Baby Place

MissSparky · Guest

Hello.. i have a question about this, and i need some advice...my 10 year old nephew seems to be represtenting signs of this, yesterday, dustin came home from school, and he was heading upstairs, he was holding his stomach, and looking "rough", we asked dustin what was wrong, he burst into tears and said that he got beat up. so his parents ran through the whole thing with him, had him tell them the whole story.. so today, my sister and my mom went to his school to talk to the principal and counselor about this, int he midst of telling the story, dustin named witnesses and everything, well at the school, the witnesses were called to the office, they knew nothing of what happened. they then asked dustin who the boys were that beat him up, and all he could say was "they were bigger 6th graders". what makes this odd, is no one knows of dustin being beat up, AND yesterday at his school, they watched a movie where a smaller boy got beat up by two older boys, and dustins story plays right along with how this movie went. the counselor said that they think he may have Aspergers Syndrome... does anyone here know about this, or have had this syndrome with any of thier kids or anyone they know? this is very important to me, dustin is my life, and it hurts to see this going on, and i need some information..

thank you much
Melisa

Marianne's first · Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 268 Location: California

I did a report on this for an exceptionality class I took in getting my teaching credential. We had to study the different things children could have besides being your "normal" child (example: ADHD, mental hadicaps, autism, etc). Aspergers is a form of of Autism. Here is some info (there is also a link at the bottom:
Asperger's Disorder as first described in the 1940s by Viennese pediatrician Hans Asperger who observed autistic-like behaviors and difficulties with social and communication skills in boys who had normal intelligence and language development. Many professionals felt Asperger's Disorder was simply a milder form of autism and used the term "high-functioning autism" to describe these individuals.
What distinguishes Asperger's Disorder from autism is the severity of the symptoms and the absence of language delays. Children with Asperger's Disorder may be only mildly affected and frequently have good language and cognitive skills. To the untrained observer, a child with Asperger's Disorder may just seem different.
Children with autism are frequently seen as aloof and uninterested in others. This is not the case with Asperger's Disorder. Individuals with Asperger's Disorder usually want to fit in and have interaction with others; they simply don't know how to do it. They may be socially awkward, not understanding conventional social rules, or may show a lack of empathy. They may have limited eye contact, seem to be unengaged in a conversation, and not understand the use of gestures.
Interests in a particular subject may border on the obsessive. Children with Asperger's Disorder frequently like to collect categories of things, such as rocks or bottle caps. They may be proficient in knowing categories of information, such as baseball statistics or Latin names of flowers. While they may have good rote memory skills, they have difficulty with abstract concepts.
One of the major differences between Asperger's Disorder and autism is that, by definition, there is no speech delay in Asperger's. In fact, children with Asperger's Disorder frequently have good language skills; they simply use language in different ways. Speech patterns may be unusual, lacking inflection or having a rhythmic nature. Speech may be formal and too loud or high pitched. Children with Asperger's Disorder may not understand the subtleties of language, such as irony and humor, or may not understand the give and take nature of a conversation.
The first step to diagnosis is an assessment, including a developmental history and observation. This should be done by medical professionals experienced with Autism and PDDs. If Asperger's Disorder or high functioning autism is suspected, the diagnosis of autism will generally be ruled out first. Early diagnosis is important; children with Asperger's Disorder who are diagnosed and treated early in life have an increased chance of being successful in school and eventually living independently.
All information on this page is obtained from the Autism Society of America’s website- www.autism-society.org Go to the sight click search on the left side and type in Aspergers. Hope I helped!