Posts Tagged ‘children with Aspergers’

Lately, I’ve had people ask me to talk about my personal experiences with Asperger’s symptoms.  That’s why I chose the video you just watched because I believe that the character of Spock explains everything perfectly.  Let me elaborate.

When I married my husband, we had to watch Star Trek on our wedding night because it was a “new episode”! He not only knew all of the character’s histories but he also accurately predicted the outcome of the show based on the writing styles of the show’s writers.  He definitely fit the description of a “Trekkie”.

I quickly learned that my husband and Spock had a lot in common.  My husband could have been the one stating the phrase that’s “highly illogical” because emotion didn’t play a role in any decision he made.  He also became incensed when people made the same mistakes over and over.  He felt that people should learn from their mistakes and retain the information for life ( just like Spock’s brain).  Honestly, how many people do you know still remember their locker combination from Elementary school?

Then along came my son and I soon recognized that my son was a little Spock with his own set of Asperger’s symptoms.  Like Spock he needed everything to be the same with no change in his routine.  He also didn’t want to be cuddled and was very independent-quite content to take a computer apart when my back was turned at only 2 years of age.  He also didn’t need or appreciate praise for acquiring skills.  In fact like Spock, he became annoyed when there was what he considered an excessive celebration causing him to leave the room rather than deal with the display of emotion.

Now that I’ve lived with various Asperger’s symptoms for years, I’ve come to one indisputable fact.  The more you think you know about this disorder the more you have to learn because as the person grows older the symptoms change.  A person with Asperger’s can learn what is appropriate or inappropriate in a social setting and they can develop skills to cope with things that annoy them but new perseverations and new unique social mistakes are inevitable.  Just like Spock was able to learn to express certain feelings, a person with Asperger’s can grow and change as well but it will take effort.

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There are several behaviors that jump out of this video.  The first thing is this child’s overall knowledge of specific subjects.  Most two year old’s do not know what a rectangle is or be able to recognize the number 20.  Individuals with Aspergers tend to learn everything there is to know about a subject and can recite it on command.  One of the other behaviors that stands out is the excessive amount of movement after each answer which I would like to discuss further.

Many children with Aspergers are misdiagnosed as having ADHD with no investigation by medical professionals of the possibility of Aspergers.  In the case of my own son, he was treated for ADHD for years before anyone mentioned Aspergers.  As seen in the video, there tends to be added movements that will be intermingled with the giving of information.  Autism is known at the disorder with “hand flapping” and “spinning”.  While individuals with Aspergers may not “flap” or “spin”,  they may wave their arms, cheer loudly, jump in place, or do other large muscle movements.

One of the other major characteristics of Aspergers in this video is the lack of eye contact and the lack of interpersonal actions.  The child in the video prefers to look at the symbols rather than his Mother’s face and he never goes to his Mom for a hug or touch for congratulations when he gets the information correct.   Individuals with Aspergers prefer the interaction to be factual (getting shapes correct) rather than emotional ( a touch or a hug).  ”Aspies” are thought to be cold and heartless when in fact they simply function in information rather than emotion.

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