What is Asperger Syndrome?

Asperger syndrome is a medical disorder; to be more precise, it is an autism spectrum disorder, and patients of this disorder show significant difficulties in usual social interactions, along with repetitive and restricted patterns of interests and behaviour. This disease differs from other common autism spectrum disorders regarding its relative preservation of cognitive and linguistic development. This disorder is usually not required for the diagnosis because atypical use of language and physical clumsiness are frequently reported.

The disorder Asperger syndrome has been given a name after an Austrian paediatrician Hans Asperger. In 1944, Hans Asperger described a few children in his practice that lacked nonverbal communication skills and those children also demonstrated limited empathy with their peers. Moreover, they were physically clumsy. Then fifty years later, it was finally standardized as a disorder, but many questions remained unanswered about the disorder. For example, there is a doubt about its distinction from the HFA i.e. high-functioning autism. In fact, because of this doubt its prevalence is not yet firmly established.

The international medical community has proposed to eliminate the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, replaced by a more generalized diagnosis of the autism spectrum disorder on a severity scale.

Cause and treatment

The exact cause of the disorder is still unknown, but research connects it to genetic basis. Up till now, brain imaging techniques have not successfully traced a clear common pathology. No single treatment is available for the disorder, and moreover, very limited amount of data supports the effectiveness of some particular interventions.

The most appropriate method of management known till now is behavioural therapy i.e. specifically focusing on the deficits in order to address their poor communication skills, repetitive or obsessive routines and other physical clumsiness. Most of the patients improve over time, but difficulties in social adjustment, problems in communication and independent living attitude continue into the adulthood. Some doctors and people who are suffering from Asperger’s have advocated an attitude that the syndrome should be seen as a difference rather than a disability that should be cured or treated.

Characteristics

Asperger syndrome, a pervasive developmental disorder, is distinguished from other disorders of its class by a pattern of specific symptoms rather than a particular symptom. Asperger syndrome is characterized by qualitative impairment in the social interaction, by restricted and stereotyped patterns of the behaviour, interests and activities, and also by no significant delay (clinically) in the cognitive development or delay (general) in the development of language.

One-sided verbosity, intense preoccupation with a narrow subject, physical clumsiness and restricted prosody, are some typical symptoms of the condition, but they are not required for the diagnosis.

Cultural aspects

Patients with Asperger syndrome may restrict themselves in some casual conversation just like aspies, a term given by Liane Holliday Willey in year 1999. The term neurotypical which is abbreviated as NT best describes an individual whose neurological development is typical and this term is more often used to denote non-autistic people. The modern world of computers and Internet has allowed patients of AS to celebrate and communicate with each other in a way that was previously not possible, simply because of their geographic dispersal and rarity.

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