Do You Have a Friend with Asperger’s Syndrome?

You have to be a pretty good friend if you have a friend who has Asperger Syndrome (AS). AS is a form of autism characterized by an inability to process information. If you know someone who is difficult to deal with, has trouble maintaining relationships, and seems completely clueless when in comes to people; then your friend may be suffering from AS.

People who suffer from AS may present with a wide range of autism characteristics, which can manifest to varying degrees. A person does not necessarily have to have all these symptoms to be diagnosed with AS. Look at some of these more common adult manifestations and see if they remind you of someone you know:

• Average or even above average IQ.

• Always thinks in concrete terms, cannot process abstract reasoning.

• No empathy, cannot figure out what other people are feeling.

• Terrible conversational skills, does not know when it is his turn to talk, does not seem to realize that the person he is talking to is bored or not paying attention.

• Cannot control negative emotions such as anger and anxiety.

• Excellent at following rules and regulations, great with repetitive tasks, terrible when faced with change, poorly adaptable.

• Behaves inappropriately, does not comprehend proper social behavior.

• Becomes focused on a particular topic or hobby, can become pretty obsessed.

Individuals with this form of adult autism are not well liked. Much like children and teens with AS, these adults cannot correctly interpret non-verbal communication (like body language or facial expression). They are unable to figure out what other people are feeling. Other people tend to find them inconsiderate, uncompassionate, and completely self-absorbed.

Before you start labeling all of your male friends with AS, be aware that women can suffer from AS, too. Adults with AS have normal sexual urges, but are completely clueless when in comes to relationships. Because so much of the communication in intimate relationships is nonverbal, they completely misunderstand these signals and cannot respond correctly.

Given their high IQ and some luck, AS sufferers can end up with a partner, get married, even have children. However, their undiagnosed autism causes many problems, and the marriage often ends in divorce (80% according to a Dutch researcher).

People married to AS patients often get the feeling they are raising their children on their own. Their partner with AS cannot tell what they are feeling and never knows when they need emotional support.

If you think you know someone at work who has AS:

• Advise them against taking jobs that require good short term memory, like receptionist, waiter, air-traffic controller or cashier

If your friend with AS has good visual thinking, they would be great as a:

• Website or computer game designer, draftsman, photographer, car or appliance repairman, handcraft artisan

If your friend with AS has good mathematical or music skills, they would excel as an:

• Accountant, computer programmer, engineer, taxi driver, administrative clerk, statistician, physician, mathematician, bank teller, telemarketer.

How to Manage Asperger’s Syndrome

There is no cure for Asperger Syndrome (AS), and people with this condition will always manifest autistic characteristics to some degree. However, if they are given a suitably tailored regimen of educational therapy and medication, patients with Asperger’s autism behaviour can respond with improved function and more appropriate social behavior.

As a patient with AS grows and develops, the manifestations of the disease will also evolve. The treatment of autism must therefore parallel the evolution of the individual’s symptomatology. Preschool age patients have problems recognizing social cues and may violate other children’s personal space, causing anxiety and conflict. Caretakers and teachers need to establish rules to help them interact socially and should invent games to train them to identify nonverbal cues. Speech therapy may help elementary school patients as they tend to speak monotonously and without inflection.

They need help in recognizing signs of boredom in their listeners, as they have large vocabularies and can talk for hours if they become engrossed in a particular subject. These school-aged children need fixed routines in order to function.

When it come to teaching AS children, they tend to absorb information better if given small logical chunks, rather than trying to make them see the overall picture at once. The teenage years are particularly challenging as these children are exposed to a whole new set of interpersonal relationships, on top of the changes they experience within their developing bodies. Private counseling will be of invaluable help to them as they struggle to adapt to new social situations including peer pressure.

Children of all ages will benefit from speech, physical, and occupational therapy. These strategies will help them communicate better, allowing them to function more within the norm. Teens that are looking to find jobs need to be taught appropriate responses to high pressure job interview and work environment situations.

People who suffer from AS often have associated conditions which are amenable to pharmacologic therapy. Depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and attention deficit disorder may complicate this from of adult autism, and all of them respond to medication. These conditions can hinder the AS patients’ attempts at participating in work and recreational activities that require good communication and relationship-building skills.

These symptoms may manifest even in children, and it is important to diagnose and treat these disorders with the appropriate medication, so they can lead a more normal life.

The therapeutic regimen for AS needs to be individualized as the manifestations may range in severity. Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and Risperidone are some examples of medication used for depression. These antidepressants can reduce anxiety, agitation, and illogical or bizarre thinking.

AS patients require extensive social skills training as they are usually unable to identify nonverbal cues. They need instruction in how to recognize if they are boring their listeners or invading personal space. Often they do not realize they are monopolizing a conversation or that they are not paying attention to other people in a group.

Teenagers and children who are in school need special attention. Teachers and staff must be trained on how to handle AS patients. An appropriate educational strategy may require extra training from the teacher or may necessitate providing the child with an educational assistant.

Psychotherapy is often required to deal with intense emotions. One-on-one role playing is invaluable when teaching AS patients about socially acceptable situation-specific behavior. Peer or group therapy often provides important emotional support. An older teen may teach a younger child about nonverbal communication and age-appropriate language to decrease feelings of alienation. They can also give advice on subtle social rules regarding cliques and similar groups.