Autism Aspergers are sometimes two disorders that are
often diagnosed as just plain autism. This condition that
is defined as "classical autism" can be found in the ASD's
known as autism spectrum disorders. The main
characteristics of autism are impaired social interaction,
unusual, repetitive activities that are severely limited
and problems with communication both on the verbal and
nonverbal levels. Other ASD's include Rett syndrome,
pervasive developmental disorder, Aspergers syndrome and
childhood disintegrative disorder. Experts estimate that
out of every 1,000 children, 3 to 6 will be diagnosed to
have autism or aspergers to some degree. Males are much
more likely to suffer with autism than females.
Common Signs of Autism and Aspergers
There are several sign of autism aspergers that one may
likely get confused with autism. Autism is characterized by
three distinctive behaviors. The autistic child has
difficulty with social interaction, has repetitive
behaviors or may have narrow, obsessive interests, and will
have problems with verbal as well as with nonverbal
communication. These behaviors may range from only mild to
disabling.
The one characteristic that seems to stand out in an
autistic child is the impaired social interaction. Signs of
autism may manifest themselves as early as infancy with a
baby being unresponsive to people. They may also focus
intently on one object for a long period of time, much to
the exclusion of others.
A child with Aspergers Disorder has a milder form of
autism. Both autism aspergers are subgroups of a larger
diagnostic category. As previously mentioned, these two
disorders are found in the larger category named Autistic
Spectrum Disorders. It is commonly known as Pervasive
Developmental Disorders in the United States. In Asperger's
Disorder, children affected by this are usually
characterized by social isolation and of having eccentric
behavior. There are impairments both in non-verbal
communication and in two-sided social interaction. They may
have a peculiar sounding speech due to the abnormalities of
inflection as well as a repetitive pattern. They may appear
to be clumsy in gross motor behavior and in articulation.
The name "Asperger" came from Hans Asperger who was an
Austrian physician who first characterized the disease in
1944.
Autistic children may fail to respond when their name is
called, and many times, they may avoid eye contact with
others. They have a difficult time in interpreting what
other people are feeling or thinking, mainly due to the
fact that they cannot understand social cues such as facial
expressions or the tone of one's voice. Children with
autism do not watch the faces of other people to pick up on
clues about appropriate behavior. They also lack
empathy.
Autism aspergers children may engage in repeated
movements such as twirling and rocking, or in behavior that
is self-abusive such as head banging or biting. Children
who are characterized with these disorders may begin
speaking later than other children ordinarily would and
they may even refer to themselves by their own name instead
of "I" or "me". Autistic children do not know how to
interact with other children.
It is too bad that there is no cure for autism
aspergers. Perhaps soon there will be a medical
breakthrough that will unlock the mind of the autistic
child.