The following is an overview of the key characteristics or situations that may be different or difficult for someone with Asperger syndrome.
Forming Relationships
- Most people with Asperger syndrome want to be sociable and enjoy human contact. However, they can find it hard to understand non-verbal signals, including facial expressions, tone of voice and body language. This makes it more difficult for them to form and maintain social relationships with people who are unaware of their difficulties.
- These problems arise from a lack of intuitive ability to understand the unwritten and ever changing rules that govern social behaviour.
- People with Asperger syndrome may learn some of these rules and appear to interact quite well with others at time, but the conscious effort of keeping to the correct rules will often leave them exhausted.
Communication
- People with Asperger syndrome may speak fluently, though their words can sometimes sound formal or stilted, and they may struggle to notice the reaction of people listening to them.
- They may talk on regardless of the listener’s interest, or they may appear insensitive to the feelings of others.
- A significant language delay is rare. However good verbal skills may mask their comprehension difficulties, including a very literal interpretation of language or not comprehending non-verbal signals such as body language and facial expressions.
Flexible thinking
- While they may often excel at memorising fact in a specific subject, people with Asperger syndrome find it hard to think in abstract ways. This can cause problems for children in school where they may have difficulty with certain subjects, such as fictional literature, poetry, or religious studies.
- They may also have difficulty thinking around problems and predicting what might happen next in subjects such as science.
- In adulthood, difficulties may be experienced where situations arise for the first time. (e.g. paying a bill, applying for work or benefits.)
Special Interests
- People with Asperger syndrome often have a narrow range of interests. Usually their obsessive interest involves arranging or memorising facts so that they excel in a special subject, such as timetables, dinosaurs, or fictional characters. This in-depth knowledge or a particular subject can sometimes be used positively to excel in a particular field of employment.
Symptoms of Asperger syndrome
There are a wide variety of symptoms for Asperger syndrome. These symptoms can vary greatly in severity and an individual with Asperger syndrome may experience a few or many of these symptoms.
Asperger syndrome shares some similarities with autism however a child with Asperger syndrome typically does not experience the same language and cognitive delays or other learning disabilities normally associated with autism.
It is worth remembering however that no two people with Asperger syndrome are alike.
Symptoms during childhood
Symptoms of Asperger syndrome tend to become first apparent when a child starts school and begins to interact with other children.
Children with Asperger syndrome may:
- Have trouble detecting social cues and body language
- Have difficulty with maintaining conversations and knowing when it is their turn to speak
- Appear to lack empathy for other people and their feelings. Some people can appear to be introverted and almost aloof
- Dislike changes in routines
- Employ a formal style of speaking using complex words or phrases despite not fully understanding their meaning
- Be unable to recognise subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech
- Have difficulty when playing games which require the use of imagination
- Have limited range of interests which he or she may be very knowledgeable about
- Have poor handwriting and late development in motor skills such as catching a ball or using a knife and fork
- Have heightened sensitivity and become overstimulated by loud noises, lights, or strong tastes or textures
Just because your child exhibits one or two of these symptoms however does not mean that they have Asperger syndrome.
Diagnosis of Asperger syndrome
Diagnosis of Asperger syndrome can be difficult and requires a combination of the above symptoms and significant trouble with social situations.
If you suspect you child has the condition, the first step is to visit a GP, who will refer your child to a paediatrician or psychologist.
Symptoms during adolescent and teen years
Most symptoms of Asperger syndrome will continue throughout the teen years, however teenagers can begin to learn the social skills they are lacking in. Communication problems and trouble interpreting other people’s behaviour may remain however.
Teenagers with the condition may find that may be more immature than those around them, and can be naïve and overly trusting,
How to help a person with Asperger’s syndrome
Understanding how a person with Asperger syndrome views and interacts with the world around them is key to helping and communicating with them effectively.
Need for routine
- It can be very difficult for people with Asperger syndrome to predict or plan what will happen at any given event or time. Routine is often, the only way someone with Asperger syndrome can have a sense of predictability or control over events.
- It may also mean that a change to that routine can be very disruptive and upsetting. Young children may impose their routines, such as insisting on always walking the same route to school.
Processing information
- For most people, the majority of information received by the brain is automatically disregarded as unimportant. Many people with Asperger syndrome have difficulty with sifting through the important and unimportant information, therefore taking in a lot of details that others might miss.
- Although a positive trait at times, decision making and prioritising what is important can be very difficult with so much information to sort through. For some, making a decision over what to have for lunch, for example, can be a very time consuming and tiring process. Because of this they may need help restricting their options or structuring a timetable to reduce the incidents of decision making.
Learning
- People with Asperger syndrome tend to learn more effectively when things are presented visually, rather than orally.
- When tackling a task, many people with Asperger syndrome will do it in the way they did it before, even if that method did not work. They may recognise that it doesn’t work and may have been told a better way of performing the task, but still find themselves doing it the same way as before.
- It is often only in the action of doing something in the correct manner that someone will learn to do it that way again. Working alongside someone with Asperger syndrome and guiding them through a task can be an effective teaching method.
Physical abilities
- For some people with Asperger syndrome, poor motor / organisational skills and clumsiness may be an additional difficulty. They may find difficulty with games that involve gross motor and social skills, such as football. Awareness of this can be beneficial, and alternatives suggested.