spectrum. They are not kids who "don't care for parties much"; they have no idea of the underlying meanings in social interactions. My friend's son takes everything you say literally - if you say "I gotta put an egg in my shoe and beat it", he will look at you like you are crazy, and ask why you'd beat an egg in your shoe! He also cannot shut out unwanted noise; he can't not pay attention to sounds. A party to him is a cacophony of overwhelmingly complex noise, not a fun social experience.
And he's a high-functioning Aspie.
Read this from the NIMH:
Quote:
All children with ASD demonstrate deficits in 1) social interaction, 2) verbal and nonverbal communication, and 3) repetitive behaviors or interests. In addition, they will often have unusual responses to sensory experiences, such as certain sounds or the way objects look. Each of these symptoms runs the gamut from mild to severe. They will present in each individual child differently. For instance, a child may have little trouble learning to read but exhibit extremely poor social interaction. Each child will display communication, social, and behavioral patterns that are individual but fit into the overall diagnosis of ASD.
Children with ASD do not follow the typical patterns of child development. In some children, hints of future problems may be apparent from birth. In most cases, the problems in communication and social skills become more noticeable as the child lags further behind other children the same age.
The whole information page (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-index.shtml - broken link)is very interesting, and may give you some insight into ASD (autism spectrum disorders). Neurotypical children are varied, but they don't exhibit the symptoms of ASD.
You didn't see any autistic children in school because now they mainstream children with issues. Years ago, they kept them separate, and many were institutionalized. People didn't want to see the icky disabled, and they certainly didn't want children with :gasp: mental problems in the same classroom with their precious babies.
As to the one child you know, he may or may not have Aspergers. You can't really tell by his home life. Some families with disabled children spoil them out of a misguided feeling that the child cannot function.
Sure we saw 'em: they were the ones riding the short bus. But there sure was a helluva lot fewer of them back then than there allegedly are today. I'd say about ten times more today, than, say, 30 years ago when I was in school. And when you have that big of an increase, simple logic dictates that's what's really changed is the propensity of the mis-diagnoses. My Lord, back when I was in school, every classroom had a class clown or cut-up or rowdy kid, who was perfectly normal, but just behaved outside the box a bit.
Nowadays that kid would be labled ADHD and fed some Ritalin!
And you have it back-asswards about how they "mainstream kids with issues." It's rather that the mainstream, normal--but a little different--kids are being too quickly slapped with mental illness lables.
You'll see: the absurd over-diagnosis of Asperger's and ADHD and Autism is going to have a backlash with the health care and insurance industries, to where they will no longer cover--or only very minimally cover--kids diagnosed with these lables. It'll be just like what's happened to the substance abuse treatment centers: so many have gone out of businees over the past 10 years because insurance companies no longer cover treatment like they once did. The centers got greedy and saw an opportunity to take advantage of a trendy diagnosis.
Someone please explain to me why parents of so called aspergers kids say it is so very difficult to live with those kids, and on the other hand, they say that no one would be able to identify an aspergers kid by observing or being around them, which leads one to believe they are so normal you can't tell the difference.
These kids are supposedly very bright, but they are provided with one on one aides at school. It doesn't matter that some other kids have trouble organizing, these kids get someone to do it for them.
The more I hear about aspergers, the angrier I get because it is the latest designer affliction used to get benefits and medication to quiet someone who might just have a lot of energy. It used to be ADD, then ADHD, now it's aspergers.
I know for a fact that some of these kids are labelled because the parent wants special accommodations at school or extra income or insurance. I know this.
I've got Apserger's. I have figured out for myself completely independently from Steven Hawking some things about Black holes that he has published, But in the 6th grade I couldn't copy the spelling list off of the blackboard.
So I guess you think a Yorkshire Terrier should be called a Y.T.? Aspie is a term of convenience, as you've already been told. It flows better than A.S. even though it's more letters to type.
Are you an Aspie? You do seem to be irritated by minutiae.
So you are comparing cute dogs to people with "developmental disabilities" . . .
I can't vouch for if Asperger's is overdiagnosed now, but I will refute all the comments here that the disorder is imaginary. My brother had/has Asperger's, and while it was a somewhat mild case, it certainly wasn't a case of being "social awkward" and introverted. There are certain specific signs that lead to a diagnosis. In his case there was repetitive hand motions, obsession over trivial topics, awkward body movements when running or engaging in any physical activity, a seeming lack of empathy or capacity to understand human emotion. He was picked on constantly throughout most of his childhood and was considered special ed and slow early on in school. It turns out he was closer to brilliant in the things he was well suited for. Without professional help, this kid would have ended up bagging groceries for the rest of his life and you would end up furious at the bagger for getting distracted and talking about a species of insect he found outside that day. Instead, through therapy at a young age he was able to develop coping mechanisms that enabled him to function as a normal adult. Instead of focusing his unique abilities at memorizing specie names from an insect guide, he was able to go to college and succeed in a computer science field. The disorder is a form of high functioning autism with its own specific set of characteristics that can often be treated at an early age through therapy. To discredit the disorder due to a perceived increase in diagnosis is offensive.
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