Autism & Asperger Syndrome

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities. One should keep in mind however, that autism is a spectrum disorder and it affects each individual differently and at varying degrees.

Persons with autism may exhibit some of the following traits:

• Insistence on sameness; resistance to change
• Difficulty in expressing needs, using gestures or pointing instead of words
• Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language
• Laughing (and/or crying) for no apparent reason showing distress for reasons not apparent to others
• Preference to being alone; aloof manner
• Tantrums
• Difficulty in mixing with others
• Not wanting to cuddle or be cuddled
• Little or no eye contact
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
• Sustained odd play
• Spinning objects
• Obsessive attachment to objects
• Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
• No real fears of danger
• Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
• Uneven gross/fine motor skills
• Non responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf, although hearing tests in normal range.

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 is peculiar due to abnormalities of inflection and a repetitive pattern. Clumsiness is 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 knobs, hinges, cappuccino, meteorology, astronomy or history. The name "Asperger" comes from Hans Asperger, an Austrian physician who first described the syndrome in 1944.

GILLBERG'S CRITERIA FOR ASPERGER'S DISORDER

1. Severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction
   (at least two of the following)
   (a) inability to interact with peers
   (b) lack of desire to interact with peers
   (c) lack of appreciation of social cues
   (d) socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior
   
2. All-absorbing narrow interest
   (at least one of the following)
   (a) exclusion of other activities
   (b) repetitive adherence
   (c) more rote than meaning
   
3. Imposition of routines and interests
   (at least one of the following)
   (a) on self, in aspects of life
   (b) on others
   
4. Speech and language problems
   (at least three of the following)
   (a) delayed development
   (b) superficially perfect expressive language
   (c) formal, pedantic language
   (d) odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics
   (e) impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings
   
5. Non-verbal communication problems
   (at least one of the following)
   (a) limited use of gestures
   (b) clumsy/gauche body language
   (c) limited facial expression
   (d) inappropriate expression
   (e) peculiar, stiff gaze
   
6. Motor clumsiness: poor performance on neurodevelopmental examination

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