Asperger Syndrome

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a cogenital neurobiological condition that affects0.25% of the population. AS is linked to Autism spectrum disorder, and includes autistic like behavior and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills. Individuals who have AS are of average to above average intelligence, some with unusual gifts and creativity. (McCroskery, 1999)

Christopher Gillberg, a Swedish physician, who has studied as extensively, has proposed six criteria for the diagnosis. These six criteria include Social impairment with extreme self-interest; Limited interests and preoccupations; Repetitive routines or rituals; Speech and language peculiarities; Non-verbal communication problems and motor clumsiness. Social impairment with extreme self-interest might include the inability to interact with peers or even the lack and desired to interact with peers, the could have a poor appreciation of social cues, and the could have inappropriate responses to social and emotional situations. Limited interests and preoccupations might include things such as relatively exclusive of others interest and repetitive devotion. Repetitive routines or rituals, that may be imposed of self or imposed on others. Speech and language peculiarities, such as delayed early development possible but not consistently seen, superficially perfect expressive language. Odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics and impaired comprehension including misinterpretation of literally and implied meanings. Non-verbal communication problems, such as limited use of gesture, clumsy body language, limited or inappropriate facial expression, peculiar "stiff" gaze, or difficulty adjusting physical proximity. Motor clumsiness may not be necessary part of the picture in all cases. (Bauer, 1996)

"The most obvious trademark of Asperger syndrome and the characteristics that makes these children so unique and fascinating, is their unusual, idiosyncratic areas of "special interest". In contrast to more typical autism, where the interest are more likely to be objects or parts of objects, in AS the interests appear most often to be specific intellectual areas. Children with AS will show a very big interest in an area such as math, aspects of science, reading or some aspects of history or geography, wanting to learn everything possible about that subject and tending to dwell on it in conversations and free play. The other major characteristic of AS is socialization deficit, and this tends to be somewhat different that that seen in typical autism.. Children with AS are frequently noted by teachers and parents to be somewhat "in their own word" and preoccupied with their own agenda. Most children with AS, once they reach school age, tend to want to fit in more then not. They are often deeply frustrated and disappointed by their social difficulties. Their problem is not the pack of interaction so much as the lack of effectiveness in interaction. They seem to have difficulty knowing how to "make connections" socially. Gillberg has described this as a "disorder of empathy", the inability to effectively "read' others'