Description+of+Asperger's+Syndrome-part+2

The following is a description of ten primary characteristics of children with Asperger's Syndrome, taken from Stokes' online article //Children with Asperger's Syndrome: Characteristics/Learning Styles and Intervention Strategies// (for more info, see Annotated Bibliography page, Websites section)


 * *Please refer to the above article also for specific instructional strategies that relate to each of the ten primary characteristics, as well as to gain further information on each characteristic. There are also some examples provided throughout the article that may be of interest. **

**NOTE: You have to hit next at the bottom of the first page or you will only get information on the first two characteristics**.

Social Relation Difficulties
Children with AS "tend to exhibit a **lack** of effectiveness in social interactions rather than a lack of social interactions" (Stokes, n.d.). They have trouble knowing how to connect socially and, as a result, their interactions are seen by others as being odd. Because AS children are aware of the social differences between them and other people, they often have low self-esteem and possible depression, especially once they reach adolescence. The following characteristics of social relations impact AS children greatly:
 * **social reciprocity**: Children with AS have trouble with the 'give and take' in social relationships.
 * **recognizing and interpreting various social situations**: Children with AS have trouble "recognizing, inderstanding, and thus applying appropriate social skills to various social situations" (Stokes, n.d.).
 * **social rules**: Children with AS usually do not learn social rules. This is because "they have a difficult time accurately perceiving social environments and thus, they do not understand that a particular social rue is to be applied in a specific social context" (Stokes, n.d.).
 * **friendship skills**: Children with AS show limited knowledge of the concept of friendship. They usually do not respond to peer pressure.
 * **understanding and expressing varied emotional states**: Children with AS may have trouble with identifying varied emotional states, either in themselves, in others, or both. Managing their emotional states can also be extremely difficult for children with AS.

Social Communication Difficulties
Children with AS often have high language skills. This however, is not the same as high communication skills. AS children often **lack** social communication skills needed to maintain even the smallest social conversation in the following areas:
 * **conversational discourse skills**: While children with AS can exchange greetings, they have great difficulty engaging in extended interactions, often called 'two-way' relationships. This difficulty includes engaging in turn-taking and changing topics in an appropriate manner. Another difficulty is that children with AS often tend to talk **at** a person rather than **to** the person.
 * **understanding and using non-verbal social communication (discourse) skills**: Children with AS can have great difficulty interpreting non-verbal communication skills such as "tone of voice, facial expressions, body postures, gestures, personal space, vocal volume, use of eye contact to 'read' faces, etc." (Stokes, n.d.)
 * **narrative discour****se skills**: Children with AS can have difficulty with narrative discourse skills, including "relating past events, or retelling movies, stories, and T.V. shows in a cohesive and sequential manner" (Stokes, n.d.). As a result, they often leave out key pieces of information and they may use many "revisions, pauses, and/or repetitions" (Stokes, n.d.).

Language Comprehension/Auditory Processing Difficulties
Children with AS tend to "interpret auditory information **literally** and **concretely**" (Stokes, n.d.). They often have trouble understanding figurative language and multiple meaning words, as well as jokes, riddles, and teasing or implied meanings.

**Important note**: "delays in processing information auditorilly may be present in children with [AS]" (Stokes, n.d.). While they may be able to understand what is being said, it takes them longer to process the information and then act upon it. This is especially difficult when they are given multi-step auditory directions.

Sensory Processing Difficulties
Children with AS can experience difficulty with sensory processing, resulting in unusual responses to sensory input, including auditory, tactile, visual, movement, smell, and taste. Their experiences can lead to either hypersensitivity (an over response) or hyposensitivity (an under response). This, in turn, can lead to stress and anxiety for the child, as well as difficulty focusing their attention for any length of time.


 * Important note: ** "the processing of this sensory information can be extremely inconsistent" (Stokes, n.d.). Therefore, at one time, a student can be hypersensitive to a certain stimuli, only to be hyposensitive the next time.

Difficulty Representing Language Internally
Children with AS typically do not realize that there are some thoughts and ideas that should not be said out loud. This can lead students to "'blurt out' their thought as statements of factual information" (Stokes, n.d.). In essence, "whatever they think, they tend to say out loud" (Stokes, n.d.).

Insistence on Sameness
Children with AS can become easily overwhelmed by what people without AS would consider a small change in the daily routine. They like have a day that is predictable, where they know exactly what is going to happen. When changes occur, AS children can become very anxious. They worry because they do not know what to expect. Some things to keep in mind about AS children are that they have rigid, egocentric perceptions, they have a strict adherence to rules, and that they require closure/completion.

Poor Concentration/Distractibility/Disorganization
Children with AS can often appear off-task. They can easily become sidetracked by both internal and external stimuli. This is because AS students have trouble with blocking information that is unimportant, such as a fly buzzing around the room.

Children with AS can also have organizational issues, both internal and external. Some of these issues include:
 * organizing their thoughts and ideas in a way that allows them to express themselves in a manner that allows for understanding.
 * gathering educational materials that are needed by the student in order to complete specific tasks, activities, or homework
 * keeping track of their belongings. This includes both personal belongings and educational materials, such as homework.
 * keeping their desk or locker organized

Emotional Vulnerability
Children with AS have the intellectual ability to participate in the regular education curriculum, however, the regular education environment may cause some problems. They often lack the necessary social/emotional abilities required to survive in said environment. Some results of this inability to cope include low self-esteem, being self-critical, and possibly being a perfectionist. Some further results involve students becoming overwhelmed, anxious, stressed and frustrated. This can lead to behavioral outburst, caused by poor coping skills.

Restricted/Perseverative Range of Interests
Children with AS tend to have odd, intense fixations. This can be shown in the following ways:
 * students will provide relentless 'lectures' on specific areas they are interested in
 * students will ask repetitive questions about areas they are interested in, as well as any concerns or worries they may have
 * students have trouble 'letting go' of thoughts or ideas. This is especially true if those thoughts or ideas have to do with worries or concerns the student is experiencing.
 * students may refuse to learn about anything outside of their areas of interest, which are often limited. This is because they do not see the importance of other areas of information.

**Important note**: "these behaviors can often resemble obsessive/compulsive types of behaviors." (Stokes, n.d.)

Difficulty Taking the Perspective of Others (Mind Reading/Theory of Mind Deficit)
Children with AS can have great difficulty with realizing that other people can experience thoughts, needs, beliefs, desires, and intentions different from their own. Others often view AS children as rigid and egocentric. In reality, they are just unable to interpret other people's mental states.