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Autism vs Asperger's Syndrome: What Are The Differences And Similarities?

by — Last updated: 2019-10-27 in Mental Health

What's the difference between Asperger's Syndrome and autism? It's a simple question, but the answer is quite tricky. Let's dive right in!

What is autism? What is Asperger's Syndrome, also called Asperger's Disorder? What do the two have in common, and how are they different? The answers are both rather straightforward and surprisingly complex, all at the same time — so let's dive right in. 

What is autism?

This question is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. Typically described as a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts a person's communicative abilities and behavior, autism can also be said to be a neurological variation — different brain wiring, if you will. If that sounds abstract so far, it gets worse. Autism isn't one thing. It is a spectrum, and that means no two autistic people are exactly alike. Some autistic people will seem to neurotypical people to be nothing more than "a bit odd", while others face severe challenges and difficulties in daily functioning. 

Looking at some frequent symptoms of autism can go a long way toward explaining what autism is, and some of the ones acknowledged in the DSM-5, the diagnostic manual for mental disorders, include:

  • Socially, difficulty making eye contact, finding it hard to hold a back-and-forth conversation with people in the expected manner, unusual body language and way of speaking, having a hard time knowing what to respond to people or how to initiate a chat, and talking at length about particular subjects an autistic person is interested in that the listener may not want to hear about. 
  • Behaviorally, needing a strong routine and being distressed by change, repeating words after other people (echolalia), being extra sensitive to impulses like bright lights, loud sounds, and strong smells, but also sometimes being undersensitive. When an autistic person reaches sensory overload, they may melt down — screaming, crying, or just sitting on the floor, for instance. "Stimming", in which a person soothes themselves with repetitive movements like rocking or hand-flapping, chewing on something, or in any number of other ways, is very common. An intense interest in a particular topic, about which the person becomes very knowleageable, is another trait. 

Some autistic people are verbal and use spoken words to communicate, while others are non-verbal and use Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) to communicate — like the written word or text-to-speech devices, for instance. Some autistic people don't have other diagnoses. Others have multiple diagnoses in addition to autism. The cognitive abilities of autistic people can vary as much as the cognitive abilities of non-autistic people. Some autistic people function well in daily life, while others need a lot of support to be able to do so. 

What is Asperger's Disorder?

So, autism is a spectrum, and Asperger's Disorder is a part of that spectrum. There is, then, no real "autism vs Asperger's". Asking about the differences between autism and Asperger's can be compared to asking about the differences between flowers and roses. Roses are flowers, but not all flowers are roses. People who fall on the Asperger's end of the autism spectrum are autistic, but not all autistic people fall on the Asperger's end of the autism spectrum. 

What exactly is Asperger's Disorder, though? That's another tricky question. Asperger's Disorder is no longer a recognized clinical entity in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5, which has instead absorbed it into the wider diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The previous version of the "psychiatry bible", the DSM-IV, did recognize Asperger's as being different from what was then called Autistic Disorder, however. 

What was the difference? Well, in contrast to people with Autistic Disorder, those who got a diagnosis of Asperger's Disorder had "no clinically significant delays in language", "no clinically significant delays in cognitive development", and displayed curiosity, self-help skills, and "adaptive behavior". The other diagnostic criteria were pretty much identical. That means intense interests, sensory differences, differences in social behavior, and a deep need for routines, for instance. 

Right now, under the DSM-5, these same people would be diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder without language delays or cognitive impairment, and usually labeled as having "Level 1 autism" — which means they don't require as much support in daily functioning as people deemed to have Level 2 or 3 autism. Though Asperger's is no longer a diagnostic category, you will still hear the term being used informally, and this is what it will be referring to. 

In conclusion

Autism is a specrum of neurodiversity marked by a set of characteristics, which can manifest rather differently in different individuals. The term Asperger's Disorder, named after the man who first described it, may no longer be a clinical entity, but the previous diagnostic criteria still do apply to a subset of autistic people. These people will not have (had) speech delays and will have average intelligence or beyond. This doesn't mean that they're "just a little bit autistic", but it may mean that they're better able to pass as neurotypical. 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA
  • (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV. Washington, DC :American Psychiatric Association
  • Photo courtesy of SteadyHealth

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