In the current DSM-5, Asperger's disorder has similar diagnostic criteria to Autistic disorder or 'classical' autism but to receive an Asperger's diagnosis a child must present with no clinically significant delay in language or cognitive development.
The separate diagnosis of Asperger's disorder has disappeared from the DSM-5, by being amalgamated into the single diagnostic category of ASD. Under the DSM-5, High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger's is considered, at least in diagnostic terms, one and the same. The research mostly supports this as the differences between intellectually able children with early language delay and those diagnosed with Asperger’s appear to diminish with age, so by the time they are young adults the two groups
The separate diagnosis of Asperger's disorder has disappeared from the DSM-5, by being amalgamated into the single diagnostic category of ASD. Under the DSM-5, High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger's is considered, at least in diagnostic terms, one and the same. The research mostly supports this as the differences between intellectually able children with early language delay and those diagnosed with Asperger’s appear to diminish with age, so by the time they are young adults the two groups