What is the difference between anxiety disorder and hfa/aspergers

[Skylar123]

Hello
Can anyone give me some behaviours of children with hfa/aspergers that you would not associate with anxiety disorder.
Thank you

[TheLightPassenger]

History of language delay, spiky developmental profile, delays with toileting, dressing/food/motor skills, sensory issues, road safety etc

[Skylar123]

Haha sorry polter were in assessment Wednesday and I think they are going to dx anxiety and not asd. Which if is the case would be great, if Ds isn't on the spectrum and it's anxiety there may be light at the end if tunnel or at least more so than with a lifelong disorder. I'm not convinced however I do recognise Ds severe anxiety symptoms.
Ds does meet the diagnostic criteria and has already been dx privately. Could a child meet autism cut offs through ADOS if the had anxiety disorder surely the ADOS can decipher this, or not ?
thelight all those things are my Ds.

[Skylar123]

Would a child with anxiety disorder have such a literal interpretation of the world around him? Would he not show any emotion when the rest of the family are upset or sad about something? Would he need to know whatever was doing and when he was doing it, write list after list of things he needs to do. Have to finish everything he is doing before he will even consider moving on?
Sorry to many questions for a Monday morning I know but this is going to be one heck of an awful week I can just feel it.

[Skylar123]

Thanks zzzzz

[Mollyweasley]

Have you come across this before - The lady in there explains how what triggers anxiety in people with ASD is different to what triggers anxiety in typical people. I don't know if it might help you?

[Marne]

I would say the big difference would be 'social communication problems', someone on the spectrum would struggle socially, may have speech and language problems (HFA) and sensory issues (bot AS and HFA), anxiety is just a small part of Autism, for my dd1 it is triggered by social and communication problems, for dd2 it can be more sensory as well as communication.

People and children on the spectrum are more likely to suffer with anxiety as the brain of a autistic person hold on to bad thoughts and experiences for longer than a nt brain, this makes it trickier for a person with autism to move on from a bad experience (not sure if that makes sense but its how it has been explained to me be when I had therapy for anxiety).

[Skylar123]

Thank you and THaNkYou for the video too. I will watch when finished work.
My Ds has sensory issues as in he licks everything, hates overcrowding, says dinner hall is too noisy, runs taps and pits hands under all day long. Would he do this of he was anxious only and no Asd?

[FlorenceInatemple]

Can I just say ds is 14 with Apsergers dx and the anxiety can be crippling at times.Marne has described it quite well actually.The tipping point I would agree would be the social awkwardness that defines Aspergers along with the literal interpretation of things and the unusually intense interest/interests.

[Skylar123]

Very true polter however I am pretty sure school will stop all they are doing for Ds if the dx is taken away by nhs CDAC and replaced with anxiety disorder or worse still attachment disorder. However that hasn't happened yet, perhaps I have anxiety too, I will get a second or rather third opinion through gosh. Thank you for all the replies.

[pannetone]

Thank you Molly that was a really interesting video - if only all teachers could watch it... I particularly liked the emphasis on not just trying to 'fix' behaviour, but to equip those with an ASD with strategies to help with the cognitive skills they can struggle with, which are the root of the behaviours.

Are there any other videos available from that conference that you know of?

[Skylar123]

Thanks molly just watched the video, thank you so much for posting . Very interesting and useful to watch.

[Oblomov]

Literal , 'in a minute' and he starts counting the seconds.
Obsessions
Poor social skills
Theory of mind
Special skills - being able to give the scores of every match from this years premier league and last years ' ' no Rooney scored in the 82nd minute'.

[Mollyweasley]

Hi! I really liked that video- I found it on the NAS website. I think there is another one on utube but I haven't listened to it as the sound is not very clear at all.