If you check with Google, it's medically spelled either Asperger's and Asberger's.
| Asperger Syndrome Information Page |
| Asperger syndrome (AS), one of the autistic spectrum disorders, is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by an inability to understand how to interact socially. AS is commonly recognized after the age of 3. People with high-functioning autism are generally distinguished from those with AS because autism is associated with marked early language delay. Other characteristics of AS include clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements, limited interests or unusual preoccupations, repetitive routines or rituals, speech and language peculiarities, and non-verbal communication problems. Generally, children with AS have few facial expressions. Many have excellent rote memory, and become intensely interested in one or two subjects (sometimes to the exclusion of other topics). They may talk at length about a favorite subject or repeat a word or phrase many times. Children with AS tend to be self-absorbed, have difficulty making friends, and are preoccupied with their own interests. |
This is from http://www.webcare.md/Index1506.aspx
This is what is popularly considered the "clinical" definition. I disagree with the connotation of the definition. The denotation may be correct, but the general public and medical community consider this to be a "defect". I seriously wonder if this isn't the next stage of evolution. Keep that statement in mind while you read on.
I have raised ten "normal" children to adulthood through puberty. There isn't a child I am aware of that doesn't exibit one or more of these "definitions during puberty. Very honestly, lack of social skills is rather universal and quite handy at times.
Any of you married to or who know a computer programmer, will recognize these symptoms in normal people in quite a few occupations.
Non-verbal communication has the pitfall of misinterpretation. Not having this skill definitely avoids being misinterpreted.
People with this syndrome are exceptionally specific. This is a characteristic the general public is not accustomed to. They will tell you precisely what is on their mind in no uncertain terms...this is bad?
An excellant rote memory is a curse and a blessing to the person with the syndrome. They are totally unable to forget something that happened 20 years ago and can also recall how they felt at the time. See? Good and bad. The bad is that this is uncontrollable, but the good is that there is a photographic quality of recall.
I will be perfectly honest here, my wife has AS. I knew this several years ago, long before we were married. No MD had ever diagnosed her. When I brought it up, her mother, a teacher, researched the subject and told me "of course that's what she has!" The probability is, it is BECAUSE of AS that I asked her to marry me, not despite it. I, at 61 have learned more about logic, reaction, memory, and relationships during the past 6 months than I have in the past 60.5 years.
Quite frankly, I consider this a blessing and not a "condition". She hadn't understood it all of her life until we discussed it and she got some current literature. It explained a lot. She learned to cope at an early age without understanding. Now that it is understood, the lessons and mechanisms are more than just handy, they are an absolute requirement. She's taught me her mechanisms and logic and IT WORKS. For me this is a learned behavior, she was born with it and it's natural. I like her methods better than the "normal" world.
My wife reminded me, before I hit publish, that people with AS require reasons, explainations and examples. I covered reasons and explainations, but I left out examples. People who don't deal with this or think this way, really wouldn't have a clue without the examples. That's an example.
Another is any of the many times that my leftover PTSD from Vietnam comes out and she's able to get me through it with total logic. Because of my problem, I tend to avoid conflict and allow myself to be beaten up by the rest of the world. She doesn't. When she sees me getting beaten up, she can give absolutely logical solutions to prevent this. Some of them are a little hard to take, but they work.
Recently we ran into a rough patch financially. While this sounds off-the-wall, her financial paranoia allowed her to squirrel away enough to see us through (which will be paid back next week). If you think about it, it's totally logical. It was rough in the beginning, but I understand where it came from, and it is good.
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Comments: 27
Thank you so much for publishing this, and for citing such a perfect example. You know what you said is what inspired my "financial neurotic" article that I wrote about myself, last week. If I don't have atleast $500 stashed in my savings account I WILL FREAK, and with good reason too.
A friend of mine thought it was weird that I expected you to "pay me back" ("aren't you two MARRIED," she asked?) then I reminded her that money is how I've kept myself independent. Money is also what we needed AT THAT TIME to solve our problem, and because I am the way I am, we solved it. Now I am storing my nuts for "next winter."
I love that you now understand this. I also love that since I came into the picture, you're willing to take better care of yourself, and not wait till "rock bottom" and then look for an excuse to lash out. It may only be "verbal" but you know I'll remember it in 100 years. That's why I've made it a point to be motivated by anger, and not use it unnecessarily. Remember my crazy clicking when the money was down? Now thanks to those blessed PTC's I'm going to have over $100 in my savings account, for when I have to return home in May. Also, one can never accused me of being one of those wives with her hand constantly in her husband's pocket. ;-)
Also, because of my sensitivities (sound, etc.) and how crazy they drive me, I have a damn good excuse to take care of mysef, and avoid certain situations.
Thank you so much for being there for me, for supporting me, for understanding me, and for WANTING to support, understand and be there for me.
I LOVE YOU!!!
The problem therein lies, that children are wrongly diagnosed, they may indeed have some disorder that shares symptomology with Asperger syndrome or others, but it could just be normal developmental behaviors too.
One classification for something to be a 'mental illness' is for it to cause discomfort or impairment in an individuals life. I have known several people diagnosed as having Asperger syndrome but, they are completely happy functional people.
It just boils down to how it affects the individual.
Thanks for the interesting read on a topic I enjoy :)
Perhaps, but the person it is named after was Hans Asperger.
If you're relying on Google, you get 2,800,000 more results for Asperger than you do "Asberger". I've never seen any reputable research or articles use "Asberger".
I have a friend with 2 sons diagnosed with this.
I wonder about my son sometimes. He fits in some ways.
Walker you and Leah truly do belong together, how wonderful Leah has found someone like you ;-)
Leah Walker is such a sweetie ;-)
I wish they'd thought of that with me. The overstimulation of class made it damn near impossible for me, and my parents just bitched that I was not working up to my potential.
I said almost exactly that, about three seconds BEFORE I read your comment. ;-)
We need to be inclusive in society. Temple Grandin is the granddaughter of the inventor of auto pilot for pilots - which is the precursor of cruise control. She has AS, and has written a fabulous book.
The best thing that the current trend in medicine has done is look at disorders of the brain as such and not as they formerly did, which was as MR or MI = retardation or Illness.
I think conditions rather than disorders would be more apt.
The last thing Im looking for is medication, and I'm certainly not looking for a label to wear as I'd wear a ring or a shoe, but what I am looking for is an explanation. Since Walker, my mother and I made this discovery, I have been able to better understand different things that happened to me in the past, and my perceptions, and reactions to those events. I have gone rom "what's wrong with me," to "what's different about me," to "different, yes, wrong, no, does this make sense? YES!"
As for Temple Grandin, I want to read that book!!! Oliver Sacks wrote a chapter about her in his book "An Anthropologist On Mars," which, before knowing about her, Walker asked for, for Christmas. I bought the book while I was still in Canada, and started reading it myself one day. I finished it up here in Arizona, and it was while I was reading that chapter about he, that I had my "Aha" moment.
What's funny was that while I was reading that book, at the very moment, back home my mother was reading a binder from her work with special needs kids, and having the same aha moment oer the same things I'd just discovered.