DOI: 10.1097/01.NPR.0000325974.78130.72

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PMID: 18600166

Issn Print: 0361-1817

Publication Date: 2008/07/01


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Asperger's Syndrome: From Hiding to Thriving

Kristi Weber

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Author Information: is Director of Healthcare and Admissions at Epworth Village, York, Neb.

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Excerpt

Asperger's syndrome is a neurobiological disorder identified as a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) within the autistic spectrum. It was first identified in 1944 by Hans Asperger, a Viennese child psychiatrist, in a published report describing a group of male children who exhibited what he termed autistic psychopathy.1 The children demonstrated problems in social integration and nonverbal communication associated with idiosyncratic verbal communication, an egocentric preoccupation with unusual and circumscribed interests.1 Their conversation was one-sided with a lack of reciprocity and a tendency to make a literal interpretation.
In 1981, Lorna Wing introduced Asperger's idea to the English language and called the disorder Asperger's syndrome. She identified several additional difficulties afflicting children within the first 2 years of life. These difficulties included a lack of pleasure in people around them, a decreased quality and quantity of babbling, and a delay in speech acquisition.1 The children were found to have a significant decrease in shared interests, no imaginative play, and play that was confined to one or two rigid patterns.1
Ten years after Wing's addition of Asperger's syndrome characteristics, six criteria for diagnosis were presented.2 These criterions are thought to be closest to Asperger's original work, and include social impairments, narrow interests, repetitive routines, speech and language peculiarities, nonverbal communication difficulties, and motor clumsiness.1 All diagnostic criteria include impairment of social interaction as the essential feature of Asperger's syndrome. This impairment is referred to as a lack of social or emotional reciprocity and failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental levels.3 Simply, Asperger's syndrome describes someone who thinks and perceives the world differently than other people.
Autism implies a poor prognosis, while children with Asperger's syndrome improve with maturity and into adulthood. The term Asperger's syndrome is used synonymously with high-functioning autism referentially, as PDD without language delay as a catch-all term for children who do not easily fit in, and where behavior is marked by aggressive outbursts and impulsivity not associated with attention deficit disorder.

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