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My son is four years old and on the high functioning end of the austism spectrum.  We're told by the specialists who work with him that if his language hadn't been delayed as a toddler he would be daignosed with aspergers.  He caught up quickly - he tests well above his age group in both receptive and expressive language and reads at a high level - but he'll never be eligible for an aspergers diagnosis because of the initial language delay.  In this way the aspergers diagnosis can seem unfair and sort of arbitrary.  I say we merge the aspergers and autism labels and put more effort into fighting the austism stigma.

posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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