Description

Learn more about the differences between Asperger syndrome and autism, and whether these two distinct disorders are actually a part of the ame continuum.

Transcript

Malia: I'm Malia from Logan, Utah. What is Asperger syndrome and why is it a form of Autism? Laura Carpenter: Good question, Malia. Asperger syndrome and Autism have a lot of similar characteristics. So they both involve social deficits and they both involve odd or repetitive behaviors. What distinguishes the two disorders is that people with Asperger disorder, don't have a significant delay in language. So they have to develop single words by two years and phrase speech by three years. Now what's interesting, is that scientist have recently discovered that the presence of an early language delay doesn't always make a difference in terms of long-term outcome. So scientists are starting to wonder whether these are two distinct disorders or whether they are really part of one continuum.