Problems with Peer Interactions for Asperger's Syndrome Schoolchildren

Asperger’s Syndrome relates to a high functioning form of autism that is diagnosed as early as the preschool years. Even as the majority of young patients will go on to attend public school and have varying successes, there are some marked problems with peer interactions for Asperger’s Syndrome schoolchildren.

First and foremost of course is the seeming inability to establish and maintain meaningful two way interactions. This pertains to playing together, talking, and also cooperating. Even for the child who would like to interact with peers, the problem lies in the inability to actually understand and follow the regulations of such interactions.

Ideas of letting someone else finish talking, sharing a toy, taking turns, or simply communicating with body language as well as words are alien to the Asperger’s Syndrome child. Before long, such a child is shunned by others, made fun of, and also intentionally not included in game play, class project groupings, and other such pairings where interaction is a must.

If the child does attempt to partake in the social interactions, the attempts are short lived simply because they are doomed to fail. Perhaps the biggest part of the problem in this instance is the inborn resistance to change that makes it impossible for the Asperger’s Syndrome schoolchild to adapt an approach or try for a whole new way of engaging peers. Due to a failure to empathize appropriately, there is little hope that the schoolchild will have the social interactions it would need to become fully integrated in the school setting.

It has been noted that in some cases this leads to aggressive acting out by an Asperger’s child. Sometimes it also leads to an almost innate distrust of other people, and being convinced that other people are talking badly behind the child’s back. As the child gets older and becomes a high school student or maybe even attends university, the Asperger’s Syndrome now creates the label of recluse, eccentric, or antisocial individual.

By this point patients by and large have given up trying to fit in and instead embrace the fact that they are different and will have little if any chance of fitting in with their peers. In some cases you will find such an individual seeking to befriend those who are markedly older or those who are a lot younger. Dr. Asperger mentions this in relation to the interactions between the sexes, although it is also true for everyday relationships.

It is interesting to note that the suspicion some Asperger’s’ patients harbor and the seeming naïveté that accompanies it make them easy prey for those who are seeking to take financial advantage of the friendless youngster. In other cases, it is a setup for those who would look to such a person for their individual gratification of ego, physical needs, or just as a means of tapping into the young student’s apparent genius for personal gain.

Parents, caregivers and counselors will do well to keep their eyes open for sudden friends that appear out of nowhere and seem to be spending a lot of time with such a youngster.