Syndrome of Asperger

People with the Asperger syndrome have difficulty with ‘reading between the lines’ in a social context. 

The notion of what is socially acceptable is not intuitive.

Syndrome of Asperger
The syndrome of Asperger belongs to the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This syndrome is formed of a combination of specific symptoms. Children with Asperger’s are normal to highly-gifted but show specific problems with social communication. In addition, they have limited interest in different areas and show repetitive behaviour. Children do not show delayed language development, which is the case for the category of classic autism. Asperger Syndrome is named after the Viennese Paediatrician Hans Asperger. A lot is already known on this syndrome but with scientific research a lot of new theories are developed so a larger and better insight has been obtained.

General characteristics of Asperger’s
Besides the normal to high intelligence, we notice the following characteristics in children and adults:

• Difficulty with initiating and maintaining contacts
• Difficulty to allow eye contact with their conversing person
• Difficulty showing and dealing with emotions (e.g. judge whether something is meant as a joke or not)
• Lack of empathy
• Difficulty with understanding social rules and non-verbal communication
• Monotone voice and little facial expressions
• Shut off from the outside world
• Fascination in subjects of interests that are deviating in intensity or type (preoccupation)
• Lumbering motor skills and coordination problems
• Highly sensitive for sound, smell and touch

Positive Aspects
Besides the problems that Asperger Syndrome brings, there are benefits as well. For example, people with Asperger Syndrome can totally exclude themselves for the outside world and completely focus on their own interest or task at hand. This can lead to remarkable results: celebrities like Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci also had, according to current expectations, also Asperger’s syndrome and benefited from the advantages of this disorder.

• Good eye for detail
• A good sometimes even remarkably good memory
• Honesty
• Encyclopaedic knowledge of certain subjects
• Independent thinking