Asperger's Syndrome
There is some dispute among experts as to whether Aspergers and high functioning autism are the same thing, but for the purposes of this site I will use the terms interchangeably. And besides, Tony Attwood - an authority in this area - believes that the terms are equivalent in clinical practice, so that's good enough for me. Most children with Asperger's syndrome have normal intellectual and language skills, but often have terrible difficulty with social language. On the face of it, the most recognizable problem these children display is an absence of empathy for the person they are talking with. Other prominent features of the disorder are a fixation or obsession for one particular topic and flat, monotone voice prosody. I'll go through the separate problem areas on new pages - to be created soon. Diagnosis
This disorder can be quite difficult to diagnose as there are not, to my knowledge, any standardized tests that accurately test for it. The DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is not a huge help either, and doesn't even mention the social language aspect of the disorder. So not much help is at hand there either. In my experience children with Aspergers do well on the CELF-4 (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals)and equivalent language assessments. This is because children with Asperger's syndrome use complex sentences and grammar very well. Their syntax and grammar skills are often within the normal range, or even above average. They can often sound like miniature adults, particularly when they talk at length about their favourite hobby or interest. They are quite clever at masking their social language problems by having an intellectual understanding of what social rules are. So on a standardized language assessment children with Aspergers will often figure out what the social rules for a situation is, and provide an appropriate response. But, put these kids in a real life, fluctuating, social situation, with children of their own age, they will consistently misread social cues and have little to no interest in conversations that are not focused on their preferred topic. Intervention for high functioning autism There are several intervention methods to improve social language skills of children with high functioning autism. One of the more popular and effective is Carol Gray's, Social Stories. Return from Asperger's Syndrome to Home Page
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