Asperger: Video Analysis

Asperger’s syndrome is becoming more and more common as time goes by. Each year, more children are being diagnosed. This paper focuses on Asperger’s Syndrome and developing social skills in various social settings. By looking at the etiology, diagnostic procedures, how the condition effects development, daily challenges, current social/cultural views, and relevant social interventions, a better understanding on how to develop social skills for children with Asperger’s Syndrome can ensue. The world revolves around social situations. This is how people are hired for jobs, ask for things, make new friends, meet their future spouse, etc. At the moment, social skills training and social support is minimal compared to where it potentially

Approximately 947,570 Americans have Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), however, it is not an easy disorder to explain (Bashe 19). With multiple conditions and characteristics in each case, AS is not an easy disorder to diagnose. Asperger’s Syndrome was named after Hans Asperger, an Austrian physician, who first described the disorder in 1944 after studying a group of children with similar, unusual characteristics. However, AS was not made an official disease until 1994. Consequently, Asperger disease is just now becoming published and popular so there is still research and questions being answered. Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, is noted by above-average

Even as adults, sometimes we tend to question whether or not there is something more to us. In years past, and often still is, the subject of autism was unknown, and often misunderstood. Many times autistic tendencies are just dismissed as either bad behaviors or defiance. Many times the individual also has an underlying condition such as attention deficit disorder. This article sheds some light on that subject.

Asperger’s syndrome, which is also referred to as Asperger's disorder, is a type of Persuasive Developmental Disorder. Persuasive Developmental Disorder or PDD are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of basic skills, the most recognizable of these skills is the ability to communicate and socialize with others as well as use their own imagination. Although Asperger's syndrome is similar in some ways to autism, there are important differences between the two. Children with Asperger's syndrome typically function higher than those children with autism. In addition to them being higher functioning; children with Asperger's syndrome generally have normal intelligence and slightly less than normal language development.

In the article, “How to Speak Asperger’s,” by Fran Goldfarb and Guthrie Devine, the authors contend that learning to communicate with people with Asperger’s Syndrome is an important skill. The authors introduce the article by providing a narrative about Goldfarb’s son. The point of her narrative is that communication is misunderstood with people with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The author, Fran Goldfarb, explains how her son misunderstands communication with his teachers, and how punishment is ineffective, because of his Asperger’s. The authors start by explaining why communication is very complex. To begin with, people with AS struggle with communication, because of their lack of social cues. They tend to miss irony, humor, and they take everything literally. That’s why people with AS don’t understand communication and everything is a struggle for them.

What Is It, What Does It Do, How Do We Help It, and Who has it?

Asperger’s syndrome is a developmental syndrome. It is said that every 2 out of 10,000 children are affected by this disorder. Asperger’s is mostly diagnosed in young children. Parents usually recognize symptoms of this disorder in their kids around the time they turn 3 years old. Asperger’s is sometimes considered a form of autism. I find this syndrome to be very intriguing. I’m going to enlighten you with more information about Asperger’s and a few real life cases of it.

1. This book allows one to look into the mind of an eleven year old girl suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. It gives you examples concerning how she thinks and acts based on her surroundings and emotions.

Many children today unknowingly face the disorder known as Aspergers. Their traits can affect their social, mental, and behavioral aspects of life. Because of this, peers might classify them as weird simply because they do not act the same way, causing a decline in self confidence. Diagnosis can tremendously help to jumpstart treatment in this area. Despite lack of knowledge about Aspergers, a disorder closely related to autism, it is very much its own; not only in the way it is diagnosed, but also in its characteristics.

Viewing this documentary, opinions of this individual with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) did, in fact, change the opinion of who they are. ASD can start from when they were born to a mature adult. This film presented lessons on how families and the individuals have gone through a daily lifestyle. One lesson that shown in the movie is that they understand going on however it may take the time to process through their brains.

My Shield was the four autism puzzle pieces and I chose these is because Asperger's is I think the very beginning of autism. The other reason I chose that as my shield was because you never know if the people you meet or people you have already met may have either Asperger's or autism that has just gone unnoticed. I feel like I was a little shaky in starting my speech but by the end I was more sure of myself and acted like I knew what I was doing even though on the inside I had no idea what to do or say so the note cards really helped me collect my thoughts and express the points of why I chose my shield to be what it was and what some of the more important things in my life were.

While children with Asperger’s Syndrome have an average to above average intelligence and normal cognitive abilities, they unfortunately suffer with impaired social skills. An effective treatment program will have to be tailored to fit the specific child’s Asperger’s in order for the child to be successful in managing his or her own behaviors. This form of treatment is run by a psychologist, counselor, speech pathologist, or social worker, these therapies are invaluable ways to build social skills and the ability to read verbal and non-verbal cues that is often lacking in those with Asperger's. (WebMD, 2013) Without the implementation of the appropriate treatment needed for the lack of social skills as a child, these deficits will continue into adulthood and affect societal and professional performance. According to Szatmari, Bartolucci & Bremner (1989), “Adults with ASD are much more likely than the general population to be unemployed or underemployed and much less likely to have satisfying social relationships” (Szatmari, Bartolucci & Bremner, 1989, Para. 3). The results of this study may have had something to do with the lack of treatment in children with Asperger’s. Even though there is not a cure for this syndrome, understanding the multiple treatment options can reduce the stigma and inaccurate labeling of children with ASD.

The movie Mary and Max is the story of an eight year old girl, named Mary, from Australia who doesn’t have any friends, and lives with her father and alcoholic mother. Max is a forty-four year old man from New York City, who is obese, has a disorder later revealed to be Aspergers, and also has no friends. They develop an unlikely friendship when Mary picks his name out of a phone book and decides to write him a letter asking him where babies come from. They become penpals and friends through many ups and downs in their lives, returning to each other for support and advice. This movie would make a wonderful study on Asperger 's Syndrome alone, however it touches on many other psychological principles

The reason I chose to do this subject is because I have a brother that suffers from aspergers. My brother is a very hardy person who has gone through an intractable life. I personally wanted to know more about the disorder that I do not already know and to share that with you.

The documentary of Autism: The Musical showcases children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families throughout a twenty two week program ending with a live performance. The documentary not only highlights the growth the children experience socially and emotionally throughout the program, but the challenges faced by the families and the strategies they employ to overcome them. There are five children focused on over the course of the documentary, Neil, Lexi, Henry, Adam, and Wyatt. Each child is at a different place on the spectrum therefore each family is effected differently by it. In fact each family can be seen at a different stage of acceptance ranging from sock, denial, anger, loneliness, sadness, to acceptance (Autism & Your Family, 2015). Lexi’s father Joe nicely describes some of the stages he experienced starting with denial which he said ended up taking over his whole life for a period of time, a period he describes as fix it mode, then depression because the parent realized that no amount of money or wishing can change the fact that the child has ASD and will always be living with it and finally comes acceptance.