finished research paper

Post Reply New Topic

I thought maybe some of you who helped me out would like to see how my research paper turned out so here you go..this is just the rough draft and any suggestions are greatly appriciated.
Missy


Asperger Syndrome
Asperger Syndrome is a developmental disorder characterized by an inability to understand how to interact socially. Usually Asperger Syndrome is recognized in children by the age of 3. Some characteristics of Asperger Syndrome are clumsy or uncoordinated movements, repetitive routines or rituals, and non-verbal communication problems. Children with Asperger Syndrome usually tend to be preoccupied with their own interests, be self-absorbed, and have difficulty making friends.
Asperger Syndrome was discovered by an Austrian pediatrician named Hans Asperger in 1944 when he published his first definition of the disorder. Asperger studied several young boys and identified a pattern of behavior and abilities that he called “autistic psychopathy.” The patterns included “a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements.” He called these children “Little Professors” because they have an ability to be able to talk about their favorite subjects in great detail and he believed many would use these special abilities in adulthood. He followed one of these children to adulthood and he ended up becoming a professor of astronomy and fixed an error in some of Newton’s works he realized when he was a child. As a child Hans Asperger had exhibited some of the same features of the disorder named after him. He was a lonely child who had difficulty making friends and was talented in language and had a huge interest in the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer and would frequently quote his poetry to his classmates who had no interest in it whatsoever. He died before Asperger Syndrome became widely recognized because most of his work was in German and little was translated.
Dr. Richard Howlin of the Chelsea Center for Learning Disorders in Michigan describes Asperger Syndrome as a kind of “social dyslexia.” While children with dyslexia have trouble understanding the written word, children with Asperger Syndrome have trouble understanding other people. They also have trouble with nonverbal communication, they are not capable of “reading” other people, they don’t understand things like gestures, facial expressions, the tone of a person’s voice and body language. People with Asperger Syndrome have trouble in social situations. The rules of social interaction come naturally to someone without Asperger Syndrome but someone with this disorder have trouble with it. For Example, someone without AS knows to look at someone when they are talking to them, and they occasionally give people a sign they are interested in what they have to say through a smile, nod or a comment. A person with AS does not know to do this and this usually makes them behave awkwardly or do things that are socially unacceptable and not realize it. A person with AS is usually very sensitive to sound, sight, taste, smell and touch. Changes can be very upsetting for a person with Asperger Syndrome, they have a need for things to be the same and a change such as the closing of a familiar store in their area or a change in their normal routine can really bother them.
Most people with Asperger Syndrome also have Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD have Obsessions or compulsions or both. Obsessions are thoughts and ideas the person cannot stop thinking about. Common obsessions are getting diseases, getting hurt or causing harm to someone else. Compulsions are actions that the person performs repeatedly trying to make the obsession go away. For example someone who obsesses over germs will repeatedly wash their hands over and over to try and keep the germs off of them. These actions become so regular that the person doesn’t even really realize they are doing it. Some common compulsions are things like excessive washing or cleaning, checking, repetitive actions like touching, counting, arranging and ordering.
There are different stages of Asperger Syndrome. The first stage is the preschool years. An AS preschooler won’t show much interest in other children or playing with them and only want to do what they want to do, when they want to do it and how they want to do it. During these years are when sensory issues will be the most difficult. The sound of the vacuum or sunlight might be unbearably painful to them. The best way to deal with sensory problems is Occupational Therapy (OT). They get the child’s attention away from the thing that is bothering them and get their focus on something positive. During this time obsessive behavior is very common. Any change in the things the child is obsessive over could cause a major tantrum. Children with AS during this time usually will also have special interests like an interest in numbers or letters or shapes. They may be able to memorize things like license plates on cars or the whole script to their favorite movie that they will watch over and over. Some children with AS even start reading at this young of an age, and have a very advanced vocabulary.
Another stage is adolescence which is hard enough as it is for a child who doesn’t have Asperger Syndrome but it is even harder for a child with AS. Kids at this age usually aren’t very tolerant of people who are different than them and this is the age when everyone wants to fit in but it is very hard for a child with AS. When being picked for group projects or for games the child with Asperger Syndrome is usually the last one picked and is usually a vulnerable target to bullies. They are not only an easy target but may not even realize they are being bullied. Bullies like to take advantage of them and try to make them do things that are stupid or wrong and a child with Asperger Syndrome is in danger of falling into those traps. These years also have a lot of depression for a child with AS because these are the years they start to realize they are different from everyone else.
In high school students are usually a little more tolerant of people different from them. If a child with Asperger Syndrome has a special interest that the school has a club for it is a good idea for the child to join the club because that will be an easier way for them to make friends with people interested in the same things as them. In college students with AS have more of a chance to work independently and to pursue there special interests more with more course opportunities then when they were in high school.
Because Asperger Syndrome has only recently been recognized by doctors there are no studies of how a child with AS will turn out when they are older if they are taught how to cope with their problems at a young age, but if they are given the chance to get the skills and knowledge they need to survive being an adult there is big hope for them in the future.
There are so many common misconceptions about people with Asperger Syndrome. Their disorder is commonly referred to as the “geek syndrome” or “nerd syndrome.” These nicknames are not only mean and insulting, but also misleading and imply that people with AS are just crazy or weird. People with Asperger Syndrome are also often referred to as “little professors,” which is not insulting like the other names but implies that all people with AS are brilliant. There are a lot of brilliant people with AS but half the people with AS have average IQs.
There are also many common misconceptions with professionals about people with AS. One is “people with Asperger syndrome prefer to be alone and don’t want to have friends.” It is true that people with AS do like to be alone but they do want to fit in and have friends they just don’t know how to go about making friends the right way. Another is “Children with Asperger lack the ability to get emotionally attached to other people.” This is completely untrue. Children with Asperger Syndrome are usually very emotionally attached to their parents and other members of their family. The biggest one is “people with AS can’t appreciate humor.” People with AS usually have a very good sense of humor and are very good at making puns.
“People with AS have a hard time adjusting and trying to fit in in this world because they feel like they are from another country. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole” (A mother of a 15 year old “aspie.”) No matter how different someone with Asperger Syndrome may feel at times they are still people and no different than anyone else. I wanted to make this paper on a more personal level of how someone with Asperger Syndrome feels but that was harder to do then it seems. I did question a few “aspies” and asked them what they would like people to know about people with this disorder and these are the responses I got. A 15 year old girl with AS said to me “I would like people to realize that people with AS are really no different than other people. If you really got to know someone with AS you would know they are not always in a bad mood and not by any means stupid.”
A 16 year old boy with AS said “I would like them to know that AS is just another way of approaching life and is only truly a disorder when it causes trouble for us and others.” He also said, “it shouldn’t be considered a handicap and it NOT a disease.” And A 25 year old aspie male said flat out he wants people to know “that we exist.”
When it comes down to it people with Asperger Syndrome are just regular people trying to fit into this world and I think people need to be more aware of Asperger Syndrome and that people with this disorder are real people and in no way stupid or weird.




When I posted the questions I came up with on a message board on the website www.wrongplanet.net these are the responses I got:

then it shows some of my responses I got to the questions i posted in my other bulletin...the paper is really 7 and a half pages long but it sure doesn't look it on here...i had to use size 14 font and do 1.5 line spacing lol but there it is!

Heh, I replied on the School Forum!