Asperger’s Syndrome, also called Asperger's disorder, is categorized as a type of Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD). It is group of conditions that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate, and to use imagination.
Even though Asperger’s is similar in quite a lot of ways to autism, more severe type of PDD – there are some important differences. It is observed that children with Asperger’s syndrome typically function better than do those with autism. In addition, children with Asperger’s syndrome generally have normal intelligence and near-normal language development, although they may develop problems communicating as they get older.
Common symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome
- Problems with Socials skills:
- Difficulties in making friends, intermingling with people in social situations and often feel awkward in such situations.
- Children with Asperger’s Syndrome often develop odd, repetitive behavior like hand wringing or finger twisting.
- Unusual obsessions or rituals:
- Children with Asperger's syndrome may develop habits/ rites that they may find challenging to alter, such as getting dressed in a specific order.
- Children with Asperger's syndrome may not make eye contact when speaking with someone. They may have trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language.
- A child with Asperger's syndrome may develop a strong, almost obsessive, interest in a few areas.
- The movements of children with Asperger's syndrome may seem clumsy or awkward.
- Many children with Asperger's syndrome are exceptionally talented or skilled in a particular area, unlike other disorders.
Conditions for diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome
- "A lack of any clinically significant general delay" in language acquisition, cognitive development and adaptive behavior.
- A certain maturity learning to talk ("he talked before he could walk")
- A captivation for letters and numbers.
- Deviance in the areas of social interaction and social communication, repetitive behavior appear in the child prior to the age of 3.
Intervention:-
Special Education
Acquisition of basic skills in social interaction as well as in other areas of adaptive functioning should be encouraged.
Behavior Management
Children with Asperger’s syndrome often exhibit different forms of challenging behavior. It is crucial that these behaviors are not seen as willful or malicious; rather, they should be viewed as connected to the child’s disability and treated as such by means of thoughtful, therapeutic, and educational strategies, rather than by simplistic and inconsistent punishment or other disciplinary measures that imply the assumption of deliberate misconduct.
Behavior modification is often put in terms of ABCs: Antecedents (things that set off or happen before behaviors), behaviors (things the child does that parents and teachers want to change), and Consequences (things that happen after behaviors). In behavioral programs, adults learn to change antecedents (for example, how they give commands to children) and consequences (for example, how they react when a child obeys or disobeys a command) in order to change the child's behavior (that is, the child's response to the command). By consistently changing the ways that they respond to children's behaviors, adults teach the children new ways of behaving.
Speech-Language Therapy
Is a major part of the intervention model as it has been recognized that children with PDD have difficulties with language usually delayed speech.. Training children just to speak does not bring about a transformation of their behavior.
