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Asperger Syndrome

Asperger, or Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of a distinct group of neurological conditions characterized by varying degrees of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.  Unlike children with autism, children with AS retain their early language skills. Individuals with AS typically have average or above intelligence, and when accepted and encouraged for who they are, many have highly satisfying productive personal and professional lives.  

The Challenges of Asperger Syndrome 

A distinguishing symptom of AS  is an obsessive interest in a single object or topic, often to the exclusion of any other.  Individuals with AS want to know everything about their topic of interest and their conversations with others will be about little else.  They can exhibit high levels of expertise in specific areas, and formal speech patterns that may seem stilted and professorial.  Other characteristics of AS include repetitive routines or rituals; eccentricities in speech and language; inappropriate social and emotional behaviors and difficulties in interactions with peers; problems with non-verbal communication; and, difficulties with motor coordination.

Individuals with AS often experience isolation because of poor social skills and narrow interests--this isolation can precipitate anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions--none of which are symptoms of Aspergers.  A healthy trajectory of development is made all the more difficult by a society that looks for sameness in others, and is not always tolerant of difference. 

As identification of autism spectrum disorders improves, a large proportion of affected individuals are being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.  As with autism, early identification of Asperger's offers individuals and their families the understanding that they are impacted by a neurological condition and not an emotional or mental health disorder. Although no one treatment offers certain success for children or adults diagnosed with AS, evidence-based early intervention is believed to greatly improve life skills and outcomes for the future. 

Online Resources for Individuals with AS Asperger's Syndrome Guidelines for Assessment and Diagnosis O.A.S.I.S:  Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support Autism Asperger Publishing Company Wrong Planet An online resource and community connection for individuals with Asperger's.  Author Jerry Newport highly recommends this site! The Brevard Center The College Internship Program at the Brevard Center provides individualized, post-secondary academic, internship and independent living experiences for young adults with Asperger's Syndrome and Nonverbal learning differences. GRASP An organization serving individuals on the autism spectrum, and run BY those individuals. The present focus of the organization is support and education, but they also have an interest in advocacy and monitoring of social services and professionals in the field. The basic philosophy of the GRASP organization is to maximize the positive aspects of AS, and to minimize the negative aspects.  Common Scents:  Adventures in Autism and Chemical Sensitivity Written by Kate Goldfield.  She also writes a blog about living with Asperger's at www.aspiefrommaine.webs.com Look Me In the Eye and I Be Different  Written by John Elder Robison, NY Times Best Selling Author Living with Asperger's Syndrome.

 

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A Changing View of Autism

Asperger's
A Powerful Identity, Vanishing Diagnosis

November 2, 2009 (New York Times)  Much of the growing prevalence of autism, which now affects about 1 percent of American children, according to federal data, can be attributed to Asperger’s and other mild forms of the disorder. And Asperger’s has exploded into popular culture through books and films depicting it as the realm of brilliant nerds and savant like geniuses.

But no sooner has Asperger consciousness awakened than the disorder seems headed for psychiatric obsolescence. Though it became an official part of the medical lexicon only in 1994, the experts who are revising psychiatry’s diagnostic manual have proposed to eliminate it from the new edition, due out in 2013.

If these experts have their way, Asperger’s syndrome and another mild form of autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (P.D.D.-N.O.S. for short), will be folded into a single broad diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder — a category that encompasses autism’s entire range, or spectrum, from high-functioning to profoundly disabling.