Essay on Asperger?s Syndrome

Diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome can be a challenge. An interview with a clinician must be conducted, including the family of the person being diagnosed. Also, an observation is conducted in two different social settings (i.e.: school and home) (Stoddart, 2009). The criterion to be diagnosed is straight forward. First, there must be a severe impairment in social interaction. For example, no eye to eye contact, posture, does not develop peer relationships, and not bringing up interests to other people (Stoddart, 2009). Second, there must be stereotyped behaviors. For example, not being able to adhere to a random routine or change of plans, hand flapping, and playing with parts of objects, not the object itself. Thirdly, the impairments cause strain on social, and other areas of functioning. Fourth, the child had no delay in speech. This is the difference between a child with autism and Asperger’s. Children with Asperger’s have no delay in speech and usually are advanced in this area. Lastly, the child has no cognitive delay. For example, self-help abilities, and adapting behaviors. Usually these children have very high IQs (Stoddart, 2009). The major criterion is the social impairment. Asperger’s Syndrome is very focused around social behaviors. These children do not socially interact,

Aside from routines and rituals, another essential symptom in Asperger’s is poor or nonexistent social skills. People with Asperger’s syndrome have difficulty during conversation and are awkward when starting conversation ("What is Asperger's Syndrome?

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.

Besides the poor communication skills and resulting in awkward social behavior of Asperger’s Syndrome, there are also the physical aspects. People with Asperger’s Syndrome have a heightened sensitivity to loud noises, lights, or even certain colors. For example, they may not be able to wear certain kinds of materials because the fabric will irritate the skin. Often, they have strong taste buds and are sensitive to different textures. Additionally, they may have a rigid walk or an odd posture. Likewise, motor coordination is usually lacking making simple tasks such as handwriting, opening a jar, or catching a ball a struggle. The lack of motor skills makes it difficult to play team

Problems with social skills include difficulty interacting with others, are often awkward in social situations, and have difficulty starting and maintaining a conversation. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome may develop odd, repetitive movements, such as hand twitching or finger twisting. They might also develop unusual rituals, such as getting dressed in a specific order, and are resistant to change the ritual. Some communication difficulties people with Asperger's syndrome may exhibit are, not being able to make eye contact when speaking with someone, trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language. They also have a tendency to misunderstand language in context and are very literal in their use of language. Individuals could express limited range of interests; they could develop an almost obsessive interest in a few areas, such as weather, topics in school, or sports. Many individuals with Asperger's syndrome are exceedingly gifted or skilled in a particular area, such as history or science. The coordination of individuals with Asperger's syndrome may seem clumsy or awkward.

Autism spectrum disorders are a class of developmental disorders that impair social skills, behavior, and communication (Center for Disease Control). ASDs are considered ‘spectrum’ disorders because each patient has a unique experience in the nature and severity of their symptoms (Center for Disease Control). Under the umbrella of ASDs, there are three types of disorders, including Autistic disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (Center for Disease Control). Autistic disorder is the most severe of the three, and patients exhibit significant problems with language, communication, and behavior (Center for Disease Control). Furthermore, people with Autistic disorder often have some intellectual impairment (Center for Disease Control). Asperger Syndrome is a milder form of autistic disorder where patients have some developmental delays, but their language and intellect are not affected (Center for Disease Control). The mildest of the ASDs is the pervasive developmental disorder. These patients usually don’t meet all of the criteria for autistic disorder, but do show some signs of social and communication problems (Center for Disease Control). The number of children diagnosed with ASD is growing, and currently 1 in 88 children fall somewhere on the spectrum (Mari-Bauset et al., 2013). Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism, and while the exact cause of these disorders is unknown, both genetic and

Autism is a brain disorder that is characterized by slow and difficult comprehension of spoken and non-verbal communication and repetition of behaviors. Autism is normally noticed in the first two years of a child (Myers & Johnson, 2007). Asperger syndrome is an autistic disorder that has almost the same similarities with autism. People with Asperger syndrome have little comprehension of the world and its surroundings and poor communication with other people. People with Asperger syndrome are hard to recognize, as they do not show on their outward appearances. They are average or above average intellectually and have fewer problems in terms of speech and specific learning disabilities unlike in autism. These difficulties include dyslexia, epilepsy, and attention

The person who presents looks normal, normal intelligence capacity, often skilled in restricted areas, but has troubles relating to others and sometimes presents inappropriate behaviors. As well as other conditions recorded in the spectrum, it is believed that Asperger 's disorder is a developmental disorder with neurological basis, in most of the cases is unknown where comes from. There are deviations or abnormalities in three main aspects of development:

Asperger’s Syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder that often presents itself in children during the elementary years. It is characterized by deficits in social interactions, normal developing language, fixation with specific objects, and average or above average intellectual functioning. It is highly debated over whether Asperger’s Syndrome is qualitatively different than high functioning Autism. Symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome will present themselves in a variety of ways that are unique to each individual child. Within

Asperger’s syndrome is on the higher-functioning spectrum of ASD. Individuals with ASP have similar social awkwardness as in other ASDs; however they are not as incapacitated. There are 3 main deficits that must be present in an individual for Autism to be diagnosed. As referenced in Woodbury-Smith and Volkmar 2009 article Asperger Syndrome: absence of cognitive, developmental or language delay in childhood. However, Asperger’s, is characterized by severe social impairments, such as restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests and activities [2]

Asperger Syndrome is an unfortunate condition to acquire. Asperger’s is considered to be a pervasive developmental disorder. Pervasive developmental disorders are most commonly involved with slower than average learning of everyday skills. Individuals with Asperger Syndrome will experience many difficulties. These individuals express little and bizarre social interaction. Next, their speech is monotone and short. Unfortunately, people with Asperger Syndrome will also experience difficulty with nonverbal communication. Examples of nonverbal communication are facial expressions, hand gestures, and waving. Overall, Asperger victims are socially awkward. These are all the struggles and symptoms that an Asperger victim will experience daily.

Asperger’s disorder (AD) is a disruption in the formation of the child’s physical and or psychological development and recognizing these, the disorder was separated from Autism in 1944, to provide a basis for each child to get the proper care. All children with Asperger Disorder will show some traits in these three categories; impaired social skills, trouble communicating with others and a pattern of behavior, interest, and activities’ will be limited and recurring; they become obsessed with a single theme. Usually the child will have the normal communication skills in the beginning years. They will be using single words by age one. They just will not be using them in the normal way. When doctors are testing for this disorder, they are looking for specific behaviors or skills that are either present or absent. If the right services are available, Asperser’s children will show significant improvement in language

Asperger’s syndrome is often thought of as an invisible disorder as you usually cannot tell just by one’s physical appearance if they have this syndrome. Asperger’s patients look like everyone else physically but their brains are wired much dissimilarly than someone whom is non-Asperger’s. Although there are no tell tale physical traits of Asperger’s syndrome some patients exhibit a youthful look or glow, blank facial expressions, and lax joints.

According to the extensive amount of information provided in this case study about 6 year-old Janie, I have come to the conclusion that Janie should be diagnosed as having a mild form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome. Under the Autistic Spectrum Disorder Asperger’s syndrome is one of four pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) that all fall under the Autistic spectrum. (Dombeck, 2008).ASD is a neural development disorder that is rarely diagnosed before the age of three (Roddick, 2014).ASD causes impairments in social skills and communication in different levels (Roddick, 2014).Those with ASD that are able to function at a normal level usually fall towards the end of the autism spectrum near the disorder known as a milder form of autism, Asperger’s. Janie displays a number of symptoms that are specifically common to ASD. One of the main symptoms being that Janie shows delays in motor developments such as walking and toilet training, however she has shown no language deficits or cognitive problems so far. This is extremely common in children with ASD (Asperger’s syndrome). They often take longer to reach physical developmental milestones, but children with this syndrome usually are of average intelligence or in some cases, above intelligence. (Silberman, 2001).This discovery of cases with children having normal or above average IQ’s led to the phrase that Asperger’s is basically a “high-functioning“ form of autism, because

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.