Asperger’s isn’t the only diagnosis that changed- all the autism diagnoses changed with the new edition of the DSM. Instead of there being several autism related diagnoses (autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) there is now one diagnosis called autism spectrum disorder or ASD. According to the American Psychological Association, this will help to more accurately diagnose all individuals showing the signs of autism.
For more information about these changes see the Autism Society’s response to the change.
If you want a history of the change and opinions from both sides- this is a great news article from Slate.
[contact-form to=’theautismprogram@illinois.edu’ subject=’Question for you’][contact-field label=’If you have a question for TAP, just fill out this form and we%26#039;ll do our best to answer! Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Question’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]