Children with aspergers, Dealing with a Child with Asperger’s Syndrome

Did your child recently receive a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome? To understand this condition better, it is important to know that this condition is one of the many autism spectrum disorders. This means that there are a variety of conditions that manifest themselves similarly, only that the extent of manifestation varies. This means that those children with asperger syndrome may not display exactly the same skill set but show similarities in behavior.

Experts may also diagnose them with a variety of terminologies, including Asperger’s syndrome, asperger autism¸ or even describe them as displaying some form of autism behavior. Those children who are, for instance, classified as suffering from high-functioning autism have common symptoms to those with Asperger’s syndrome.

There is difficulty in diagnosing and treating asperger syndrome. It is likely that your child may have experienced misdiagnosis before the final verdict of Asperger’s.

It was Hans Asperger, a Vienna-based child specialist who observed the group of behaviors that characterize what is now known as Asperger’s Syndrome as early as the 1940’s. He observed that those with a particular condition displayed varied levels of intellect and linguistic development, but also seemed to have difficulty in communicating with others, socializing with peers, and even coordinating movement.

What makes it easy to differentiate Asperger’s syndrome from autism is that autism behavior manifests much earlier than asperger syndrome. Often, the diagnosis of asperger syndrome happens when the child is past the age of 3, with most diagnoses occurring between 5 to 9 years of age.

Children suffering from asperger syndrome display an inability to interact with others, acquire obsessive fixations on things, develop peculiar speaking habits, and even act with weird gestures. They are not expressive, and equivocally, also find it difficult to interpret non-verbal communication from other people. They also tend to be extremely sensitive to sensory impulses, including touch, sound, and light. While they are able to maintain their ability to participate in mainstream society, they may be ostracized for displaying social immaturity, eccentricity, and even clumsiness. Because of what appears to be autism behavior, they may also have been bullied more often than other kids.

Children with Asperger’s syndrome may find it difficult to be emphatic to others’ needs, and may not be responsive socially. Therapies and medication can help manage Asperger’s over the person’s life.

If your child has asperger syndrome, he or she may display these manifestations:

They may have limited interaction with other people, seemingly incompatible reaction to other people, repeating and artificial-sounding speech, a dearth of common sense, difficulty in acquiring writing, reading or solving skills, an obsessive regard for specific objects, less than ideal cognition capacities, less than ideal verbal cognition abilities, and clumsy and uncoordinated movement.

 While a child who displays autism behavior may have delayed linguistic growth, children with Asperger’s syndrome may develop excellent grammar skills, and even achieve high levels of vocabulary learning. They develop appropriately when it comes to dressing up, helping themselves to things, and even feeding. However, they may be unable to retain a sound attention span, much less organizational abilities. They have normally average to high IQs.