- Children and adults with Asperger syndrome might: Have trouble understanding other people’s feelings or talking about their own feelings. Have a hard time understanding body language. Avoid eye contact. Want to be alone; or want to interact, but not know how. Have narrow, sometimes obsessive, interests. Talk only about themselves and their interests. Speak in unusual ways or with an odd tone of voice. Have a hard time making friends. Seem nervous in large social groups. Be clumsy or awkward. Have rituals that they refuse to change, such as a very rigid bedtime routine. Develop odd or repetitive movements. Have unusual sensory reactions.
- Asperger syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder. It is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of a distinct group of neurological conditions characterized by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.
- The most distinguishing symptom of AS is a child’s obsessive interest in a single object or topic to the exclusion of any other. Children with AS want to know everything about their topic of interest and their conversations with others will be about little else. Their expertise, high level of vocabulary, and formal speech patterns make them seem like little professors. Other characteristics of AS include repetitive routines or rituals; peculiarities in speech and language; socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and the inability to interact successfully with peers; problems with non-verbal communication; and clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements.
