Aspergers Research Thread - What is it?

[MariaRegina]

I have to do a college paper on Aspergers for my course in child language acquisition and communicative disorders and I only know a little about it. So, I will share my studies.

Are there any clinicians here at CF who are working with Asperger's patients? Would you be willing to share your knowledge about Aspergers? Is this condition hereditary? Or is it environmentally induced? Or does anyone really know yet? Do you know any good websites for clinicians, patients, or caregivers?

To comply with privacy laws, any research that I mention will use only the initials or a pseudoname of a client.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

 

[Lena75]

From what I know, Aspergers is high-functioning autism. Now autism is a neurological disorder. It is not a disease. It is under an "umbrella" of PDD - Pervasive Developmental Disorders. There are several types of autism/aspergers. It can range from mild, moderate, severe and profound. My son is moderately autistic along with another "label" MID - Moderately Intellectually Delayed. There are several symptoms that can pretty much classsify a child/person as autistic.

For Aspergers here are some links you might be interested in. http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/autism/autismlinks.html#aspergers
http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/autism/autismlinks.html#brain
http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/autism/autismlinks.html#diagnosislinks
http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/autism/autismlinks.html#treatmentlinks

Those are for autism/aspergers.
If you need any more info, just let me know and I'll answer the best I know how. Myself, I am still learning more everyday and don't know as much as some other folks here might.

Good luck with your paper!

 

[MariaRegina]

Thanks, I will begin to do my research over this weekend.

 

[Cat59]

My son has been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome
This is a link to the National Autistic Society in UK, which gives more details.
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=212&a=3580
Excellent books on the subject have been written by Prof. Lorna Wing, Prof Uta Frith and Digby Tantum, who have all been involved with and discuss research. Christopher Gillberg is another international expert.

 

[Benedicta00]

From what I can gather it's all a matter of opinion if it is actually part of Autism or it's own disorder. I know the DSM 5 gave it it's own category. I have been told by my own psychologist that it's a cousin to Autism and other say that Autism is a spectrum disorder with PDD and Asperger's on the high end. My son falls in the PDD/high functioning Autism slot on the scale. I was told Asperger is ruled out, whatever that means. I do however think another child of mine, my eldest son is a very, very high functioning Asperger undiagnosed. I know ADD and Asperger are look alikes and many have been misdiagnosed wit ADD when indeed they are Asperger.

I don’t know if this as anything to do with anything asked, but I thought I would share my thoughts about the matter. We’re just tipping the iceberg learning and being aware of this disorder- Autism and Asperger. We just do not know anything definitive about what this is and where it comes from. It’s all based on opinion.

 

[Lena75]

Wow, Shelb! That's an interesting view. Our son is moderately autistic so we're basically learning as we go. We're all going to have different opinions and different views on things. That's what is going to make this forum interesting!

 

[Cat59]

Certainly amongst health professionals here, (UK) where Asperger's is a diagnosis used in preference to PDD or high functioning autism, a lot of the children given this label would have met the criteria for autism earlier on. One of the criteria is no languauge delay, which most of the kids I know thru T's school with Asperger's syndrome (a special school for children with autism and ASD) had. I'm less interested in T's label than trying to look at his strengths and difficulties and working on those, as is his school.

 

[Kristy102]

Both Albert Einstien and Issac Newton were described as having symptoms of aspergers. In my opinion it's not a disorder at all, but a gift. I beleive these children think so deeply that they can't relate to others, and it is we who don't understand them. you might find this interesting:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7138/lobby/disability.htm

 

[MariaRegina]

Both Albert Einstien and Issac Newton were described as having symptoms of aspergers. In my opinion it's not a disorder at all, but a gift. I beleive these children think so deeply that they can't relate to others, and it is we who don't understand them. you might find this interesting:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7138/lobby/disability.htm

One of my teachers told me that all the highly gifted children suffer in pragmatics because their head is in the books on or the computer learning. Either a person is a socialite with great pragmatic skills (and not very good grades) or they have good grades at the expense of socialization.

Do you agree with this?

 

[tomwakefield]

I was diagnosed with Asperger's late last year/early this year (though it doesn't affect me much in day to day life), so feel free to PM me about it and I'll answer as best I can.