Sunday, August 07, 2011

Asperger's Syndrome (the milder end of the Autism Spectrum)

  • Communication
-Inability to express in words
-Lack of eye contact, few facial expressions
-Lecture-like, robotic/formal fashion, circumstantial form of conversation, talks most in regards to their areas of interest/expertise
-Less obvious abnormalities include unrecognized, underlying discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal language and between comprehension and expression
  • Social
-Relationships are one-sided, distant, or absent. May misunderstand relationships and are either too intense or too detached.
-May appear withdrawn or isolated or may have their own world or shy
-An unempathic objectivity leads to difficulties ranging from understanding friendship (how friends differ from acquaintances)
-Lack of social or emotional reciprocity or Appear to lack empathy
-May have the inability to show compassion instinctively in a given situation
-Lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievements with other people (not showing , bringing or pointing out objects of interest to others)
-Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level (i.e. hanging out with people their right age)
-Inability to interact successfully with peers
-May have few or no close friends
-Inability to see another person's point of view
-Lack of emotional control, particularly with anger, depression, and anxiety
-Socially and emotionally inappropriate or eccentric behavior or Socially awkward
  • Interests
-Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
-Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
-Average or above-average intelligence
-Limited range of interest, which can be their own obsession and in which they excel the most and may become their areas of specialization

Asperger's Syndrome is NOT a mental disorder. It cannot be cured because there's no problem with Aspergers. Individuals with Asperger's are the same people you see every day except they have a name/title/label to describe them. Locating a person with Aspergers is difficult. They are only at least one in a 100. They can either be a friend or loved one. They can be diagnosed or not. Asperger's Syndrome is NOT a childhood disorder, though diagnosis is frequent in children than in adults. Asperger's Syndrome is a developmental disorder, meaning the brains are wired differently from typical people. Diagnosing Aspergers has come into picture because these individuals don't fit in the "normal/typical" norms of society. They are sometimes described as weird/awkward or different, crazy, insane, or childish. Adult aspergers are hard to tell esp when they have learned to adjust to the society and are able to hold jobs and families. It is well common in males than in females, but both are the same, because females can easily alter their actions towards what is "normal" to society than males.
Traditional frameworks may indicate that the female with Asperger's Syndrome is just shy, quiet, perfect at school so her parents must be exaggerating, tomboyish, moody, overly competitive, aloof, Gothic, depressed, anxious, or a perfectionist (Fattig, 2007).

Each Aspergers is one-of-a-kind, which means not one Aspergers is the same with other Aspergers. Aspergers' main problem is social relationships/interactions. 
"[They] can be so smart and intelligent but [they are] not socially smart." - SMD

Social maturity is slow or can be stunted if not intervened.


Known people to may be Aspergers: Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Keanu Reeves, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks

Other underlying problems of Aspergers (may have or may not):
Light Sensitivity
Noise Sensitivity
Touch Sensitivity
Allergies
Social anxiety, etc

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