Aspergers syndrome?

Question

what is AS? What are the consequences of AS?

Answer 1

Well, you got a lot of what it is....Here's one mom's list of the 'consequences'  of AS......

1. Lots of accidents and buying lots of extra cloths.

2. Eating of really weird things (erasers, glue, stuff we don't even know).

3. Picking and pulling things apart.

4. Temper tantrums (finally grown out of)

5. No unsolicited hugs.

6. Problems testing in school but not due to lack of intelligence.

7. Inability to get along with siblings without constant coaching.

8. Constant worries about his future.

Now for the Blessings of AS:

1. He's smarter than me or my husband.

2. One of his inventions will save the world some day.

3. He's a midget professor in the body of a 10-year-old.

4. He's honest to a fault.

5. His passions for the things he is interested in are unbelievable.

6. He amazes me on a regular basis.

7. He's learning the rules of life on a daily basis.

8. He can have conversations with me and we understand each other well.

9. He's unique and it shows from a mile away.

10. He's the most fabulous red-head I know.

Answer 2

Asperger's Disorder is a milder variant of Autistic Disorder.   Both Asperger's Disorder and Autistic Disorder are in fact subgroups of a larger diagnostic category.  This larger category is called either Autistic Spectrum Disorders, mostly in European countries, or Pervasive Developmental Disorders ("PDD"), in the United States.  In Asperger's Disorder, affected individuals are characterized by social isolation and eccentric behavior in childhood. There are impairments in two-sided social interaction and non-verbal communication. Though grammatical, their speech may sound peculiar due to abnormalities of inflection and a repetitive pattern. Clumsiness may be prominent both in their articulation and gross motor behavior. They usually have a circumscribed area of interest which usually leaves no space for more age appropriate, common interests. Some examples are cars, trains, French Literature, door k***s, hinges, cappucino, meteorology, astronomy or history.  The name "Asperger" comes from Hans Asperger, an Austrian physician who first described the syndrome in 1944.  An excellent translation of Dr. Asperger's original paper is provided by Dr. Uta Frith in her Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Answer 3

Asperger's is a form of Autism. Asperger's is sometimes called or referred to as 'high functioning autism'.

The following info comes from the Autism Society of America, they have more info about Asperger's through the links below such as criteria for diagnosis, living and/or working with someone with Asperger's, other resources, etc.

What distinguishes Asperger's Disorder from Autism Disorder is the severity of the symptoms and the absence of language delays. Children with Asperger's Disorder may be only mildly affected and frequently have good language and cognitive skills. To the untrained observer, a child with Asperger's Disorder may just seem like a normal child behaving differently.

Children with autism are frequently seen as aloof and uninterested in others. This is not the case with Asperger's Disorder. Individuals with Asperger's Disorder usually want to fit in and have interaction with others; they simply don't know how to do it. They may be socially awkward, not understanding of conventional social rules, or show a lack of empathy. They may have limited eye contact, seem to be unengaged in a conversation, and not understand the use of gestures.

Interests in a particular subject may border on the obsessive. Children with Asperger's Disorder frequently like to collect categories of things, such as rocks or bottle caps. They may be proficient in knowing categories of information, such as baseball statistics or Latin names of flowers. While they may have good rote memory skills, they have difficulty with abstract concepts.

One of the major differences between Asperger's Disorder and autism is that, by definition, there is no speech delay in Asperger's. In fact, children with Asperger's Disorder frequently have good language skills; they simply use language in different ways. Speech patterns may be unusual, lack inflection or have a rhythmic nature, or it may be formal, but too loud or high pitched. Children with Asperger's Disorder may not understand the subtleties of language, such as irony and humor, or they may not understand the give-and- take nature of a conversation.

Another distinction between Asperger's Disorder and autism concerns cognitive ability. While some individuals with autism experience mental retardation, by definition a person with Asperger's Disorder cannot possess a "clinically significant" cognitive delay and most possess average to above average intelligence.

While motor difficulties are not a specific criteria for Asperger's, children with Asperger's Disorder frequently have motor skill delays and may appear clumsy or awkward.

Answer 4

It is a bio-neurological condition.It is a high form of autism.

There are many books out there with answers to many questions and websites also that can give you answers also.

Answer 5

According to the new DSM-V, Asperger's no longer requires delayed speech development as a person can have a high verbal ability and still have delayed speech. Moreover, it is possible for someone with Asperger's to have never been diagnosed with autism but some other learning disability instead.

Also, AS might be prevalent in people you may not have thought of. While Bill Gates and Einstein are common examples, I'd say that Ray in Everyone Loves Raymond emulates many of the characteristics of people with AS particularly when he misses social cues (although that was never the writer's intent). I give him out as a possibility because AS affects people in all occupations (not simply engineering) although there might be more people with AS like tendencies that gravitate towards the engineering profession. As one person stated, he's just the typical man (nonchalant). The one on Boston Legal really suffers from PDD-NOS and not Asperger's and may also have OCD. Either that or he's got a moderate to severe variant of Asperger's Disorder (for dramatic effect).

Most likely, the guy that walks down the beach talking to everyone isn't a person whom you'd guess has Asperger's Disorder. It may be about politics, religion, money, or a topic of favorite interest (as mentioned earlier) or he may just be taking it in and has adapted to not talk about an area of interest but to reciprocate back and forth. I think what AS people need to learn is does that intense interest in an area really compromise their living as that's when it becomes a real problem. Nonverbal communication can be hard for someone with AS.

Answer 6

The previous answers pretty much cover the "what is it" part of  your question, although AS and High Functioning Autism are not the same thing--People with HFA have more problems with communicating.

The consequences are as varried as the people with AS. Two boys that I have clsoe contact with have AS, and are as different as night & day. Boy #1 eats just about everything, while boy #2 has a very limited range of tastes--jelly & margarine sandwiches on white bread (no crusts) is the usual meal. Boy #2 loves bright light while boy #1 prefers the dark & has trouble sleeping if there's a street light outside. They are at opposite ends of the class rankings with one doing everything he can to avoid doing any homework & the other one begging for extra credit assignments. Neither have many friends in ways that NT (neuro typical) people see things, but both know many people, and if they are positive aquaintances, they both consider those folks to be "friends." Both boys are frequently described as nerds or geeks, and that doesn't seem to bother either of them. Thier parents adjust their plans to fit with the boys' internal schedules, and  they don't leave the boys in the care of others who are not extremely familiar with & accepting of AS. These boys are both in high school, and neither has had a romantic relationship, nor do they seem interested. Their parents say that the boys both seem facinated by "furry p**n" - sexually explicit cartoon animal drawings.

At times, these boys talk like professors & seem to posses knowledge beyond their years, they can come up with creative solutions out of thin air, but at other times they are clueless & disinterested, or stuck into one idea or way of doing things.