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Premature Popularization of Asperger Syndrome

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Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism?

Part of the book series: Current Issues in Autism ((CIAM))

Abstract

Asperger (1944) described a disorder showing amazing overlap with autism first introduced by Kanner (1943) during the same time period. Since then, some clinicians and researchers have emphasized what they considered important differences between the two sets of descriptions, whereas others believed that Asperger syndrome (AS) was the same as Kanner’s autism when confined to children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Yet, paradoxically, AS appears in the title of an ever-increasing number of professional publications, including this volume, and AS is increasingly being used as a clinical designation, thus adding to the unresolved confusion.

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Some refer to AS as Asperger syndrome, whereas others call it Asperger’s disorder(AD) as used in DSM-IV. In this discussion I will only use the broader AS and HFA in referring to the two groups.

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Schopler, E. (1998). Premature Popularization of Asperger Syndrome. In: Schopler, E., Mesibov, G.B., Kunce, L.J. (eds) Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism?. Current Issues in Autism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5369-4_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5369-4_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7450-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5369-4

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