Your Child and Asperger's Syndrome

You may have been told that your child has Asperger's Syndrome (AS), a neurobiological disorder this is part of a group of similar conditions called "autism spectrum disorders". These similar conditions can have different combinations and different degrees of severity of similar symptoms. Any two children who receive the same diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome may have similar behavior patterns and different skills and abilities. These children with the same diagnosis of AS may have different terms used to describe them such as low-functioning, or high-functioning, or autistic tendencies, and pervasive developmental disorder. Kids who have been diagnosed as having high-functioning autism often share the same symptoms as kids diagnosed with AS.

Asperger's Syndrome is often difficult to diagnosis and treat. Your child may have been misdiagnosed along the way to the diagnosis of AS.

A Viennese Pediatrician first described the set of behaviors in 1940 that later became known as Asperger's Syndrome, his name was Hans Asperger. He noticed that children had the following behaviors: normal to high intelligence and language development, severely impaired social skills, an inability to effectively communicate with others, and had poor movement coordination.

Those with Asperger Syndrome typically have onset of symptoms later than kids with autism. Usually the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome is made after age 3, with the majority of kids being diagnosed between the ages of 5 and 9.

A child with Asperger's Syndrome usually exhibits poor social interactions with others, exhibit obsessions, have odd speech patterns, and other peculiar mannerisms. They usually show very few facial expressions and have difficulty interpreting or noticing body language expressed by others. They also have an unusually high sensitivity to sensory stimuli such as to light, sound and touch. Though individuals with AS can function in society, they generally are socially immature are seen by others to be eccentric, odd, and clumsy. Children with AS are usually picked on by bullies at school because of these behaviors that set them apart from other kids.

As the child grows he or she may show trouble having empathy for others, and have difficulty dealing with social situations. AS is a lifetime disorder that with early intervention and treatment can have a positive outcome.

Your child may show the following signs and have some or all of these symptoms:

Minimal social interactions with others, inappropriate interactions with others, repetitive speech that may seem robotic or scripted, a lack of common sense, difficulty when it comes to reading, math, or writing skills, an obsession with complex topics such as music and patterns, average to below-average nonverbal cognitive abilities, with average to high verbal cognitive abilities, awkward physical movements, and odd behaviors or mannerisms.

Where a child with autism usually shows a delay in language development, kids with AS have good grammatical skills and usually have an advanced level of vocabulary early on in childhood. Kids with AS show appropriate age development when it comes to feeding, dressing and other self-help skills but have difficulty with attention span, and organizational skills. Kids with AS typically have normal to high IQs.