Asperger's Syndrome is similar in some senses to Autism, but is often referred to as high-IQ Autism. Essentially, this means that while individuals with Asperger's Syndrome suffer from impairment in social interactions, their overall ability of cognitive and communicative functioning is not as severely impaired (Miller & Ozonoff, 2000).
Symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome:
1. Difficulty with social skills/cues (reading others' body languages and maintaining conversations)
2. May seem to lack empathy
3. Flat tone of speech, regardless of the context of conversation. In addition, there is often a difficulty understanding differences in the pitch or tone of others when speaking.
4. Heightened sensitivity to either sound, taste, touch, sight, or smell.
5. Preoccupation with only a few specific interests in which the individual is highly knowledgable of.
6. May have a very formal method of speaking (for instance, the child may use the word 'summon' in place of the word 'call')
7. Unusual facial expressions and/or body postures.
Above listed information taken from: (Miller & Ozonoff, 2000)
In order for a child to be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, he or she must display two or more of the above symptoms and show difficulties with social situations. Additionally, in comparison to Autism, a child with Asperger's Syndrome will usually tend to have more normal cognitive and communicative development (Miller & Ozonoff, 2000).
Image from: http://www.mugsy.org/media/alex1.jpg
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