Asperger’s Syndrome

Asperger’s Syndrome is a neurobiological disorder normally associated with young boys from a young age through to adulthood. Asperger’s Syndrome is considered to part of the autistic spectrum as the syndrome shares similar tendencies and displays of behaviour.The name was taken from Hans Asperger, the Viennese Physician who discovered the condition and studied it. Many children with Asperger’s Syndrome have crossed my path and no two are the same, each child is unique and fascinating.

Most parents first recognise the signs and symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome when their child is ready for preschool and begins to socialise with their peers. The lacking of social skills is evident and the lack of empathy and emotions is also common and more noticable when your child is ready to start school.

Asperger’s Syndrome Children tend to

• Become uncomfortable with any sudden changes to daily routines.
• Have late or delayed gross motor development. Your child might take extended time in learning to use cutlery when eating, developing the skills to catch and throw a ball or when learning to ride a bicycle. They may hold an awkward posture and appear to have difficulty walking.
• Once at school handwriting techniques are slow developing and the outcome is very poor and illegible.
• Have noticeably advanced speech for his or her age and take instructions to their literal meanings. (Eg. “Pull your socks up”, or “hold on a minute” – which causes no end of confusion)

• Find eye contact extremely uncomfortable and often refer to it as a burning sensation to look into somebodys eyes.
• Have an advanced academic ability in mathematics and problem solving skills. Your child may well be able to remember combinations of numbers, strategies and formulas with alarming accuracy.
• Have awkward body postures and strange facial expressions.
• Have only one or two interests or hobbies that may soon turn into virtual obsessions. They can quickly master the subject or skill until they know every fine detail in which is necessary.
• Obsessing, usually about their favourite subject is common as a consequence of this one-sided conversations are also very common indeed.
• Find it quite difficult to recognise differences in tone, pitch and accents that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Therefore, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks these qualities.
• Unreliable on reading and picking up on social cues and usually lack the inborn social skills, like having the ability to read the body language of peers, begin or hold a conversation, and taking turns when talking is a no go.
• May suffer with heightened sensitivity and get anxiety through loud noises, lights, or strong tastes or textures.
• May not be able to empathise with peers.
• May suffer from depression and suicidal tendencies which is very disturbing at an early age.

Asperger’s Syndrome Literature

I suggest that you read the following novel written by a man with insight into Asperger’s Syndrome for an in depth insight into how a typical Asperger’s mind works. This was the first book that I read when I needed to know more about Asperger’s Syndrome and I could not put the book down. I was drawn into the book straight away and could relate the character in the book with particular children that i had worked with.

It is a very capturing book indeed, I could not put it down until I had finished reading it so I would strongly recommend it. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Written by Mark Haddon.