Autism Spectrum
Many people on the Autism Spectrum suffer from co-occuring Anxiety (including OCD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). See the following Venn Diagram showing common and overlapping symptoms.
Dame Uta Frith is an emeritus professor of cognitive development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London who has researched Autism Spectrum for decades. She was interviewed in a recent article that sums up the conundrum of being more inclusive with the DSM 5TR criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder and the difficulty of studying this group of individuals. How do we study a heterogenous group of people that include individuals with severe intellectual disability and speech difficulty with some of the most brilliant thought leaders and trailblazers of this century?
I agree with Dame Frith that we need subcategories within the Autism Spectrum: childhood autism of the strict clinical kind, those with Asperger’s, and those with hypersensitivities in addition to the classification of level 1, 2, and 3.
In my private practice I see many high functioning kids and adults with ASD who need different kinds of supports than the kids who have intellectual disability and more severe ASD. For this reason, I still use the term Asperger’s. However, even in the Asperger’s category there are some folks who are more extroverted and others who are more introverted. You can witness this in the popular TV series Love on the Spectrum.
