Reliability
The diagnoses of AS or high-functioning autism (HFA) are sometimes used interchangeably; the same child can receive different diagnoses depending on the screening tool and the individual administering the test. Diagnoses may be influenced by non-technical issues, such as availability of government benefits for one condition but not the other. Advocacy and parent support organizations have proliferated around the concept of AS, and there are indications that this has resulted in more frequent diagnoses of AS, which may be given as a "residual diagnosis" to children of normal intelligence who do not meet diagnostic criteria for autism but have some social difficulties. Underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis are problems in marginal cases; the increasing popularity of drug treatment options and the expansion of benefits has given providers incentives to diagnose ASD, resulting in some overdiagnosis of children with uncertain symptoms. Conversely, the cost of screening and diagnosis and the challenge of obtaining payment can inhibit or delay diagnosis.
Read more about this topic: Diagnosis Of Asperger Syndrome