I have a unique view point of this article.

I am both a mother of an Aspi, as well as a therapist, specializing in Autism and Asperger’s cases, and I myself has this disorder.

First off I ask what your evidence is that this will change in the DSM-V. I find it Irresponsible to throw out this idea with out evidence backing it claiming it WILL HAPPEN. As far as Aspergers being removed it is EXTREMELY unlikely because of the great dis-service to the children that have so many autism-like traits that fall into the Aspi Criteria.
Secondly NOS will NEVER be removed. It is a standard in the DSM for EVERY category for individuals that do not meet the SPECIFIC criteria for the disorders but that the clinician knows that the child has so many traits of the area that it needs to be noted.
I have heard discussion of and I am all for expanding the Autism Spectrum to encompass their own category in the DSM and adding more types of Autism to the spectrum. Allowing clinicians to further pinpoint the main source of diagnosis. Please note I’m not saying your children are not autistic, Im saying they will have more pinpointed types of autism available…
For example.. My daughter had an unusual way she looked at people she turned her head to the side then looked at you out of the corner of her eye… this very autistic feature is not noted in the DSM-IV-TR however.. it is an evident feature.

Once there is a wider net of Autism Diagnosis types it will allow for better treatment and more fine tuned interventions allowing these children to have better success as adults.
And that is what we are after; THEIR SUCCESS…. no matter how minor or major their disability.

References:
http://autismaspergerssyndrome.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_of_autism_in_the_dsm

My grandson is diagnosed with Aspergers… He knows that that is his diagnosis and I believe it gives him great comfort to put a label to his special issues. I think that removing this diagnosis would only lead to great confusion. Also, by being under the umbrella of autism, children with aspergers are entitled to many services both in school and hopefully through their health insurance.

Why would they remove the PDD-nos diagnosis? In several articles about collapsing the diagnoses, Aspergers and PDD-nos are mentioned, but the discussion only addresses the Aspergers. An incomplete presentation.

It took 20 years for me to finally get my adult brother diagnosed correctly, with the autism spectrum disorder of PDD-nos – or autism related issues without the overt autism symptoms like silence or repetitive body movement.

It would be a disaster for us, I fear, if they changed the diagnosis that took us so long to identify – I have not yet approached the service system that denied him access for so long, and it would be just too heart-breaking and spirit breaking, if they changed the diagnosis so he is still not covered! I think of Autism as a necessary diagnosis, with or without typical symptoms, for it depicts those with neurological disabilities, who cannot participate in give and take, who run from social interaction or drop out, or get overly anxious or emotional when engaged. Such people need slow, steady and intense help with plans for practice and continuity so they can build familiarity and some confidence over time – treatment needs improvement for adults. I can see that Aspergers can be seen in different ways, some tied to Autism, but PDD-nos, seems directly related to me. Adults need help to relate to people around them in meaningful ways, like the younger ones get now in schools.

As a mother of a 25-year-old daughter with a severe Asperger syndrome, I am very much interested in all kinds of discussions and seminars, where parents should be involved along with the professionals, who could make a difference in the lives of our children.
I personally completely support the point of the Dr. Peter Della Bella, because combining the Asperger syndrome with the classic Autism should help many miserable children and adults, who suffer from a deep Asperger disorder, get help in receiving special services and special education. At the same time, while putting Asperger people together with the sufferers of a classic Autism, it is important to subdivide that large group into two parts because it is obvious that there should be a difference in the kinds of services and a professional training of the staff, working with those two sub-groups. Again, as a mother of a young adult girl with a deep Asperger disorder, I can tell how badly the abscence of a special education, which would target this group of people, and other supportive services, affected her life. Wrong placements and misunderstanding of her condition, which kept contributing to her deterioration, resulted in a serious mental illness. At this time, I am familiar with a few families, who have young adult children with a similar profound Asperger disorder. Those families are all now confined in a desperate situation – in spite of a normal verbal IQ and even talents in certan spheres, their young adults cannot live and function independently, and need a lot of help and structure. I’d like to ask if there are any more families, who want to get together and discuss the problems and outlooks for their children – with special abilities, but also with quite narrow, obsessive interests, naive in social situations, and unable to conduct an independent life. Overall, again, I am supporting the view of the Dr. P. Bella, and I know that those families, whom I know, would also see it the same way. Probably, every parent should speak out at this time.

Autism research examines high functioning Autism (and Aspergers) but continues to ignore low functioning (severely) autistic subjects. So, if research is focused exclusively, or almost exclusively, on participants with high functioning autism or Aspergers, HOW much do we REALLY know about Autistic Disorder which, by definition, includes those with low functioning autism if we don’t’ study low functioning autism? Let’s be honest, many researchers are uninterested in an autism case that doesn’t have a direct bearing on a positive grant flow. That’s why they hyper-focus on high functioning autism. Good Autism research begins at ground zero: the lowest functioning. The key to unlocking the mystery of autism will be found at ground zero: the bottom of the spectrum..there are videos on you tube if you type in autism and self injury that illuminate the most mysterous and complex side of serious, true autism. The term autistic has been misused to describe persons with anything from cerebral allergies and schizophrenia to attention deficient disorder and post traumatic disorder. Sadly, few doctors and educators understand true cases of autism to make a correct diagnosis. So they go with the latest media driven flow. Pick and choose from a broad and ever expanding spectrum. Or worse, they guess. The hallmark traits of autism are: sensitivity to sounds, specific tastes in food/drink, strange body postures, repetitive behaviors, inability to control emotions or excitement, poor reasoning skills, needs routines, resists changes, sense of direction and memory better than other skills, thinking based on association, not reasoning, once distracted by olfactory, visual or auditory stimuli, they become preoccupied. This is markedly DIFFERENT than ADHD, in that ADHD presents as easily distracted by stimuli, BUT, the person bounces focus from one thing to another. ADHD people don’t stay hyper-focused or fixate on something. That is what you will see a truly autistic person do. Fixate.