Lumpers, Splitters, and Asperger Syndrome

Excerpt

Although professionals in the field of autism these days often use the term “Autism Spectrum Disorders” (ASD), most of us are not ‘lumpers’ in the sense of minimizing the importance of the many dimensions on which individuals with autism vary. There have been many formal attempts to ‘split’ or identify subtypes within the broad category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Efforts along these lines, using various statistical methods and clinical observations, have inevitably pointed to at least two, and often three or four subtypes within the broad spectrum (e.g., Eaves, Ho, & Eaves, 1994; Fein et al., 1999; Lotter, 1966; Prior et al., 1998; Siegel, Anders, Ciaranello, Bienenstock, & Kraemer, 1986) Most often, one of the subtypes was associated with intelligence or language skills (variously defined) in the broadly average range, that is, autism without mental retardation. …