What Is Asperger’s Syndrome

By Scott Boyd

What is Asperger’s Syndrome: Typical spectrum of behavior that is often seen in children with this disorder are highlighted below:

— Asperger’s Syndrome was first recognized by Dr. Hans Asperger, a Viennese pediatrician, in 1944. He noted similar personality and behavior traits in children that were referred to his clinical practice.

— Asperger’s Syndrome is not a mental illness but rather a personality disorder and therefore Dr. Asperger originally termed the condition as Autistische Psycopathen im Kindersalter or autistic personality disorder.

— The major noted traits of the children he worked with included, delayed social abilities, difficulty in verbal and non-verbal communication, difficulties with the conversational aspects of language, difficulties in making friends, immature empathy, difficulties in maintaining attention, high levels of attention to specific topics, age inappropriate need for assistance with daily living, some sensitivity to sounds, touch, scents and textures.

— Studies showed that children with Asperger’s Syndrome have a normal IQ range and, with early language development, are more able to form friendships and socialize with peers between the ages of 4 and 6 when compared to children with autism.

— A correct diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, not Autism, is required for the correct services and strategies to assist these children in language and social skills development throughout their life.

— While diagnosis is possible in infancy or early children most individuals will be diagnosed in the early children years.

— Children that are diagnosed with this disorder may also have a prior diagnosis of ADHD ( Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder), SPLD (Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder), movement disorders such as Tourette’s Syndrome, mood disorders such as GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), eating disorders or a non-verbal learning disability (NLD).

— Teens diagnosed with the disorder often have difficulties with planning, organization and scheduling and the signs of Asperger’s Syndrome become more pronounced when the teen is stressed or when changes occur.

— Other forms of diagnosis can happen when a conduct or personality disorder is suggested, another family member is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome or Autism or information about the disorder is provided to the family via television or the media.

— A diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome is important to allow the child to develop compensatory and adjustment strategies. These can include reactive depression, escape into imagination, denial and arrogance all which are negative. A positive option for adjustment is the imitation mechanism which allows the individual to imitate the peer group in social situations.

— A diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome will allow special services for the child at all ages and even into adulthood. It can help prevent depression and anger when diagnosis is delayed. It can also impose inaccurate limitations on the individual if factual information about the disorder is lacking.

Diagnosis

Obtaining a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome requires specific testing and observation. In addition there are potential difficulties in the diagnostic criteria used in the DSM-IV based on the age of the individual and other factors. Summary points include:

— Female patients are more difficult to diagnose than males of the same age due to imitation strategies more commonly used by females.

— Asperger’s Syndrome is diagnosed using questionnaires rather than specific medical tests. There are eight that can be used with children and a total of six that are used for diagnosing adults.

— The most used diagnostic criteria fwas developed by Christopher Gillberg based on those originally developed by Dr. Asperger and addresses areas of difficulty as well as areas of ability that are specific to individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome. The rate of diagnosis using the Gillberg questionnaire is approximately 1 in every 250 children. This number is assumed by researchers to be about half of the number of individuals that meet the criteria for a diagnosis.

— High functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome cannot be absolutely proven to be different conditions.

— Children at five years of age or older can be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome with “reasonable confidence”. Prior to this age the signs and behaviors that are within this spectrum may dissolve and cease to be an issue. A diagnosis before the age of five is therefore considered to be tentative.

— Adult diagnosis is largely determined on the honesty of self-reporting through the questionnaire and has to be at a clinically significant level of functional impairment to be considered a valid diagnosis. Severity of the symptoms in adults is not a major factor but the support mechanisms, coping strategies and the circumstances in which the symptoms are exhibited are.

— The DSM-IV criteria are problematic for a diagnosis because of a variety of reasons. These include differences in the criteria for language delay for inclusion and exclusion, the change in language acquisition as a child matures, lack of inclusion of the often noted unusual language patterns in children and the fact that a diagnosis of Autism takes priority over a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome if both are present.

About the Author: Scott Boyd is a published author and writer for the blog

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