November 3, 2009

Asperger Syndrome Signs, Symptoms and Diagnosis

Posted in Category : Child Health

Asperger’s disorder or Asperger’s syndrome is a mental disorder that is found in a number of children and belongs to a group of disorders known as pervasive developmental disorders, or PDD’s. The most noticeable feature of the condition is a severe impairment of social interaction as well as restricted, but repetitive patterns of behavior and activities. Children that suffer from the condition will experience difficulty in understanding how other people think and feel as well as facial expressions and non verbal signals. The affected children will also face considerable difficulty in communicating with other individuals as a result of the inability to register the reaction of the people that they are talking to. However, unlike children that are affected by autism, children that suffer from this condition will generally be good talkers. People affected by the condition will also tend to excel with factual work such as data analysis and statistics. However, due to the fact they will experience some difficulty in using their imagination; the avenues of interest may be quite limited. Quite like autism, the condition of Asperger’s syndrome seems to be caused by a biological difference in the development of the brain. Studies have shown that the leading cause of the condition happens to be genetics. Another leading cause is a history of oxygen deprivation during birth.

Some of the most common symptoms of asperger disorder include difficulty in making or maintaining eye contact with others, problems faced with hand-eye coordination and other virtual skills, mild to severe learning difficulties, a tendency to become absorbed in a specific topic while being unable to identify when other individuals have become bored with the conversation on that topic. Even though an individual is likely to be affected with the condition throughout his or her life, some may learn to adapt to the social skills that they first lacked, over a period of time. The original symptoms are likely to be prevalent through the teenage years of the child however, as a result of the slow learning process, may be slightly less noticeable. In order to enable an individual to be better prepared to live with the condition; modern therapies stress the importance of improving the individual’s problem solving skills as well as recognizing their own emotions. Learning a few relaxation techniques and when to use them will also lead to a better quality of life. It is also essential that the affected individual maintain optimal health as this will help fight off fatigue and stress – which could be aggravating factors.