02 September 2021 Thursday
What is Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is one of the pervasive developmental disorders characterized by significant difficulties in social area and communication, restricted interests and repetitive movements. Its difference from classical autism, which is the first example of pervasive developmental disorders, is that there is no significant delay in language development, cognitive development and self-care skills in the first 3 years.
What is Asperger’s Syndrome? Assoc. Prof. Dr. Canan TANIDIR
Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is one of the pervasive developmental disorders characterized by significant difficulties in social area and communication, restricted interests and repetitive movements. Its difference from classical autism, which is the first example of pervasive developmental disorders, is that there is no significant delay in language development, cognitive development and self-care skills in the first 3 years.
In 1944, Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician, described four children who had difficulty socially integrating with their peers. Unaware of Kanner's definition of "early infancy autism" published a year before him, he called this self-described "autistic psychopathy". Hans Asperger stated that these children, despite their preserved intellectual skills, are clearly deficient in non-verbal communication such as gestures and tone of voice, their empathy skills are weak, they tend to intellectualize emotions, and a large part of their speech consists of interests in unusual subjects.
The cause of AS is not yet known. In many cases, genetic inheritance is thought to be important. Characteristic symptoms usually appear around 8-10 years of age. The difficulties associated with the syndrome become more apparent as children go to school because social expectations increase at this age.
In fact, these individuals want to interact with others and make breakthroughs for it, but their approach is inappropriate and awkward. They engage in a one-way, long-winded, pedantic conversation about an unusually narrow topic. They are ostracized by other people because of their clumsy social approach and insensitivity to other people's feelings, intentions, and implied communications. Family members of individuals with AS complain of a lack of mutual emotional sharing. They cannot look at events from the other person's point of view, they cannot empathize with the other person. Therefore, they cannot provide appropriate emotional responses. This is evaluated as coldness and insensitivity by the other person. They have a special interest that takes up most of their time. It is a problem when people devote too much energy and time to this interest rather than its content. So much time and energy is wasted that little time is left for all other activities. Most of their social exchanges are also related to this area of interest.
Source: Tanıdır, C. (2008). Asperger Sendromunda Psikiyatrik Eş Tanılar. Dissertation.
