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Asperger syndrome
Specialty	Psychiatry

Asperger's syndrome (AS, or the more common shorthand Asperger's), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of High-Functioning Autism. In very broad terms, individuals with Asperger's are considered to have as least normal intellectual capacity and an atypical social capacity.

The term "Asperger's syndrome" was coined by Lorna Wing in a 1981 medical paper. She named it after Hans Asperger, an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician.

Characteristics

Like other conditions classified as an Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger's syndrome is considered to be rather gender biased, with males comprising approximately 75 percent of the diagnoses. This figure may not be completely accurate, as females are arguably more exposed to social situations and thus have more of a chance to learn to imitate the non-autistics and behave "normally".

Physically, people with Asperger's syndrome are no different from non-autistics. The difference lies in their personal life. Non-autistics are able to gather a whole host of information about other people's cognitive and emotional states based on clues gleaned from the environment and the other person's body language, but people with Asperger's syndrome have an impairment in this ability, which is referred to as mind-blindness. Those severely affected by mind-blindness can not determine what the intention of smile even is, as they may be confused as to whether it is an understanding, condescending, or malicious smile, and at worst they will not even see the smile, frown, smirk, or any other nuance of interpersonal communication. People with Asperger's syndrome generally find it difficult or even impossible to "read between the lines", or figure out things a person is implying but is not saying directly. This is not because they can't imagine the answer, but because they cannot determine the correct possibility or option in the situation. It is worth noting, however, that since it is a spectrum disorder, some people with Asperger's syndrome are nearly normal in their ability to read facial expressions and intentions of others. Those with Asperger's syndrome often have difficulty with eye contact, and many make very little eye contact because they find it overwhelming, while others have unmodulated, staring eye contact that can be off-putting to others.

Asperger's syndrome can involve an intense and obsessive level of focus on things of interest and is often characterized by special (and possibly peculiar) gifts; one person might be obsessed with 1950's professional wrestling, another with national anthems of African dictatorships, another with building models out of matchsticks. Particularly common interests are means of transport (for example trains), computers, and dinosaurs. These interests are often coupled with an unusually high capacity to retain and recall encyclopedic amounts of information about the favored subject.

In general, orderly things have appeal to individuals with Asperger's. When these special interests coincide with a materially or socially useful task, the individual with Asperger's can often lead a profitable life. The child obsessed with naval architecture may grow up to be an accomplished shipwright, for instance. In pursuit of these interests, the individual with Asperger's often manifests extremely sophisticated reason, an almost obsessive focus, and eidetic memory. Hans Asperger called his young patients "little professors", based on the fact that his thirteen-year-old patients had as comprehensive and nuanced an understanding of their field of interest as university professors.

Individuals with Asperger's have emotional responses as strong as, or perhaps stronger than, most people, though what generates an emotional response might not always be the same. What they lack (or are markedly slower to develop) is the inborn ability to perceive the emotional states of others or to express their own emotional state via body language, facial expression, and nuance in the way that most people do. Many people with Asperger's report a feeling of being unwillingly detached from the world around them; they lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction, and they equally lack the ability to broadcast their own emotional state to the world accurately.

This leads to many troubles in childhood and adulthood. Asperger's children are often the target of bullying at school because of their idiosyncratic behaviour, language, and interests, and because of their lower or delayed ability to perceive and respond in socially expected ways to non-verbal cues, particularly in situations of interpersonal conflict.

When a teacher asks a child with Asperger's, "Did the dog eat your homework?", the child with Asperger's may not immediately understand the expression, and might remain silent, trying to figure out if they need to explain to the teacher that they don't have a dog and also that dogs don't generally like paper. The child doesn't understand what the teacher is asking, cannot deduce the teacher's meaning, or the fact that there is a non-literal meaning, from the tone of voice, posture or facial expression, and is faced with a question which makes as much sense to him as "Did the glacier in the library bounce today?". The teacher may walk away from the experience frustrated and thinking the child is arrogant, spiteful, and insubordinate. The child sits there mutely, feeling frustrated and wronged.

Those affected by Asperger's may also manifest a range of other sensory, developmental, and physiological anomalies. It is common for Asperger's children to evidence a marked delay in the development of fine motor skills. They may display a distinctive "waddling" or "mincing" gait when they walk and may walk with their arms held out in an unusual manner. Compulsive finger, hand, or arm movements, such as flapping, are also observed.

Some Asperger's children suffer from varying degrees of sensory overload, and may be pathologically sensitive to loud noises or strong smells and may dislike being touched — for example, certain Asperger's children exhibit a strong dislike of having their head touched or their hair disturbed. The "sensory overload" factor may exacerbate problems faced by Asperger's children at school, where levels of noise in the classroom can become almost intolerable for them, and some are unable to block out certain repetitive stimuli, such as the constant ticking of a clock. Whereas most children will stop registering this sound after a short time and can only hear it if they consciously listen for it, the aspergian child can become distracted, agitated, or even violent if the sound is not removed. These characteristics often continue through adulthood.

Children with Asperger's often display advanced abilities for their age in language, reading, mathematics, spatial skills, or music, sometimes into the "gifted" range, although as noted above, they may be counterbalanced by appreciable delays in other developmental areas. Also, as with most gifted children, children with Asperger's are often misdiagnosed by teachers as being a "problem child" or a "poor performer," but the reality is that they usually simply have an extremely low tolerance and motivation for what they perceive to be mundane and mediocre tasks, and will often rather daydream within their own focused universe than work on the task at hand.

There seems to be a strong correlation between those with Asperger's syndrome, High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and the INTP type of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): description 1, description 2. Another theory states that Asperger's correlates to the INTJ personality type, whereas High-Functioning Autism correlates to the INFJ personality type.

Social interaction and cognitive patterns

Asperger's syndrome almost always leads to problems with normal social interaction between peers. In childhood and teenage years, this can cause severe problems, as a child or teen with Asperger's syndrome can have difficulty interpreting subtle social cues, and as such may be ostracized by their peers, which may lead to physical and/or social mistreatment. A child or teen with Asperger's syndrome is frequently puzzled as to the source of this mistreatment, unaware of what has been done "wrong". Recent efforts in the field of special education have concentrated on teaching children with Asperger's how to interact with their peers, achieving only moderate success, while the alternative of teaching their peers to cope with Asperger's syndrome children does not seem to have been seriously considered by many professionals. The social alienation of some people with Asperger's syndrome is so intense in childhood that some create imaginary friends for companionship (although this is certainly not specific to Asperger's syndrome as non-autistics may do the same as well).

Asperger's syndrome hardly guarantees a miserable life. Often the intense focus and tendency to work things out logically, a characteristic of Asperger's syndrome, may in some cases grant people with the syndrome a high level of ability in their field of interest. Despite their difficulty with social interaction, some people with Asperger's syndrome possess a rare gift for humor (especially puns, wordplay, doggerel, satire), and writing. In fact, sometimes their fluency with language is such that a number of them also qualify as hyperlexic. Tony Attwood refers to the child's skill at inventing expressions, e.g. "tidying down" (the opposite of tidying up) or "broken " (when referring to a baby brother who cannot walk or talk), and remarked "Perhaps the child could be given a creativity prize for lateral thinking that produces a novel word, phrase or description, and incorporate their unusual words or phrases when writing a story book" (Attwood, 1997).

While many people with Asperger's will probably not have lives that are considered a social success by common standards - and there are many who will remain alone their entire lives - it is possible for some to find understanding people with whom they can have close relationships. Many autistics have children, in which case their children may be neurotypical or may have an autism spectrum disorder. Many autistics are unaware of their autism, because milder forms of autism are widely misunderstood and often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed by professionals.

Social Stories and Comic Book Conversations

Carol Gray, a well-recognized researcher in the area of educational intervention for individuals on the autism spectrum, has developed a technique called the Social Story that has been found helpful in explaining social situations. A Social Story is a story written for a particular individual with Asperger's in order to provide a written framework for a social situation that they encounter regularly and have difficulty working through. The story is constructed of four types of sentences:

• descriptive sentences describe the situation in terms of cues or characteristics that can be observed whenever the situation occurs
• perspective sentences that tell about a person's internal state such as their knowledge, feelings, beliefs, or motivations
• directive sentences identify a suggested response or choice of responses
  • note that these stories are a collaborative effort between the individual with Asperger's and his or her teacher, and in no way seek to "tell the person what to do" - the stories aim to provide a written, visual cue as to how a situation may be encountered and dealt with
• affirmative sentences emphasize the other three types, often expressing a commonly shared opinion or value within a culture. E.g. the perspective sentence "Sometimes I get angry." may be followed by the affirmative sentence "This is okay. Many people get angry. "

This type of structured, written and visual cue can often be helpful to individuals with AS.

A similar type of written/visual cue called a Comic Strip Conversation can also be helpful. A social situation is illustrated similar to a comic strip. Highly salient cues to location are illustrated. Stick figures are used to represent the actors in the situation. Speech bubbles represent things that were actually said, and thought bubbles represent what the person with Asperger's was thinking and what the other individual may have been thinking. A color code is used to represent the underlying emotions or motivations. Often, adding the structure and visual cues to the situation assists the Aspergian to perceive otherwise-missed social cues.

DSM definition

Asperger's is defined in section 299.80 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as:

1. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
   1. Marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction.
   2. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level.
   3. A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people).
   4. A lack of social or emotional reciprocity.
2. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
   1. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus.
   2. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals.
   3. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements).
   4. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
3. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
4. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age two years, communicative phrases used by age three years).
5. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills or adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
6. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

'Please read the DSM cautionary statement. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals diagnostic criteria is criticized for being vague and subjective, as what one psychologist calls a "significant impairment", another psychologist may call insignificant.

Christopher Gillberg in A Guide to Asperger Syndrome (Cambridge: Cambrige University Press, 2002), also criticizes the "no significant delay" clauses of the DSM, and to a lesser extent some of the others as well, and argues the clauses represent a misunderstanding or oversimplification of the syndrome. He states that while there may well be significant delay in some areas of language development, it is often combined with exceptionally high functioning in other language-related areas, and argues that this combination superficially resembles, but is in reality very different from, normal development in language and adaptive behaviour.

Relationship to autism

Experts today generally agree that there is no single mental condition called autism. Rather, there is a spectrum of autistic disorders, with different forms of autism taking different positions on this spectrum. But within certain circles of the autism community, this concept of a "spectrum" is being severely questioned. If differences in development are purely a function of differential acquisition of skills, then attempting to distinguish between "degrees of severity" may be dangerously misleading. A person may be subjected to unrealistic expectations, or even denied life-saving services, solely on the basis of very superficial observations made by others in the community.

In the 1940s, Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, working independently in the United States and Austria, identified essentially the same population, Asperger's group being perhaps more "socially functional" than Kanner's as a whole. Some of Kanner's originally identified autistic children might today get an Asperger's syndrome diagnosis, and vice versa. It is a mistake to say that a "Kanner autistic" is a child who sits and rocks and does not communicate. Kanner's study subjects were all along the spectrum.

Traditionally, Kannerian autism is characterized by significant cognitive and communicative deficiencies, including delays in or lack of language. Often it will be clear that these people do not function normally. An individual with Asperger's on the other hand will not show delays in language. It is a more subtle disorder and affected individuals will often only appear to be eccentric.

Researchers are grappling with the problem of how to divide up the spectrum. There are many potential divisions, such as autistics who speak versus those who do not; autistics with seizures versus those without, autistics with more "stereotypical behaviors" versus those with fewer, and so forth. Some researchers continue to try and identify genes associated with these traits as a way to make logical groupings. Eventually, one may hear autistics described as being with or without the HOXA 1 gene, with or without changes to chromosome 15, etc.

Some clinicians believe that communicative and/or cognitive deficiencies are so essential to the concept of autism that they prefer to consider Asperger's as a separate condition altogether from autism. This opinion is a minority one. Uta Frith (an early researcher of Kannerian autism) has written that people with Asperger's seem to have more than a touch of autism to them. Others, such as Lorna Wing and Tony Attwood, share in Frith's assessment. Dr. Sally Ozonoff, of the University of California at Davis's MIND institute, argues that there should be no dividing line between "high-functioning" autism and Asperger's, and that the fact that some individuals do not start to produce speech until a later age is no reason to divide the two groups, as they are identical in the way they need to be treated.

Possible causes and origins

The causes and origins of autism and Asperger's syndrome are subjects of what is still an area of considerable debate. This debate happens while the other broader debate about whether Asperger's and other conditions (such as ADHD) are part of the so-called autism spectrum or not continues.

Amongst several competing theories are the underconnectivity theory developed by cognitive scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, the extreme male brain theory by Simon Baron-Cohen, the lack of theory of mind, and the Pre-operational autism theory, which states that autistic people are those who get neurologically stuck at the pre-operational stage of cognitive development, where much of information processing is at a holistic-visual level and is largely musical and non-verbal. This also addresses the issue of the theory of mind where children at the pre-operational stage of cognitive development have not attained decentralisation from egocentrism.

• Monotropism

The Monotropism hypothesis argues that the central feature of Autism is attention-tunnelling, monotropism. The hypothesis is founded on the model Mind as a Dynamical System: Implications for Autism. In this model of mind, the fundamental and limited resource is mental attention. Mental events compete for and consume attention. In a polytropic mind, many interests are aroused to a moderate degree. In a monotropic mind, few interests are very highly aroused. When many interests are aroused, multiple, complex, behaviours emerge. When few interests are aroused then a few, intensely motivated, behaviours are engendered. From monotropism hypothesis, autism results from different strategies of distributing attention in the brain.

• Underconnectivity theory

The underconnectivity theory indicates a deficiency in the coordination among brain areas. With the aid of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), it was seen that white matter, which connects various areas of the brain like cables, has abnormalities in people with autism. (For those interested in brain studies, see Neuropsychology.)

However, absent from much analysis of fMRI data collected from a select group of AS-diagnosed people is the likelihood that differences in the white/grey matter ratio can be accounted for by neuroplasticity (see Plasticity (brain)), the ability of the brain to rewire itself in response to environmental stimuli. Thus disturbances in normal emotional development can affect the brain's maturation process during childhood and adolescence. Data from fMRI studies have to date proven both inconclusive and open to multiple interpretations and recent studies have revealed marked differences between the traditional HFA/Kanners group, who all exhibit early communication deficits, and the much wider AS group (see "Investigation of neuroanatomical differences between autism and Asperger syndrome." March 2004 Lotspeich LJ et al.). The vast majority of the AS-diagnosed have not undergone any form of brain imaging. Diagnosis is made purely on clinical observation with many having been previously diagnosed with ADHD, schizophrenia (itself of questionable scientific validity - see Mary Boyle: Schizophrenia a Scientific Delusion), social anxiety disorder etc. All the behavioural traits associated with AS can be found to varying extents in a sizable section of the general populace, the distinction mainly being one of degree. Within the AS-diagnosed community there is an enormous variation both in the manifestation of associated traits and in the onset of social withdrawal ranging from early childhood to early adulthood. With a paucity of consistent neuroscientific data concepts such as the "broad autistic spectrum" remain at best theories that fail to account for much more pervasive changes in the social environment evident in the select group of countries where an AS diagnosis is common.

The underconnectivity theory holds that autism is a system-wide brain disorder that limits the coordination and integration among brain areas. This theory is parsimonious, in that it explains why autistic people are matured on certain dimensions, such as visual information processing and logical analysis, and yet are socially — and sometimes neuro-physiologically — significantly younger than their chronological age. The underconnectivity theory can be regarded as monotropism in the brain.

• Vaccines

One of the most controversial claims along these lines is that conditions such as autism and Asperger's are caused by adverse side-effects of immunization — particularly the so-called triple antigen vaccine — and from the heavy-metal preservatives that are still sometimes used in their manufacture. This theory has a degree of popular currency and has been discussed in a number of documentaries on the subject. It has also been supported by some recent research that indicates that glutathione, a natural antioxidant, may be unusually low in autistic people; this may explain why the tiny amounts of mercury found in vaccines might be detoxified in the bodies of some children, but cause damage that leads to autism in a few. If this theory has merit, a blood test for autism, measuring glutathione levels, might be in the offing in the near future. However, critics argue that this theory fails to address the basic empirical observation that Asperger's and related disorders are overwhelmingly predominant in males, yet children of the two sexes are immunized in roughly equal numbers. Although recent evidence in Japan, which replaced MMR vaccines with single vaccines while still seeing skyrocketing autism rates, seems to have put a large dent in this claim .

• Genetic traits

A lesser known theory is that Asperger's and related syndromes may, in part, perpetuate genetic traits which were once highly advantageous to survival. One of the most notable characteristics of many people with Asperger's is that even very young children display a prodigious and often eidetic (photographic) memory, with the ability to precisely recall very large amounts of music, dialogue and speech after even a single hearing.

Although being able to precisely memorize and recall vast amounts of detail, such as cricket scores, dinosaur facts or television-show dialogue, may seem little more than an unusual trait in some societies, it is important to realize that such a skill would have had a high value in pre-literate society. The ability to accurately memorize and re-tell stories, myths, histories and other important oral traditions — such as directions to a remote food or water source — could have meant the difference between life and death before the invention of writing.

Effect on relationships

Significant others and family members of people with Asperger's are often more prone to major depression than the general population because people with Asperger's often do not know how to show affection or have little desire to show affection, and can be very literal and hard to communicate with in an emotional way. It is helpful for those involved with someone with Asperger's to read as much as they can about Asperger's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hyperlexia and other comorbid disorders. It also helps to visit support groups' websites on the Web and talk with others who are involved with people with Asperger's. A significant other will often be much less angry or depressed if he or she understands that the Asperger's symptoms are not intentionally directed, but are part of a neurodevelopmental condition.

In other words, even though the person with Asperger's syndrome may not spontaneously show affection, it does not necessarily mean that he or she does not feel it. Thus, the significant other will come to feel less rejected and be more understanding. Light will be shed on the nature of the misunderstandings. They may figure out ways to work around the problems; for example, by being more explicit about their needs. For instance, when describing emotions, it can be helpful to be direct and to avoid vague terms like "upset" when the emotion being described is "anger". Another suggestion could be to lay out in clear language what the problem is and to ask the partner with Asperger's to describe what emotions are being felt or ask why a certain emotion was being felt.

A gift and a curse

Recently, some researchers have speculated that well-known people, such as including Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton (cf. BBC News, Einstein and Newton "had autism", 30 April 2003), have or had AS, as they showed some Asperger's related tendencies, such as intense interest in one subject, and social problems. A chapter of the aforementioned Gillberg book is devoted to this subject, including a detailed case study of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein concluding that he met the criteria for the disorder. Such diagnoses remain controversial, however.

The obvious social contributions of such individuals has led to a shift in the perception of Asperger's and autism away from the simple view of a disease needing to be cured towards a more complex view of a syndrome with advantages and disadvantages. There is a semi-jocular theory within science fiction fandom, for example, which argues that many of the distinctive traits of that subculture may be explained by the speculation that a significant portion thereof is composed of people with Asperger's. A Wired Magazine article called The Geek Syndrome suggested that Asperger's syndrome is more common in the Silicon Valley, a haven for computer scientists and mathematicians. It created an enduring myth popularized in the media and self-help books that "Geek Syndrome" equals Asperger's syndrome, and precipitated a rash of self-diagnoses. Though these conditions do share traits, there is a consensus that most geeks are arguably "variant normal" and do not exhibit autistic-spectrum behaviors. "Geeks" may exhibit an extreme professional or casual interest in computers, science, engineering and related fields, and may be introverted; however, they do not suffer from impairments per se. This does not imply that there is no overlap between "geeks" and Asperger's patients, but it should be noted that self-diagnosis is a dangerous practice, and one prone to error.

Criticisms

Some people, including some people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, argue that Asperger's syndrome is a social construct. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of the Autism Research Centre has written a book arguing that Asperger's syndrome is an extreme version of the way in which men's brains differ from women's. He says that, in general, men are better at systematizing than women, and that women are better at empathizing than men. Hans Asperger himself is quoted as saying that his patients have 'an extreme version of the male form of intelligence'.

As a category claimed to have a clearly defined neuro-biological basis, Asperger's Syndrome probably has the same degree of validity as a whole host of other psychiatric labels such as ADHD, widely criticised by leading psychiatrists such as Peter Breggin and Sami Timimi, obsessive compulsive disorder (see OCD) and clinical depression, much promoted by the growing mental health sector and pharmaceutical industry. All the behavioural traits associated with this condition occur to varying degrees within the general population. People diagnosed with AS vary considerably in terms of intellectual, professional and social performance, range of interests, loquacity, conformism, hypersensitivity etc.. While a small minority may be genuine high-functioning autistics (with a communication and attachment deficit noticeable from early infancy) and much diagnostic confusion reigns among autism experts, no scientific proof exists of a link between severe Kanner's type autism and the geekish and slightly quirkish attributes of so many within our society. Subtle environmental, somatic and neurological differences can shape the development of our personality and our socialisation strategies. Among the AS-diagnosed, a large number have some form of dyspraxia leading to a childhood predilection for solitary activities over group activities. Much is made of the central role played by the theory of mind in the categorisation of the autistic spectrum, yet clearly within the general population there is a huge variation in relative levels of social naivety and self-centredness. Many of our social skills are acquired in early infancy through bonding with our mother-figure and then through play with peers. Environmental factors interfering with these formative experiences may have lifelong repercussions leading some to withdraw into their own world.

Another objection which has been put forward to this view is that, although AS is more common among males than females, females with AS do not necessarily come across as particularly masculine personalities, and some of them can show an exceptional interest in activities such as dancing. Yet again, what is perceived as a "masculine personality" may not be what Baron-Cohen had in mind by male intelligence, and dancing may be considered feminine only by certain social conventions. That dancing is considered a feminine pursuit clearly does not mean that a patient's interest in it must be motivated or directed by a non-systematic (presumably "female" in Baron-Cohen's work) brain structure.

Affectionate terms

"Aspy" or "aspie" is an affectionate term used by some with Asperger's syndrome to describe themselves. Others prefer "Aspergian", "Asperger's Autistic" or no name at all. Many who feel there is no significant difference between Asperger's syndrome and autism due to the spectrum analogous variances in autism may prefer the term "autie" or just "autistic" as a more general term.

Further reading

• . ISBN 0-306-45746-6. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Year= ignored (|year= suggested) (help)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: A Novel by Mark Haddon ISBN 0385509456
• The Adhd-Autism Connection : A Step Toward More Accurate Diagnoses and Effective Treatments by Diane Kennedy, Rebecca Banks, Temple Grandin; ISBN 1578564980
• Shadow Syndromes: The Mild Forms of Major Mental Disorders That Sabotage Us by John J. MD Ratey; ISBN 0553379593
• Understanding and Working With the Spectrum of Autism: An Insider's View by Wendy Lawson; ISBN 1853029718

References

• Attwood, Tony (1997). Asperger's Syndrome — A Guide for Parents and Professionals. Jessica Kingsley. ISBN 1853025771. This book is considered to be the Bible as far as general AS books go.
• Jacobs, Barbara (2004). Loving Mr. Spock. Future Horizons. ISBN 1932565205.
• Kennedy, Diane M (2002). The ADHD-Autism Connection: A step toward more accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. WaterBrook Press. ISBN 1578564980. The aim of this book is to explore the similarities that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) shares with a spectrum of disorders currently known as pervasive developmental disorders.
• Sainsbury, Claire (2000). Martian in the Playground. Lucky Duck Publishing. ISBN 1578564980. This book is all about the schoolchild with Asperger's syndrome.

See also

• General

• autistic culture
• autistic community
• Conditions comorbid to autism spectrum disorders
• Picture thinking

• Groups

• Asperger Adults of Greater Washington

• Lists

• List of fictional characters on the autistic spectrum
• List of persons with autism spectrum disorders

External links

• In the media

• Fresh Air with Terry Gross - 'National Public Radio (NPR) Program on Aspergers (May 5, 2004)'
• Part One, Part Two - 'The Infinite Mind Aspergers Syndrome: A Special Report (May 11/18, 2005)'

• Support groups

• ASPEN Asperger Syndrome Education Network - 'New Jersey non-profit organization that provides education, support, and advocacy for families and individuals for people with Asperger's syndrome'
• Autism Society of America - 'ASA is dedicated to increasing public awareness about autism and the day-to-day issues faced by individuals with autism, their families and the professionals with whom they interact (one of the oldest and well-known organizations)'
• National Autistic Society, UK - 'The National Autistic Society exists to champion the rights and interests of all people with autism and to ensure that they and their families receive quality services appropriate to their needs'
• ASPECT Australia - 'Autism Spectrum Australia, for people on the autism spectrum and their families'

• Informational

• Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support - 'Rather large collection of links of pretty much anything to do with Asperger's syndrome'
• Dallas Asperger Network for Information, Support and Help - 'D.A.N.I.S.H. is a support group for families struggling with Asperger Syndrome'
• Autism Research Center - 'Collaboration of scientists at Cambridge University and elsewhere to find new and validated methods for assessment and intervention of autism spectrum conditions'

• Humor

• Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical - 'Well-known parody of non-autistics by some people from the autism spectrum'

• Schools

• Franklin Academy - 'Connecticut boarding school for students in grades 8-12 geared specifically for students with Asperger's syndrome and non-verbal learning disabilities'
• Hampshire Country School - 'New Hampshire boarding school for middle school students specializing in students with ADHD and Asperger's syndrome that believes in "close interaction between students and faculty living together in a well-preserved rural environment"'
• The Glenholme School - 'Connecticut family choice boarding school for children with special needs ages 8 to 18 who need a highly structured learning environment'

• Autism
• Childhood psychiatric disorders
• Eponymous diseases
• Mental illness diagnosis by DSM and ISCDRHP
• Special education