Hi
I have written this document to send to my mother so she can understand me a bit better. It is my words based on all I have read about AS and I have only included the bits I think affect me the most. So it is like "my AS" as oppose to AS in general.
Please can you give me thoughts and how would you describe your AS?
Asperger’s Syndrome
Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is a condition that affects a person’s ability to interact with the world. The world includes people, so a person with AS will have many problems with social interaction.
Socialising is an important aspect of being human. Socialising is not simply sitting in the pub with friends, or going to a party, the world of work involves socialising too, albeit in a more structured way.
The problems often result from difficulties in the area of non-verbal communication, such as difficulty in recognising facial expressions and what they mean. A person with AS may be able to recognise some facial expressions (like anger, or happiness) but may miss more subtle expressions such as: scepticism, interest, or pensiveness. Or it may be the person with AS does recognise such expressions but doesn’t know how to respond or adjust their behaviour accordingly during a social situation. This can explain why a person with AS can speak avidly about a particular interesting (to them) subject without realizing the listeners are bored.
Verbal expressions and innuendo usually fall on deaf ears and people with AS also have a tendency to be pedantic. Most people with AS will take the literal meaning of words and could be quite startled to hear such things as: “I’ve been tied up all day”.
Most people appreciate body language and can read others based on just that. A person with AS does not understand body language and so cannot judge a situation where body language is important.
People appreciate being understood by others and this can lead to meaningful relationships in all areas of life, be it family, work colleagues, friends or spouses. A person with AS has limited abilities to develop understanding and reciprocal relationships with others. These difficulties will be enduring for a person with AS, meaning they are unable to learn from experience and improve their non-verbal communication to help in their relationships with others.
AS will usually present itself when a child joins their peer groups at school as this is usually when problems become noticeable. Unfortunately too often such children will be regarded as “problem children” or just trouble causers. Some children may withdraw social situations or appear distracted most of the time. This is because they find the world confusing and are beginning to realize that they are making a lot of social mistakes.
AS is currently classed as autism, mainly because of the similar problems people with autism have when interacting with the world. Classic autism is more severe in that it affects people at a much lower level of functioning. Whereas people with AS can engage in conversation and have their disabilities go unnoticed, a person with classic autism would not go unnoticed.
The comparison may be valid if you regard autism as a spectrum disorder that presents itself in various levels of severity. For this AS has sometimes been referred to as a “mild” condition. But this does not take into account the subjective difficulties a person with AS experiences in life. And because a person with AS could very easily go undetected, others do not make allowances for their AS traits.
What causes these problems?
The problems associated with AS are currently thought to be a result of deficits in three main areas:
1. Theory of Mind
2. Executive Function
3. Sensory Perception
Theory of Mind
This is said to be the idea that a person realizes that others have a distinct mind of their own. Children are said to have developed a theory of mind when they demonstrate (around age 4-5) an understanding of others thoughts and feelings. People with AS have a delayed or disrupted development of theory of mind, and this usually leads to difficulties when dealing with the emotional states of others. Whereas most people instinctively appreciate others feelings and emotional states, a person with AS has little or no understanding of them. This usually makes it hard for them to be emotionally supportive to others and such people will generally be seen as cold or un-emotional.
People with AS do understand the notion of theory of mind. The problems seem to lie in their ability to utilise this understanding in social situations. This is thought to lead to an inability to learn how to read and manipulate others, or attain goals with the help of others.
Executive Function
This is said to be a persons ability to plan and execute general daily or life tasks. So a person with AS may have difficulties in creating a plan of action for themselves to such an extent that it takes them longer to realize the things they must do in life. Executive function also controls the flow of thoughts people have and gives people the ability to steer thought processes in a constructive way when dealing with others. It allows people to manage a social situation, or plan the activities required to obtain a job or organise a day out etc. It is said that people with AS have difficulties in making decisions and this could be related to a defect in executive function.
Attention deficit disorder can often be diagnosed in people with AS.
Sensory Perception
People with AS have sensory issues with certain noises, colours, touch or textures, tastes or smells. This is an aversion to a particular sensory stimulus akin to the way most people have an aversion to fingernails scraping down a blackboard. Typical noise examples are sirens, whistles, dogs barking, several people talking at the same time, or a penny spinning on a table. Certain colours or lights will be perceived as more vivid than they appear to others. Certain textures (like wool) will not be able to be tolerated.
Sensory perception issues usually lead to sensory overload where a person with AS will experience extreme mental stress and will need to remove themselves from the situation. Most people with AS do not like being touched by others and tend to value their personal space more than people who do not have the condition. Some children with classic autism cannot be touched by anyone, including their parents as this would cause overload.
Children with AS may often throw tantrums that appear too extreme for the cause. An example may be jumping up and down angrily. When the frustrations brought on by sensory overload are expressed like this it is called “meltdown.” The experience of meltdown for the sufferer is positive as it is venting extreme anger. But for others it is a problem.
Adults with AS will most often supress an outburst or tantrum caused by sensory overload. They have learnt that such behaviour is not acceptable. Instead they will internalise their frustrations and this is said to lead to “shutdown”. Shutdown is thought to be the brains way of preventing more input. The brain effectively switches off and leaves the AS sufferer in a non-responsive state. This is not dangerous, as motor functions (movement) are not completely affected. But higher functions, like the ability to read, think in the abstract, have a conversation, or otherwise overcome the situation they are in, are seriously affected. Shutdown can lead to depression and shutdowns usually necessitate sleep. The brain effectively “needs a break”. Shutdowns can last for half an hour, a week, or several months.
Is there anything positive to say?
Firstly AS should not be thought of as retardation, or being backward, or being insane. AS people simply have difficulties with the world. Try to imagine the brain power you would use if you were doing higher mathematics. This may be a fair comparison to the amount of work the brain of someone with AS has to do in a social situation.
All people with AS have average or above average intelligence, never below average.
People with AS often have very good memories and a very keen eye for detail.
People with AS will often develop special interests and will engage in the special interest as much as possible. This can lead to great learning abilities in particular subjects, or lead them to be experts in particular fields. It is thought that the whole of modern science (from Newton onwards) only exists because of people with AS. Isaac Newton, Einstein, Galileo are all thought to have had AS. And it is certainly true that most people with AS have a very good appreciation of science and the scientific method. People with AS tend to value truth and logic over emotion and this generally leads them to the hard sciences in work or study.
Another positive is that people with AS are generally honest people and find it difficult to lie. It is thought that because lying requires a developed theory of mind, people with AS learn that lying is more awkward than telling the truth. This is true for even “white” lies which are often told to avoid discomfort in others. In that sense it can be said that people with AS are honest to a fault.
People with AS are regarded as having a strong sense of morality and many whistle-blowers have had AS. General morality may be their only source of social rules and norms, whereas the more “local” rules surrounding small social groups elude them. So generally people with AS will not intentionally cause problems for others, even if it is in their interest to do so.
AS is an unusual condition and may give people a very unique view of the world. People with AS tend to see things differently from the majority and have a different way of processing social information. It has been said that people with AS could have a lot to teach the world. And with modern science in full swing, that could be what is happening.
An opinion on Syndromes
There is a list of various psychological syndromes in the medical field and this list seems to grow every year. Children are diagnosed with them and prescribed psycho-active medications, often too liberally. Pharmaceutical organisations promote the idea of syndromes to the public and this is said to encourage use of their drugs.
Because AS is an invisible or peripheral disability it is very easy to dismiss, even by someone diagnosed with it. This is especially true when the person with AS has set up various compensatory measures to deal with their difficulties. Adults are extremely hard to diagnose because they have had more time to compensate for their behaviour, and may be unwilling to believe they have AS.
The key to accepting AS is to focus on the behavioural traits it defines and how much these traits affect a person’s life. Because AS is considered to be on the autistic spectrum, potentially all adults could carry these traits, albeit in a minimal sense. A diagnosis of AS would be necessary if the person is suffering from the behaviour they exhibit as a result of these traits.
Key Points
• AS is not an illness or a disease
• There is no medication that can be prescribed
• Counselling will not help but often aggravates
• People with AS are not stupid or slow
26 Dec 2010, 6:27 am
) Also, the counseling thing... I respect that that may be the situation in your case, but it helps many of us. And lastly, with 'People with AS are not stupid or slow', I've known a few with AS who genuinely are stupid. Not everyone with it is a supergenius, though I've been called such, and so have some people on this forum.
