What's in a Label--Asperger's vs Autism?

In the March/April issue of Scholastic Administrator there is an article on Asperger's and Autism labels relating to special education services. This particular article showed a family (the Gibson's) that had four sons with different forms of autism. The APA (American Psychiatric Association) announced they were removing Asperger's syndrome from the official diagnostic manual. Many parents were outraged and some were just split on the decision. Today's finding states that six out of ten thousand children has an autism spectrum disorder and about two in ten thousand children have Asperger's. They do not want these children with Asperger's placed on the same spectrum as Autism. This would put more demand on special education services within and outside of our school system, and if the effect would be negative or positive. Autism qualifies automatically for special education services where as Asperger's does not have a clear outcome. Asperger's has a process to determine eligibility for services. High test scores with strong language skills on paper can cover up the need for services. Making the change to remove Asperger's from the manual would put more strain on special education services with more children labeled under the autism spectrum. Parents fear an increase in the number of children who would qualify for services being labeled as autism disorder will stress the system more than it already has.

In reading this article it is scary to think about removing items from manuals once they exist. To me Asperger's and Autism is on the board spectrum. Autism is listed in Chapter Two page 83 and Chapter Five page 204. Autism is an disorder in which a person has difficulty in communicating with others. This disorder also will effect the person in that they will not look at others and sometimes do not like to be touched. Even though Asperger's is categorized with autism spectrum disorders, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language. Autism affects how information is processed in the brain by changing how nerve cells and their respective synapse connect and put into order. Why mess with what has already been written? Why remove it for the diagnostic manual? It would affect so many children in our educational facilities. It would put more into the system that can be streamlined into regular classrooms. I have already seen that some Autism children can be streamlined and thrive in a normal classroom atmosphere rather than be self contained. I have seen Asperger children thrive in a self contained atmosphere where they get specialized attention to suit their needs.

Now--What do you think???? Leave the two disorders or combine to just one? Can you give an honest opinion if you have never seen either one of these disorders? Think about it!