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.
Article Footnote
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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Asperger, H. (1944). Die ‘autistischen Psychopathen’ im Kindesalter. Archiv fir Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117, 76–136. Translated by U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome (1991, pp. 37–92). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Asperger, H. (1979). Problems of infantile autism. Communication,13, 45–52.
Bender, L. (1953). Childhood schizophrenia. Psychiatric Quarterly, 27,663–681.
Bettelheim, B. (1950). Love is not enough. New York: Free Press.
Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Denckla, M. (1983). The neuropsychology of social-emotional learning disabilities. Archives of Neurology,40, 461–462.
Ekstein, R., & Wallerstein, J. (1954). Observations on the psychology of borderline and psychotic children. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (Vol. 9). New York: International Press.
Gardner, H. (1985). The mind’s new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York: Basic Books.
Ghaziuddin, M., Tsai, L. Y., & Ghaziuddin, N. (1994). Is clumsiness a marker for Asperger Syndrome? Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 38,519–527.
Gillberg, C. (1991). Clinical and neurobiological aspects of Asperger syndrome in six family studies. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome (pp. 122–146). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gillberg, I. C., & Gillberg, C. (1989). Asperger syndrome - some epidemiological considerations: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30,631–638.
Green, L., Fein, D., Joy, S., & Waterhouse, L. (1995). Cognitive functioning in autism: An overview. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and cognition in autism (pp. 13–31). New York: Plenum Press.
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbance of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2,217–250.
Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. R. (1995). Asperger syndrome: Some guidelines for assessment, diagnosis and intervention (pp. 2–14). Learning Disability Association of America.
Klin, A., Volkmar, F. R., Sparrow, S. S., Cicchetti, D. V., & Rourke, B. P. (1995). Validity and neuropsychological characterization of Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,36, 1127–1140.
Lincoln, A. J., Allen, M. H., & Kilman, A. (1995). The assessment and interpretation of intellectual abilities in people with autism. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and cognition in autism. (pp. 89–114). New York; Plenum Press.
Mahler, M. (1952). On child psychosis and schizophrenia. Autistic and psychotic infantile psychoses. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (Vol. 7). New York: International Press.
Matjiviona, J., & Prior, M. (1995). Comparison of Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autistic children on a test of motor impairment. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,25, 23–39.
Ozonoff, S., Rogers, S., & Pennington, B. (1991). Asperger’s syndrome: Evidence of an empirical distinction from high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32,1107–1122.
Prior, M., Dahlstrom, B., & Squires, T. L. (1990). Autistic children’s knowledge of thinking and feeling states in other people. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31,587–601.
Rank, B. (1949). Adaptation of the psychoanalytic technique for the treatment of young children with atypical development. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 19,130.
Rourke, B. P. (1989). Nonverbal learning disabilities: The syndrome and the model. New York: Guilford Press.
Schopler, E. (1971). Parents of psychotic children as scapegoats. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy,4, 17–22.
Schopler, E. (1985). Convergence of learning disability, higher level autism, and Asperger syndrome [Editorial]. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,15, 359.
Schopler, E. (1995, September 15). Is AS different from HFA? Presented at the Conference for More Able Autistic People (MAAP), Indianapolis, IN.
Schopler, E. (1996). Are autism and Asperger syndrome different labels or different disabilities? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 26, 109–110.
Szasz, T. S. (1974). The myth of mental illness (rev. ed.). New York: Harper & Row.
Szatmari, P., Bartolucci, G., & Bremner, R. (1989). Asperger’s syndrome and autism: Comparisons on early history and outcome. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 31,709–720.
Szatmari, P., Tuff, L., Finlayson, M. A. J., & Bartolucci, G. (1990). Asperger’s syndrome and autism: Neurocognitive aspects. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,29, 130–136.
Tantam, D. (1988). Lifelong eccentricity and social isolation II. Asperger’s syndrome or schizoid personality disorder? British Journal of Psychiatry, 153,783–791.
Volkmar, F., Klin, A., Siegel, B., Szatmari, P., Lord, C., Campbell, M., Freeman, B. J., Cicchetti, D. V., Rutter, M., Kline, W., Buitelaar, J., Hattab, Y., Fombonne, E., Fuentes, J., Werry, J., Stone, W., Kerbeshian, J., Hoshino, Y., Bregman, J., Loveland, K., Szymanski, L., & Towbin, K. (1994). DSM-IV autism/pervasive developmental disorder field trial. American Journal of Psychiatry,151, 1361–1367.
Wing, L. (1981). Asperger’s syndrome: A clinical account. Psychological Medicine, 11,115–130.
Wing, L. (1986). Clarification on Asperger’s syndrome [Letter to the editor]. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,16, 513–515.
Wing, L. (1991). The relationship between Asperger’s syndrome and Kanner’s autism. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome (pp. 93–119). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
World Health Organization. (1993). International classification of diseases: Tenth revision Chapter V. Mental and behavioral disorders (including disorders of psychological development): Diagnostic criteria for research. Geneva: Author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
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
Download citation
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
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive