Asperger?s Syndrome Essay -- essays research papers

Asperger’s Syndrome Today there are many different types of disabilities and syndromes. When you have a child to be diagnosed with a disability or a syndrome life can suddenly become overwhelming. This is especially true if they have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Parents sometimes feel guilty because their child has a disability or syndrome. Parents may feel that they are responsible for their child’s disability or syndrome. Parents may feel guilty about their child being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome since it is a neurological disorder. This particular syndrome is not widely recognized by the general public. Since Asperger’s Syndrome is not widely recognized by the general public, the public sometimes may not understand the behavior of someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome. This can be a challenge for a parent who tries to explain their child’s behavior to someone who has never heard of Asperger’s. Parents until recently may have known thei r child was behaving in an unusual manner but did not where to go for help. These are just some of the challenges that parents’ face when their child has Asperger’s because it has some of the same characteristics as Autism. This paper will review the definition and characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome, what assessments are available to diagnose Asperger’s Syndrome, and what particular children are most often diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome was not made an official disorder until 1994. Asperger’s was discovered by Hans Asperger in the 1940's. Asperger’s Syndrome is different from autism and is under the category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Asperger has a long definition. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV of the American Psychiatric Association (cited in Klin & Volkmar, 1995) Asperger’s syndrome follows the same format as autism. The definition of Asperger’s syndrome actually uses autism as a reference point. Asperger’s syndrome involves the absences of some abnormalities in certain areas of functioning that are affected in autism. People with Asperger’s can be highly intelligent. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV of the American Psychiatric Association (citied in Klin & Volkmar, 1995) the definition of Asperger Syndrome there is a qualitative impairment in social interaction. There should be at least tw o of the following imp... ...elligent but have odd behaviors. We as educators need to understand the behaviors of children with Asperger’s Syndrome so they will not get left behind in the classroom. With on going research maybe in the future there will be one diagnostic test that all clinicians can use to properly identify someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. When a child is labeled with Asperger’s Syndrome remember this child can be highly intelligent but with some odd social behaviors. References Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger’s syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. New York: Jessica Kingsley. Klin, A., & Volkmar F. R. (1995). Asperger’s syndrome: Guidelines for assessment and diagnosis. January 22,2005 from http://www.aspennj.org/guide.html Rubin, E. & Laurent, A. C. (2004). Implementing a curriculum- based assessment to prioritize learning objectives in asperger syndrome and high functioning autism. Topics in Language Disorders, 24(2),298-315. Tsatsanis, K. D., Foley, C., & Donehower, C. (2004). Contemporary outcome research and programming guidelines for asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. Topics in Language Disorders, 24(2), 249-259.