SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS of Asperger’s:
Asperger’s syndrome is part of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). According to medical experts, it is a mild form of autism and generally manifests without extreme mental disabilities. The main outward characteristics of a person with Asperger’s syndrome are poor social skills, a lack of nonverbal communication, and being clumsy.
When people with Asperger’s try to make sense of their problems, they often find that the description of autism doesn’t seem to apply to them. They don’t consider themselves to be someone who doesn’t have empathy, cannot form emotional bonds, and isn’t interested in relating to others. Only after reading or seeing people with high-functioning Asperger’s do they often have a profound sense of recognition – possibly for the first time in their life, they can understand their behaviour. Possibly, it could be the body language of someone or what experts could not – that many were trying to communicate through their behaviour – they weren’t oblivious, but instead listening and asking for clarification because they couldn’t understand the terms.
Rather than being considered a normal child trapped within an “autistic shell,” waiting to be rescued, Asperger’s is “a way of being that colours every experience, sensation, perception, thought, emotion and encounter, every aspect of existence.
Lorna Wing. In 1979, she introduced the term Asperger syndrome to describe the abnormal autistic personality. She describes the following 11 traits common in people with Asperger’s syndrome.
• Single-mindedness combined with social isolation;
• Pedantic speech, often consisting of lengthy discourses on favourite subjects;
• Poor comprehension of other people’s expressions and gestures;
• Tendency to misinterpret or ignore non-verbal signs;
• Impairment of two-way social interaction;
• Inability to understand the rules of social behaviour;
• Lacking the intuitive ability to adapt their approaches to fit in with the needs of others;
• Intensely attached to certain possessions;
• Excellent rote memories and intensely interested in one or two subjects;
• Absorb every available fact concerning their chosen field and talk about it at length, regardless of the listener’s interest; and
• Thought processes are confined to a pedantic, literal, and logical chain of reasoning.
HOW DOES ASPERGER’S PRESENT?
Asperger’s syndrome has a ‘signature language profile.
In a neurotypical brain, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) acts like an automatic transmission that seamlessly switches attention back and forth between the frontal lobes, as required.
In autism, however, a dysfunctional ACC keeps the person trapped in his/her left frontal lobe, the intellectual, analytical, problem-solving part of the brain – with no or limited ability to access the emotional/creative processing right frontal lobe, which plays a central role in spontaneity, social behaviour, and nonverbal abilities.
Being left-brain exclusive means that one can only process his/her emotions intellectually, by deduction or inference, a process that can take about 24 hours. Failure to process emotions causes anxiety, which is an upsetting physiological response (different from emotion) that bypasses the intellect.
Hyperfocus. Dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex is the probable cause of hyperfocus, the perpetual state of intense single-minded concentration fixated on one thought pattern at a time, to the exclusion of everything else. Hyperfocus is so intensely single-minded that an autistic person cannot divide attention between two trains of thought. An autistic person takes everything you say literally because s/ he cannot also be running a second mental program questioning how you use words. While talking at length about a favourite topic, autistic people are incapable of running a second mental program asking how they are being received or perceived by their audience. Autistic people require structured activities because they cannot divide their attention between what they are doing and trying to figure out what may be about to happen next.
SOCIAL TRAITS
Generally, they are socially awkward. One common term professionals use to describe people who suffer from this illness is “active but odd.” They lack the innate motivation to socialize as they consider themselves to be an outsider. They fail to initiate or respond to social interaction. They always speak factually, with no trace of emotion, and a deadpan facial expression.
Personal remoteness – never saying hello, failing to recognize colleagues’ faces, not acknowledging the presence of those speaking directly to them, walking down corridors paying no heed to anyone, difficulty picking up other people’s states, difficulty adapting their perspectives, not buying a gift for a colleague, or making frequent irrelevant remarks. Many of the classic qualities of autistic intelligence enable getting the job done with a minimum of fretting about offending others. Not understanding people’s emotions helps label symptoms – it provides less noise.
Trouble Understanding Social Cues. Another reason they may struggle in these situations is that they have trouble picking up on or understanding the nonverbal social cues of others. These social cues include things such as body language, gestures, and facial expressions. For example, the individual “may not realize that when somebody crosses his arms and scowls, he’s angry.
Unaware. They can appear unaware of the feelings, needs, and interests of others or how they are perceived by others. And when they pick up the clue, they may be unaware of the socially appropriate responses.
Empathy. People with Asperger’s syndrome can be socially awkward, often due to their difficulty in empathizing with others. A deficit in emotional reciprocity can be explored by examining whether the person shows reciprocal affect in facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. The clinician can tell a story of personal experiences and assess whether the person was ‘in tune’ and resonated with the clinician’s feelings and experiences by the use of nodding, reciprocal smiles, appropriate facial expressions, and complementary sounds or utterances.
Others may try to surround themselves with people, making lots of close acquaintances, but no deep friendships. This can be related to how well the individual empathizes with others. People with Asperger’s syndrome may not show any outward signs.
Difficulty Judging Personal Space. Gauging personal space is another challenge; for example, “they may stand too close to others and walk between people who are talking.”
They may also be very sensitive about their own space. For example, they tend to need more of it than the average person and can be intolerant if others invade it, like if people sit too close to them, bump into them, or try to give them hugs.
Unable to Make Eye Contact or Forcing Eye Contact. People who suffer from Asperger’s syndrome may find it difficult to make and hold eye contact with people they are speaking to. Some believe this condition is brought about by a lack of confidence. Others recount how making eye contact can make them very uncomfortable, almost painful.
There is also the theory that people with Asperger’s syndrome do not realize how important eye contact is for social communication. This may lead to the opposite problem of forcing eye contact. This can make people even more uncomfortable, while the individual with Asperger’s believes they are being more approachable.
RELATIONSHIPS
Failure to Develop Friendships. Children who have Asperger’s syndrome may have difficulty cultivating friendships. They may not connect with their peers due to a lack of social skills. They may find it hard to talk to other children or to participate in group activities. They desire to fit in socially and have friends, but have a great deal of difficulty making effective social connections and are frequently a targets for bullying and teasing. Many of them are at risk for developing mood disorders, such as anxiety or depression, especially in adolescence.
This can be difficult for a child with Asperger’s syndrome, as they may want very deeply to connect with their peers. Oppositely, some children with Asperger’s syndrome have no desire to make friends and will prefer to be by themselves.
See Friendships
• Understands love intellectually but cannot feel love
Inability to Empathize. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome may find difficulty empathizing with others. As they age, the affected person will learn the accepted social response for interacting with others. While they may react appropriately and say the “right” things, they may not understand why the other person is truly upset.
This can be an issue in childhood as the individual with Asperger’s may play too roughly with their peers or say harsh things, unknowingly hurting the other person. When confronted about this behaviour, the child may respond that what they said was true and that they do not understand the issue.
See Theory of Mind
• May understand empathy but not be able to feel it
• Cannot be emotionally available to others
• Others cannot provide an emotional safety net
COMMUNICATION
Conversation. Participating in 3-way conversations may be overwhelming. Easier to monologue than dialogue. May be oblivious to the motivations of others while they are speaking.
Misses social cues and nonverbal communication. May have difficulty following topic changes. There is often a failure of normal back-and-forth conversation due to reduced sharing of interest, emotions or affect. This can include impaired pragmatic language abilities (i.e. the ‘art’ of conversation), such as attentive listening with a tendency to engage in monologues and a failure to follow conversational rules.
They miss the subtleties of conversations, are unable to read body language and are unable to take hints. They may have no awareness of flirting.
Literal Interpretations of what people say, with a tendency for the person to become greatly confused with idioms and figures of speech. The affected individual may not understand sarcasm, instead of taking what the person has said as the truth. When they realize their mistake, they can understand the true meaning behind what is being said, perhaps with some explanation.
Prosody. There may also be unusual prosody: for example, a child may consistently use an accent based on the voice of a television character, or an adult may speak with an unusual tone, pitch, and rhythm.
In conversation, they may speak factually with no trace of emotion. Their speech pattern can sound formal and scripted, almost robot-like, with an absence of facial expressions and gestures. They may have trouble moderating “volume, intonation, inflection, rate, and rhythm of speech” as well.
All these characteristics affect the reciprocity and quality of conversation.
People with the condition may also use complex words or phrases, even if they don’t fully understand what they mean. And, when engaging in conversations, they may not know when it is their turn to speak, resulting in them frequently interrupting others.
See Language
SENSORY OVERLOAD
Many individuals with Asperger’s exhibit sensory sensitivities in the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. This is because “the nervous system has difficulty receiving, filtering, organizing and making use of sensory information”. Hyperfocus also causes various kinds of sensory overload. A sudden loud or high-pitched noise switches hyperfocus to the noise, which the autistic person then experiences with many times the intensity than does a neurotypical person. Seeing too many words on a page can cause cognitive impairment, whereby the autistic person’s mind goes disturbingly blank. Too many products on shelves and overhearing unwanted conversations in stores can trigger anxiety. Lighting displays in hardware stores can trigger intense anxiety. For some, hyperfocus exaggerates the sense of touch, making close-fitting clothing irritating and hugs unbearable.
As a result, they may experience sensitivity or overstimulation when exposed to things such as loud noises, bright lights, certain textures or tastes, hearing unwanted conversations, or difficulty listening to the radio or talking with others while driving.
They are easily overwhelmed by too much information. Anxiety results when feeling mentally trapped in a sensory assault. Coping with electronics and filling out forms may cause anxiety. Sensory overload makes it impossible to think or focus, or function, even in a normal workplace.
Some may be helped with auditory training, special glasses, noise-cancelling headphones, special diets or rarely medication.
Additionally, a child with Asperger’s “may also be unresponsive to sensations that their parents find unpleasant, such as extreme heat, cold, or pain.” For a parent who doesn’t have Asperger’s syndrome, such sensitivities can be hard to understand and may be misunderstood as misbehaviour.
One person with autism or Asperger’s syndrome may have few problems with anxiety or sensory overload, while another is crippled by oversensitivity. Even if we consider Asperger’s to be at the end of normal variation in personality, sensory oversensitivity problems are a real disability that interferes with normal activities.|
See Sensory Sensitivity
MOTOR
Poor Motor Skills. Some people with Asperger’s syndrome may find it difficult to control their gross and fine motor skills. The motor issues may manifest through poor handwriting, thought to be caused by poor hand-eye coordination.
This is a result of the involvement of the cerebellum.
See Movement & Coordination
METHODS OF REDUCING ANXIETY
Repetitive Motor Mannerisms. Along with having a very narrow set of interests and a need for routine, individuals with Asperger’s may demonstrate restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour in physical form. Most noticeably, they may make repetitive motor mannerisms.
These can include arm or hand-flapping, finger-flicking, rocking, jumping, spinning or twirling, head-banging, and complex body movements. These repetitive movements may also involve an object, “such as flicking a rubber band or twirling a piece of string,” or the senses, “such as repeatedly feeling a particular texture.” AS people call this “stimming”.
Narrowed Interests. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome may do poorly in school, but that is not to say they don’t have specific interests. Instead, their interests are likely very narrow and focused. It could be playing video games, making models, or drawing.
These activities focus their minds and provide a sense of comfort for them. If they are forced to leave their projects, they may become distressed. Likewise, if their projects are failing. Fostering these narrowed interests is important for emotional and mental support.
Sticking to a Routine. Sticking to a routine can be very important for people with Asperger’s syndrome. They may become greatly distressed and anxious when their schedule changes. New situations can be frightening.
A routine can help manage the anxiety of people with Asperger’s syndrome. Thankfully, much of our world runs on tight schedules. If you suspect your child may have Asperger’s syndrome, putting them on a tight schedule may be an effective way to help manage some of their symptoms.
Pattern Recognition. Another symptom of Asperger’s syndrome is the amazing ability to recognize patterns. Often, these individuals’ brains are trying to make sense of their surroundings, so a break in the pattern may show itself quite clearly.
This ability may be evident in childhood, as early schooling develops the neural pathways of pattern recognition. While children with Asperger’s syndrome may find the school setting difficult and struggle with their grades, pattern problems like math and art may be very enriching. Fostering this natural talent is a great idea.
EMOTIONAL TRAITS
• Unable to feel emotion
• Has physiological responses instead of emotions
• Processes emotions intellectually
• Anxiety bypasses the intellect to warn of unprocessed emotions
• Incapable of experiencing fear
• Can be angry without knowing so
• Never (or rarely) cries or laughs
• Cannot nurture self psychologically
• Shrinks from emotional displays by others
• Unable to defend against emotional attacks
TEMPERAMENT
• Drawn more strongly to certain things than to people
• Innate forthrightness tends to scare others
• Never bored, always engaged in some mental activity
• Consistent with daily routines, agitated if the routine is disrupted
• Spontaneity is not possible, activities must be pre-planned
• Cannot lie spontaneously, can tell only premeditated lies
ADAPTATIONS. Adults with AS can gradually learn to read social cues and conventions, such that the signs may not be conspicuous during short interactions, such as a diagnostic assessment.
There are three adaptations to deficits in social-emotional reciprocity.
a. Most often this results in a tendency to be withdrawn, shy and introspective in social situations, avoiding or minimizing participation or conversation; or
b. Conversely, actively seeking social engagement and being conspicuously intrusive and intense, dominating the interaction and being unaware of social conventions such as acknowledging personal space. In each, there is an imbalance in social reciprocity.
c. Achieve reciprocal social interaction by imitation and using an observed and practiced social ‘script’ based on intellectual analysis rather than intuition. This is a compensatory mechanism often (but not exclusively) used by girls with ASD, who are thus able to express superficial social abilities that can be confusing to the diagnostician.
d. Selective Mutism. Young children with Asperger’s may demonstrate selective mutism as a symptom. This occurs when they will only speak freely with people they are comfortable with and may not speak at all to strangers. Extreme cases last for years. Immediate family members are typically unaffected, as the child often feels comfortable speaking to them.
Selective mutism more often occurs at school and in public, and some children may refuse to speak to anyone starting from a very young age. This condition can go away on its own, or your child may benefit from therapy.
The idea that people with Asperger’s syndrome are not passionate is completely wrong.
The idea that people with Asperger’s syndrome do not understand humour is also wrong. These individuals may be the funniest people you have ever met.
Diagnostic Questionnaire (Rowland)
The surest way to find out if someone is autistic is to ask these five questions, to which you should receive the following responses. Example of an intellectual answer: “No, I’m not angry. That wouldn’t be logical.”
Anyone who answers all five questions above is autistic. Anyone who answers four or fewer as above is not autistic. Note: If the person answers the third question with a phobia (e.g., of heights), then re-ask the question this way, “Aside from this phobia, do you normally experience fear of any kind?”
1. How often do you cry? “never” or “rarely”
2. How often do you laugh? “never” or “rarely”
3. What are you afraid of? “nothing” or an intellectual answer
4. What are you feeling now? “nothing” or an intellectual answer
5. Do you ever get bored? “never”
