I've observed over the years a phenomena, which, to be honest, bothers me somewhat.
First of all, I'd like to say, I have Asperger's Syndrome. When I was a child I was the epitome of what Han's Asperger described.
I was very reserved when I was young and kept to myself in a manner that did cause my parents to hear the word "autistic" a few times. I had advanced written and verbal skills, I was very black and white in my thinking and took to literal interpretations of rules which I followed rather rigidly when the demands where such that I could meet them. I did not act out in class...though I did break down crying once or twice in 3rd grade, and did get scolded on occasion for not doing my work when I was actually having difficulty with it (I came across bright enough that they tended to think I just wasn't trying when I was actually struggling), but my point is, I was not aggressive or "bad" and when backed into a corner my tendency was just to entirely shut down rather than lash out.
Eventually though, I was placed in a class with children who were...well, quite bad. A lot of these children had ADHD...or were said to. At times, they blatantly disregarded rules simply because they though they could get away with it, they would occasionally lash out at the teacher and need to be restrained. They intentionally did things they knew they weren't supposed to and generally had anger management problems. I think I probably only came across two other people with Asperger's Syndrome the entire time I was in such classes. One was a girl named Toby who was very quite and quite content following the rules (she was also there due to attendance issues) and the other was a boy who's name I don't recall, but was rather well meaning and tried very hard to get the other children to like him. Again, he was also non-aggressive and had a tendency to break down in tears when he was pushed to the limit.
My point is, it seems to me that AS has become the ADHD diagnosis of the 21st century. It seems to me that any (male) child who is difficult and doesn't mind is given the diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, without much regard to the actual diagnostic criteria or descriptions of Han's Asperger.
Asperger's Syndrome might be part of a spectrum but it's a specific spectrum.
Children with anger management problems and, ADHD and other behavioral issues are bound to have social issues but I do think they are quite different from the social issues that come along with AS.
I'm not saying there aren't children with AS who do act out, but I really get the impression that a lot of these clinicians who diagnose children are rather sloppy about it much like they were in the 90's with ADHD.
I recall once I was in a new psychiatrist's office when I was a child and my mother had brought my 2 year old brother along. We had been waiting a while and he had become rather bored, and was rather fascinated by the office decor. Eventually his boredom got the better of him and took to running off and touching a statue after he was told not to. My mother, somewhat jokingly commented to the psychiatrist "Do you think he has ADHD" and the psychiatrist rather seriously replied "Oh definitely." My mother, somewhat taken aback paused and said "Do you have children?"
My brother was acting like a normal two year old little boy who had been in a toyless waiting room for 45 minutes.
My mother, who came from a large family and had raised four kids in addition to running a small daycare at one point, concluded on the way home that that psychiatrist didn't know what he was talking about and we never went back to him.
24 Apr 2011, 4:31 pm
