Asperger’s syndrome, which belongs to the term pervasive developmental disorders, is one of the new diagnostic classifications included in the DSM-IV (APA, 1994). Asperger cited in Attwood (2009) was an Australian pediatrician who was the first to describe this condition. According to him, young people with AS have a delay in social development and social insight. Furthermore, they have striking limitations in expressing and dealing with emotions. The clinical picture has gone unnoticed for a long time, but only in the last fifteen years has this disorder been gaining increasing interest (Frith 1991 cited in Attwood, 2009).
What is Asperger’s Syndrome?
Gillberg (2003) describes people with Asperger’s syndrome as follows: “People who do not appear mentally disabled and in whom the high development of certain sub-skills is sometimes more striking than the deficit in communication, social behavior and imagination.” The literature shows that researchers have noted a difference between a normal brain and an autistic brain. It is therefore clear that the disorder has a neurobiological basis (Steffenberg, 1991), but nevertheless the different types of autism cannot yet be distinguished neurobiologically (Jessurun & Verhagen-Redtenbacher, 1996 cited in Attwood, 2009). Gillberg and Gillberg (1989) described the following criteria regarding AS:
- Socially handicapped (extremely egocentric)
- A limited field of interest
- Repetitive routines
- Peculiarities in speech and language
- Problems with non-verbal communication
- Motor clumsiness
Difficulties with social skills
“The nature of these young people is most evident in their behavior towards others. In fact, their behavior within the social group is the clearest sign of their disorder” (Asperger, 1944 cited in Attwood, 2009). What Asperger (1944) also noted is that these young people would have difficulty making friends and that they were regularly confronted with teasing from other young people. Peeters and Quak (2007) indicate that young people with Asperger’s syndrome often want to be friends with others, but they do not understand how to make friends or what friendship means. They especially have trouble understanding non-verbal cues and not finding the right level of intimacy. These young people are often unable to judge who can be considered real friends (Boyd, 2005). Young people with Asperger’s syndrome experience breaks and lunch periods as particularly stressful because of the low level of structure and the informal environment. They also often find interactions in social situations complicated. One of the possible reactions to this is that the young person isolates himself (Peeters & Quak, 2007). Another notable aspect of this developmental disorder is a lack of social insight, a limited ability to carry on a mutual conversation and a deep interest in a particular subject (Attwood, 2009).
Difficulty understanding and expressing emotions
Attwood (2009) reports that clinical practice and autobiographies confirm that in people with Asperger’s syndrome there is always confusion and developmental delay regarding feelings. The International Classification of Diseases describes an “inability to build relationships with peers involving mutually shared interests, activities, and emotions.” Regarding the lack of social-emotional reciprocity, it is referred to as a “deficient or deviant response to the emotions of others; or lack of adaptation of behavior to the social context or poor integration of social, emotional and communicative behaviors” (ICD-10).
The conclusion from an experiment by Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright and Jolliffe (1997, Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK) may be that adults with autism or Asperger’s syndrome are capable of recognizing basic mental states across the entire face, that they are impaired in recognizing more complex mental states, and that they are severely impaired in recognizing mental states from the eyes alone.
Special interests
Tony Attwood (2009) notes that people with Asperger’s syndrome have problems with the interpersonal aspects of life, but they usually have great expertise in a particular area. They have a special interest and are very into it. They are immensely interested in this and spend a lot of time on it.
Cognitive skills in young people with AS
Baron-Cohen (2009) provides a clear representation of the language development and intelligence of young people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He notes that these two aspects are scored normally to high in young people with AS. There is a very large difference in cognitive skills among young people with AS. For example, there are young people who have a head start in terms of academic skills at the start of primary school. They have often taught themselves skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic by watching educational television programs. Yet there are young people who are lagging behind in these skills. Research into the cognitive skills of these young people shows that specific learning problems sometimes emerge (Attwood, 2009). Young people with AS usually have a distinct learning style: they have a natural insight into the logical and physical world, a great eye for detail and they remember and organize facts in a systematic way (Baron Cohen, 2003 cited in Attwood, 2009). The UDL principles take this separate learning style into account and provide guidance to participate in regular secondary education, despite this separate learning style. From his clinical experiences, Tony Attwood (2005) has concluded that young people and adults with Asperger’s syndrome have a different way of thinking. The person with AS usually has a strong desire to seek knowledge, truth and perfection. Attwood (2005) also presents a different perception of situations and sensory experiences. The main focus for people with Asperger’s is to solve the problem and this is usually due to a person’s social or emotional needs. They can also discover errors that are not visible to others. They pay a lot of attention to details and are less able to understand the whole. What is also remarkable is that these people are known for their directness in their speaking. They say what they think, they are honest and have a strong sense of justice.
Poor movement and coordination
People with Asperger’s often have a different way of moving. For example, they sometimes experience poor coordination when walking or running (Attwood, 2009). Gillberg (1989) and Hallett (1993) (cited in Attwood, 2009) found that the movements of arms and legs, especially when running, are not synchronized. Asperger (1944) put it differently. He described the motor skills of young people with AS as stiff, meaning that the motor skills were not smooth or problem-free. Coordination problems were also often noted and mentioned by him.
Sensory problems
Young people with AS are extremely sensitive to certain sounds, smells, tactile stimuli or touches. The empathy of these young people is underdeveloped compared to their intellectual abilities (Attwood, 2009).
The above experiences are supported by a practical and literature study which has shown that there is indeed an unusual pattern of sensory perceptions and reactions (Dunn, Smith Myles, & Orr, 2002; Harrison & Hare, 2004; Hippler & Klicpera, 2004; Jones, Quigney, & Huws, 2003; ONeill & Jones, 1997; Rogers & Ozoneff, 2005 cited in Attwood, 2009).
Difficulties with self-reliance
Asperger (1944) described that young people with AS were often less self-reliant and also needed more help on an organizational level.
Communications and AS
Verhagen-Redtenbacher and Jessurun (1995) describe an inability to communicate with language in young people with AS. Communication will therefore not be at the same level as with other young people.
