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I was watching a documentary about a woman who filmed her brother's development from birth who was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 20 years old. This was a personal perspective. I had read about this before, but am trying to get the jist of exactly what this disorder is. I know that it is sort of a 'spin-off' of autism; but is it that these people have fixations on certain things such as television shows, trains (or whatever), and are unable to pick up on non-verbal communication? And that they act inappropriately by saying or doing things that are not socially acceptable?
This inquiring mind wishes to comprehend...
Yes, I saw the twins. Weren't they just the CUTEST? I hope that this guy can have a future somewhere. He seems to be bright, and from what the family said, you have to tell him that he upset you. I think that he needs a technical job somewhere where he works independently, and where people will pay for his talents.
I guess I must not know enough about Bill Gates because I do not see any of this in him. Certainly not enough to suggest he has it.
This does remind me of an old friend. Brilliant Yet socially not a clue. He tried very hard to show empathetic emotions, by watching and listening and guessing what is the appropriate response to something. But it was always wrong and fake. He was a nice guy and at the same time it was like there was no emotion period. He could not even display anger effectively though he tried.
He followed the polite social customs that are pretty much spelled out. You do this in this situation and that in that situation.
When it was not so cut and dried he needed direction to figure out what to do. He was constantly looking for clues on how to behave but could not pick up on anything that was not spelled out.
He'd hold the door for me and drop his coat over a puddle for me to step on Yet did not get that the latter was not only unnecessary as there was a wide dry space to walk around it but dangerous for me to walk on because it was slippery. He seemed to insist I walk on his coat rather than do the sensible thing because that is what a Gentleman does for a lady.
He seemed very immature when it came to social situations such as this.
I knew as did everyone that something was wrong with this guy but he was so brilliant.
yup i knew couple of aspergers, men and women the same. the emotional part and social interactions on them are pretty affected. for example, they are very sensitive in the time of sleep, they need perfect silence , they could feel the stimuli that for others are normal usual unperceptive, fridge noise, water drops in the sink, door moving, floor steps. smelling and tastes are overgrown on them, you destroy them if you put them in a room with too many smells, they could perceive smells that any others could not fell them because their level of sensitivity is too high and they can fell a low stimulus, that usual other people can't fell it.
do not touch them, they hate hugs, a hug means so many stimulus for them and they "are hurt" by hugs. make them attentive before to to touch them, prepare them, don't give the surprises, they could not be adapted at.
don't go with them where are too many people, the noises and too many images hurt them, prepare them before. let them alone when they need it, is a method to recharge them self.
overwhelmed for them is much worst than for a regular people, because usually they don't know why is happened that with them so is hard to deal with.
they are couple of good books about aspergers and deal with, and support groups are good, are so many affected by.
i will try to put all that i know in one page and post it. a big hug , hope that i not hurt someone, loooool!
My 19 y.o. son has Asperger's. He is extremely bright, yet impulsive, lacking in common sense and in imagining the outcome of his actions. He tends to treat the world as he thinks it should be, not as it is - his ability to process physical and social feedback is impaired.
Not mentally retarded, but socially retarded. He loves to talk about science, even though he knows most people don't have anything like his interest - even his nerdy parents. Right now the biggest handicap he has is OCD (people with Asperger's often have OCD, Tourettes, ADHD as co-morbidities.)
He now has the mental development and understanding to begin working on his social development, as well as the desire to have friends and a girlfriend. But the OCD is consuming so much of his time and thoughts that he can't work on social issues right now. The SSRIs lower the degree of OCD, but make him very sleepy. It's taken him many years to admit the OCD is a problem, instead of a reasonable response to possible contamination, and he's going to start therapy when we can find the right therapist.
He is able to take college courses and his first semester went well. He got his driver's license, though we haven't let him drive on his own yet, and he's a dedicated runner. Anger management problems.
People with Asperger's vary a lot - not all of them have unusual interests. Some are very sweet and docile instead of short-tempered
1) If you have a patient with Asperger's, be willing to explain everything in detail, taking more time than you usually would. You might need to get real technical.
2)Don't touch the patient unexpectedly or without permission - always a good idea, but I remember one nurse who got impatient and wanted to grab and jab my son for an injection.
3) Use literal language, not figures of speech.
4) Be very direct if the patient is missing social cues. If he won't stop talking, tell him you have to stop talking and go. If he is too bossy, tell him he needs to say please and be polite.
5) Don't use empty social promises - if you say something, mean it.
My grandson has Asperger's. He will be 5 next month and goes a day or two without speaking, but then will talk about his favorite topic, trucks, non-stop. He did not begin speaking till a little over one year ago, but did not do "baby talk". Just started right in like a 4 year old. He has ADDHD and is hard to control sometimes, but can be a real sweetie too. It is a challenge for his parents, but we are all learning to cope and to do what we can to maximize his enjoyment of life. He has been a computer "nerd" since age 18 months!! I am amazed at his ability there. Guess his brain and the computer think alike while mine is constantly distracted by life. So glad this disorder is being studied.
My 6 year old is on the very high end of the autism spectrum.
[which is important to remeber that autism is a spectrum disorder with ranges from PDD-NOS to severe autism.]
He didn't speak untill he was 3 and his first word was Ford, then Dodge, Chevy, and Nissian, didn't say Mommy untill 3 1/5.
He understands that if he is funny people will like him, so we are teaching him jokes and have to honestly tell him when he is not funny.
He dosnt understand that just in the tone of his voice he can sound rude.
He donsn't understand idoms; ie " I am hungry as a horse, or its raining cats and dogs" These are all things that he has to be taught
He loves spidrman and will go up to anyone and put a spideramn doll in their face and start talking to them about him, we are working on teaching him personal space and that not every one wants to talk about what you want.
He also has sensory issues, his body craves movment or pressure. To get him so he can focus at school he wears a weighted blanket on his legs. He was a very easy baby because he always wanted to be in a swing moving and then he would spend hours in a jonny jump up, the movement would calm him.
Just wanted to add as I was reading some of the responses. Not all people with asperegers or autism hate hugs or to be touched. My son craves movment and sensations and deep pressure contact he loves hugs, and is very friendly and will hug almost anybody.
People with autism are like snowflakes they look very much alike, but never are two exactly alike.
My little brother-in-law has Asperger's syndrome. There is a fifteen year age difference between him and my husband and I've known him since he was 4 yrs old. He's now 14 yrs old.
Asperger's is a high functioning level of autism that differentiates itself from autism in the fact that the child is usually highly verbal where autism can be a limited verbal or nonverbal disease. It is sometimes grouped together with developmental diseases that don't fit with any other diseases call "Pervasive Non-verbal Developmental Syndromes". These children are very verbal from a young age and are often called "little professors" because they tend to talk about their favorite subjects in a lecture form rather than a conversation. I forget who but a previous post said that most children talk extensively about heir favorite subject. These children will talk about it ALL THE TIME to the point that with a normal developed child it can be redirected, this child will talk on and on.
My b-i-l is very bright about computers and programming (when he was 8 he asked for basic programming for software) but if you ask him to play hide-and-seek he has no concept. When he was little I remember he did things that I (at that time with no medical training) knew was off. He had to have his matchbox cars in just the right order or he would pitch enormous fits. He would open and close doors over and over and over again till it just about drove you crazy. He woould watch DIY programs and would be upset when his parents wouldn't let him build what he saw. THeir explanation that he was too little made no sense to him. He thought that because he knew how to do it he should be able to do it.
As a teenager he is so full of the "teen angst" but he doesn't get how to relate to girls or why he should even care about them. He asks why he should date and why would he want to spend money to take a girl out when he could use that money for some part for his newest obsession-fire alarms. He tried to convince my in-laws this Christmas to buy him fire alarm parts so he could place one in every room of the house and was so angry when they told him no. He just couldn't get the concept that his parents already had working fire alarms and didn't want one. He kept saying, "but it's for safety." Safety is a huge concern for him. When he was in middle school, someone wrote something about a bomb being in the school in the bathroom and they colsed the school for a day to do a sweep for any devices. Well, after that it was like months before he would go to bathroom at school and a good year before he would go into that particular bathroom. Luckily his parents live right around the corner from the school. He told me he couldn't use the bathroom at school because "people put bombs there". In his mind because it happened once it would happen again.
I think the saddest thing about Asperger's is it really does isolate him from his peers because he doesn't pick up on their facial cues or slang expressions. A boy that he was friends with decided that he didn't want to be friends with him anymore and would play tricks on him like telling him that he would meet him by the gym to walk home or to sit with him at lunch, then would never show up. Now after one or two times, someone might catch on, but this happened two years ago and to this day if that particular boy tells my B-I-L to meet him somewhere he will. He takes things at face value and that is very dangerous in this day and time. Too bad not everyone takes him at face value for the good kid he can be.
I have a grandson diagnosed with mild Asperger's. he has many traits already listed above. When he is listening to someone talking to him he watches the mouth rather than making eye contact with the speaker. He is 10 and has literally no social skills. Cannot play with other kids. Very heart breaking to watch. Very good at putting things together without needing to read directions.
this is a very interesting thread/disorder. my cousins and my aunt were in my house this afternoon and we were talking about autism and asperger syndrome was mentioned and i had no idea what it was.thanks for starting this thread pagandeva. i wish i had seen the documentary you were talking about.
suzi-Q
115 Posts
Wow, you already got a lot of good info here. I have worked with autistic children for many years and am just getting ready to go to nursing school.
The only things I want to add are...Remember autism is a spectrum disorder meaning the person can be anywhere from very impaired to not even noticeable to the untrained person. You know at least one person with asperger and don't even know it! (statisticly) You maybe think they are a little odd. Possibly a DR. or very good, well respected nurse.
The prefered terminology is i.e. "my child HAS autism" NOT "my child is autistic." Just to help you avoid offending...
Another good movie to watch is ICE CAKE an IFC movie with Sigourney Weaver & a couple other famous people I don't know. Very, very good portrayal of an adult with moderate asperger. Bitter sweet story with a very funny ending that explains the title and you will just laugh, laugh, laugh!!! (Blockbuster has it)
Did anyone explain that these people usually have many sensory issues and benefit greatly from many years of OT? You will notice it in the movie alot.