article: Asperger's Syndrome differs from autism

Post Reply New Topic

from the Springfield, Mass "Republican

Autism and Asperger's Syndrome are two of the five pervasive developmental disorders referred to as autism spectrum disorders.

Both are characterized by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills and social interactions, unique repetitive patterns of behavior and difficulties with traditional school tasks and settings. Pervasive developmental disorders are diagnosed in about one in 500 individuals.

Asperger's is often considered to be a milder form of autism, but by distinguishing between the two disorders, better diagnosis, treatment, and education can occur for children with Asperger's.

Dr. Hans Asperger, a Viennese physician, first described Asperger's Syndrome in 1944. This was around the same time that Dr. Leo Kanner first identified autism here in the United States.

Unlike children with autism, children with Asperger's demonstrate no clinically significant delays in language, cognition or self-help skills. Asperger's is usually diagnosed when the child is between the ages of 6 and 11, whereas autism is usually diagnosed much earlier, typically before age 3. In most cases, children with autism are also diagnosed with mental retardation in the moderate range, while children with Asperger's have average to above average intelligence.

Not only do children with Asperger's Syndrome exhibit normal language development, they often have impressive vocabularies. They may have difficulty, however, with subtleties in language such as irony and humor. Children with autism, on the other hand, experience delays in language development.

The greatest challenges for these children involve social skills, such as maintaining friendships, engaging in conversations and understanding the subtle nuances of social interactions. Many, but not all, children with autism seem to be aloof and uninterested in others; children with Asperger's usually want to interact with others, although they may be very awkward in social situations.

Some children demonstrate atypical speech patterns, such as speaking in monotone or with high-pitched volume, using superficially perfect sentence structure or holding a peculiar stiff gaze. In addition, some children have a narrow focus of interest in a particular subject.

Although their intelligence may be average or above average, many children with Asperger's struggle in school because they have difficulty managing their assignments, maintaining attention throughout class periods and working in groups. Their challenges with social skills can make the school experience highly stressful, especially in junior and senior high school.

Problems for children with Asperger's become most prevalent in early adolescence. Because Asperger's is not as easily recognizable as autism, many children with the syndrome are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Most researchers agree that the sooner children with Asperger's and autism are diagnosed and begin intervention programs, the better. At this time, the best approach for the treatment of children with Asperger's involves a coordinated effort by all members of the child's educational team, including special educators, psychologists, behavior analysts and parents.

Successful programs include the direct teaching of those skills that the child does not yet regularly demonstrate, such as specific social skills, academic task completion and time management. A mainstay of an effective intervention program is applied behavior analysis. Its scientifically established principles of learning and behavior are combined to address the primary areas of concern. In addition, people with Asperger's report beneficial outcomes from participating in support groups in which they can practice new skills, share their personal experiences and learn from each other.

Although medications are sometimes used to manage problematic features of various conditions, including autism and Asperger's, there are currently no medications that effectively treat the core symptoms of these disorders.

My advice to families would be to strive to create a professional working relationship with educators and clinicians. Look for professionals who are knowledgeable, caring and can work well with school administrators.

Dr. Alan Harchik is senior vice president of May Institute, which operates schools for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities . He can be reached at (413) 734-0300 or via e-mail at [email protected]

That's pretty good...

its about time
A

[ed
Blue Jay
Joined: Dec 20, 2004
Posts: 84
Location: Massachusetts

Blue Jay
Joined: Dec 20, 2004
Posts: 84
Location: Massachusetts
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 8:32 am    
Post subject: article: Asperger's
Syndrome differs from autism

from the Springfield, Mass "Republican]

....Autism and Asperger's Syndrome
(autism spectrum disorders)

Facts:
"Dr. Hans Asperger, a Viennese physician,
first described Asperger's Syndrome in
1944. This was around the same time
that Dr. Leo Kanner first identified autism
here in the United States."

"best approach for the treatment of
children with Asperger's involves a
coordinated effort by all members of
the child's educational team, including
special educators, psychologists,
behavior analysts and parents. "

direct teaching of those skills that the
child does not yet regularly demonstrate

•social skills,
•academic task completion
•time management
•applied behavior analysis

Young and Old AS alike....
"participating in support groups in
which they can practice new skills,
share their personal experiences
and learn from each other. "
(www.wrongplanet.net as a example..)


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
• two of the five pervasive developmental
disorders

"Pervasive developmental disorders are
diagnosed in about one in 500 individuals."

A)....Distinguishing between the
two disorders

1)....Asperger's

•considered to be a milder form of autism
•no clinically significant delays in language
•cognition skills intact
•self-help skills intact
•Asperger's have average to above
average intelligence.
•exhibit normal language development
•impressive vocabularies
•subtleties in language such as irony and
humor.

& Postitive Traits....>
•intelligence may be average
or above average

2)....varying degrees of impairment

?communication skills
?social interactions
?unique repetitive patterns of behavior
?difficulties with traditional school tasks
and settings.

i..."struggle in school because they
have difficulty managing their
assignments, maintaining attention
throughout class periods and working
in groups"

ii..."highly stressful, especially in
junior and senior high school"


3).....greatest challenges for these children
•social skills
•maintaining friendships
•engaging in conversations
•understanding the subtle nuances
of social interactions

& both...>
•atypical speech patterns
•speaking in monotone
•high-pitched volume
•superficially perfect sentence structure
•holding a peculiar stiff gaze
•addition, some children have a narrow
focus of interest in a particular subject.

"Asperger's usually want to interact
with others, although they may be
very awkward in social situations. "

i)....Diagnosis Overview

•ages of 6 and 11
•better treatment
•better education

ii)....Common Mis-Diagnosed

"Problems for children with Asperger's
become most prevalent in early
adolescence"

•not as easily recognizable as autism

thus mis-diagnosed:
?attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
?oppositional defiant disorder
?obsessive-compulsive disorder.

------------------------------------------------
1)....Autism

2)greatest challenges for these children
•aloof and uninterested in others
•atypical speech patterns
•speaking in monotone
•high-pitched volume
•superficially perfect sentence structure
•holding a peculiar stiff gaze
•addition, some children have a
narrow focus of interest in a particular
subject.

i)....Diagnosis Overview

•diagnosis before age 3
•diagnosed with mental retardation
in the moderate range
•experience delays in language development
-------------------------------------------------


This is the Gist of the article, I hope
it helps in reading it.

Is that the same "applied behavior analysis" that is accused of using tactics like duct-taping kids to chairs or locking them in closets?

I think that's a pretty sucky article. In other words, less than accurate. _OR_ I'm HFA and not aspie at all.

and yes, ABA is the strategy which includes the use ofrestraints and "aversives", otherwise known as child abuse administered by professionals. I have links, for those interested.

I hate articles written by people in the box. They aren't any more accurate than ours would be if we were describing them (well, except there are more of them, so it's easier).

And I can also tell you that the 'official' clinical lines of seperation between Autism and AS keep changing, each has been used to exclude the other in vice-versa terms.

On the subject of Applied Behaviour Analysis, I am against it, but it pains me when people make the WRONG criticisms of it. ABA no longer uses restraints and adversives and when it happens the mainstream behavioural community disowns it as not 'proper' ABA.

The ethical issue with ABA is it's inherent flaws which dismiss the natural course of Autistic learning(which is Implicit) and replaces it with the alien and inefficient to Autistics Explicit learning. This can cause coping problems in later life because an Autistic will know what behaviours are 'acceptable' but won't understand why. ABA teaches coping methods which become increasingly more baffling.

Now that is fascinating. Tell me more about the difference between implicit and explicit learning?

It would seem to be the difference between theory and practise. If you teach someone how to perform a task explicitly then they may lack the skill required to perform that task in a different set of circumstances. If you teach them the implicit skill then they should ideally be able to apply it in many different situations.

Ah, you touched on something completely different but still important Jetson.

No, Implicit learning is when a person teaches themself. They may do it from a book or by experimenting with learning materials available. Autistics excel at this.

Explicit learning is learning by copying from someone else or someone else going through an explaination. This isn't suitable for Autistics mainly because of the communication barrier between the person teaching and the person learning. Behavioural practitioners study behaviour, they don't study Autism. They don't believe in Autism, they believe in 'Autistic behaviour' and see it as nothing more than that. This makes them least suited to teaching Autistics because they cannot compensate for internal actions from the Autistic such as Covert Attention(where the Autistic is paying attention to something but displays no behaviour indicating that they are) and the person making deductive decisions about the situation.

Autistics only learn Explicitly when a teacher understands that the communication barrier is a mutual thing, not the entire fault of the Autistic. For example, I could not tie my shoelace until I was nine, no matter how many times my family showed me. In the end I was taught by a foreign student we had stay with us who didn't speak much English, he naturally compensated for our mutual communication barrier and wasn't biased by any view of my AUtism because this was pre-diagnosis.

Oh I see, that's what that means. LOL yeah certainly true for me. Unfortunately, in school, there came a point where I couldn't keep up teaching myself in each subject, so for most, it became a case of temporarily emulating knowledge, by memorising facts and procedures and how to apply them to questions in tests.

I liked that article, it talks alot about working in school. Im having big problems in uni at the moment, nearly over and im gonna get a rubbish grade. Except its all too easy blaming my situation on AS (thats if i have it), maybe im just lazy.

Im thinking of telling my parents about AS soon and i think this artcle suits me best.