Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), is a relatively new diagnosis describing a child (or adult) who is at the high functioning end of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children with AS have above average intelligence, function well academically but have extreme social problems. AS resembles the diagnosis of NLD (Nonverbal Learning Disabilities) in that in both cases, children and adults have difficulty understanding and using nonverbal body language appropriately. They often fail to learn social rules and are often ostracized or teased by their peers. Many also have poor self perception. To effectively learn social skills, they need to be taught the pragmatics of the skills but they also need to learn how to evaluate how well they perform the given skills. As in other Autism Spectrum Disorders, they often do not share Joint Attention with others. Early interventions are important and appear to be very successful with children making huge gains when treatment is started before the age of two. A current study done by researchers at the University of Nottingham, found that children with AS can learn to recognize facial expressions particularly eye expressions, when the faces are animated. In a recent study, only 27% of children with AS had a best friend as compared with 41% of children with other disabilities. Children who attended friendship classes where they were coached on specific friendship skills improved and started to make friends (Laugeson, 2008) A unique characteristic of people with AS is that they often have repetitive mannerisms such as holding their body in a rigid way, or having posture or motions that seem stilted or inflexible. They may have repetitive motions, or have a robotic, atonal quality to their speech. Many children with AS lack inflection in their tone and may have difficulty comprehending the emotional meanings that tones can convey. Children with AS often perserverate (talking at length and in great detail on topics that they find interesting) and they maybe unaware that other person or child in uninterested. They often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see. It's important to remember that the person with AS perceives the world very differently. Therefore, many behaviors that seem odd or unusual are due to those neurological differences and not the result of intentional rudeness or bad behavior, and most certainly not the result of "improper parenting". Asperger’s Syndrome is a neurobiological disorder named for a Viennese physician, Hans Asperger, who in 1944 published a paper which described a pattern of behaviors in several young boys who had normal intelligence and language development, but who also exhibited autistic-like behaviors and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills. In spite of the publication of his paper in the 1940s, it wasn't until 1994 that Asperger Syndrome was added to the DSM IV and only in the past few years has AS been recognized by professionals and parents. The total number of all children with ASD has increased tenfold over the last decade. A recent report suggested that their has been an increase in the diagnosis from 1 in 300 to 1 in 150. There is no known cause that has been associated with the increase. Diagnostic Criteria For 299.80 Asperger’s DisorderA. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years) E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia << back to top |