Asperger syndrome
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
When a person has Asperger Syndrome it affects the way in which they understand other people, talk with other people, and act with other people. A person who has "Asperger Syndrome" often seems to be rather odd, and may not seem to fit in well with other people. Most adults who have Asperger Syndrome learn to cope with it. Asperger Syndrome is called a mental disorder. It is not a mental illness. Most adults with Asperger Syndrome learn how to make friends, do useful work and live successful lives.
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[change] Causes
No-one knows exactly what causes Asperger Syndrome. Part of the brain which controls a person's "social behavior" (fitting in well with other people), is differently developed in a person with Asperger Syndrome. This part of the brain also controls some body movement such as balance. A person with Asperger syndrome may have trouble doing things such as sports. They may walk or act in a clumsy way. They may also have nervous habits which are called "tics", which cause them to do sudden things like twitching, sniffing or flapping their hands. Asperger Syndrome seems to run in families. Parents who have Asperger Syndrome often have children with Asperger Syndrome, and also children who have autism.
Doctors call Asperger Syndrome a mental disorder, not a mental illness. Doctors call Asperger Syndrome "an autistic spectrum disorder", because a person with Asperger Syndrome seems to have a mild form of autism. Several different conditions can be related to autism and Asperger Syndrome.
Doctors often make mistakes about whether someone has Asperger syndrome, and they often believe by mistake that the person has schizophrenia, ADHD or mental retardation instead. Tourette syndrome often comes with asperger syndrome.
Asperger Syndrome cannot be made better by taking medicine. (People who have Asperger Syndrome are sometimes given medicine to help them if they get depressed. Depression is often a problem for people with Asperger Syndrome.)
Most people who have Asperger Syndrome have normal or high intelligence. Some people who have Asperger Syndrome are very intelligent and are called "geniuses".
[change] Affects
People with Asperger syndrome can have a hard time "fitting in" with other people. Adults with Asperger syndrome usually learn enough "coping skills" to act in a way that seems normal, but often with a few differences.
[change] Signs of Asperger syndrome
A "syndrome" is a collection of signs that a doctor can see that form a pattern that repeats itself in different people. The signs are called "symptoms". Here is a list of symptoms of Asperger Syndrome. Not every person with Asperger Syndrome has every symptom.
People with Asperger Syndrome:
- may have trouble understanding other peoples emotions.
- may have trouble recognising facial expressions.
- may be sensitive to touch
- may be sensistive to loud noise
- may be clumsy when walking and/or playing sports
- may have trouble understanding when someone is joking or using language that is not accurate in meaning.
- may often have a loud voice, a very quiet voice or a voice that does not express emotion (a "monotone" voice)
- often don't like changes in school, work, home life routines
- may learn to speak very early or very late.
- often learn to read very early (called hyperlexia) or very late (dyslexia)
- may have trouble making friends
- are often bullied in school
- as children, they might look shorter than the average height and younger for their age
- often have extremely good memory
- often have a special interest or hobby such as a computer game, sport statistics, a particular TV show, that they know a lot about.
[change] Difficulties
When people talk to each other, they use spoken words to communicate. But they also use the sound of their voice and "non-verbal communication" like "facial expression" and "body language" to give meaning to what they say. This means that when people are talking they are also looking for signs in the other person's face and the movement of their body to tell how they are feeling and whether they mean exactly the same as their words are saying.
- People who have Asperger Syndrome have difficulty reading the sound of people's voices, and get very confused if their body language and words don't say the same thing.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often don't know that another person is upset or annoyed, until the person starts yelling.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often don't know if a person is joking. They have difficulty understanding irony, sarcasm, and slang.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often don't understand that when someone frowns at them it means "You are saying the wrong thing and you should stop now!".
- If a person with Asperger Syndrome is doing what someone tells them, then they will try to do exactly what the person's words say. So if someone says "Grab your partner for the next dance", then that is what they do. They don't realise that this really means "Ask someone politely to dance with you."
- People with Asperger Syndrome often can't understand the interests of other people or why other people do the things that they do.
- People with Asperger Syndrome like doing or saying the same thing over and over again. Other people find this annoying.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often feel lonely and left-out.
- Asperger Syndrome is sometimes called "other planet" syndrome because people with Asperger Syndrome often feel that they are quite normal but are living in a world full of aliens.
[change] Talents
- People with Asperger Syndrome usually like to act in a way that is sensible.
- People with Asperger Syndrome usually have ability to see and remember the details of things that other people miss.
- People with Asperger Syndrome are very good at remembering rules, laws, systems and important facts. This is a very useful talent in many types of work.
- People with Asperger Syndrome are often better at writing than at talking to people, because they are careful to choose words that mean exactly what they want to say.
- People with Asperger syndrome are often better than most people at math and computer programming.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often have a special interest that they become expert in.
- People with Asperger Syndrome often enjoy doing the same thing many times over, which most people find boring. Many people with Asperger Syndrome are good at practising scales on the piano, at adding up long sums, and at searching through books and papers to find information and mistakes.
[change] History
In the 1940s, a doctor named Hans Asperger knew some children that were different from most other children that he knew, but were like each other. He called them "little professors" because he thought that they were so smart. He wrote a book about these children.
In the 1980s Dr. Lorna Wing made up the name "Asperger Syndrome" for people with high-functioning autism after research into Hans Asperger's work.
In 1994 Asperger Syndrome was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
Dr. Tony Attwood, Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen and Dr. Uta Frith are three of the current leading authorities on Asperger Syndrome.
[change] Other websites
- Wrong Planet Forum and chat rooms for people with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, and other PDDs (Pervasive Developmental Disorders).
- Aspies for freedom Forums and chat room for people with Asperger syndrome
- WebMD Reference pages for Asperger Syndrome
- Neurodiversity website History and information on people with Asperger syndrome
