Asperger’s syndrome is an autism family disorder, an invasive developmental disorder affecting between 350 and 600 people around the world and manifested from childhood. Asperger’s syndrome has a neurobiochemical origin associated with a genetic problem likely involving several genes, distinguishes itself by the fact that the intelligence of the affected person remains intact although neurological disorders affect brain activity. The subjects affected by this syndrome have difficulty socializing and interacting with others. This is a chronic disability that can’t be cured.
Description of Asperger syndrome
Asperger’s syndrome is an autism spectrum neurological disorder that affects the brain and is part of the invasive developmental disorder. Boys are more exposed than girls (about 4-5 times more). The causes of the disease are unexplained, although the genetic factor (inherited) is often featured.
Asperger’s syndrome disorders result from poor transmission between receiving and processing information at the brain level. This anomaly leads to a different perception of life and the world around it by the patient, and anomalies in interactions between people.
Symptoms of Asperger syndrome
Before 3 years old, Asperger’s syndrome is barely diagnosed. Yet signs are already often present, and the child communicates little with his parents through gestures, babbles, smiles, laughs.
From the age of 3, symptoms become more visible. Children don’t want to interact with people around the world, but focus or focus on specific topics, objects. Nonverbal language is hardly decodable for them. So they often react in a way that seems inadequate because they don’t understand the implicit codes.
Asperger’s syndrome is therefore manifested in difficulties in communicating, building social relationships, supporting noise or a very stimulating environment. Repetitive movements often occur in children, difficulties coordinating movements, and location in time and space. People affected have difficulty understanding abstract and emotions. They are capable of experiencing feelings like love, but in different ways.
Not all children with Asperger’s syndrome necessarily show all the symptoms mentioned. The severity of disorders also varies between children.
Children with Asperger’s syndrome are often intelligent, perfectionist and demanding children who place special emphasis on details that may escape others. They have specific interests that are sometimes out of the ordinary for children of their age, e.g. space conquest or trains. They are gifted with remarkable memory and logic is the foundation of their reasoning. They also have high lucidity and good analytical capacity.
In adults, Asperger’s syndrome continues to show the same symptoms with three axes (autism triad) as in children:
Impairment of communication, i.e. difficulty in verbal and non-verbal communication. A person experiencing this symptoms has difficulty decoding the meaning of a face expression, voice tone, humor, double senses, and sense of gesture… They must learn it and not automatically integrate it as other people do. So she may seem distant, cold.
A qualitative alteration in mutual social interactions, i.e. a struggle to bond with others, to have friends, to struggle with friendly and loving emotional exchanges.
Restricted interests and repetitive and stereotypical behaviors that are a priori a way of containing inner anxiety.
Treatments of Asperger’s syndrome
There is no treatment to cure Asperger’s syndrome.
However, research5 is starting to yield interesting results with the use of a diuretic, bumetamide time, which used in children, leads to a decline in autism disorder severity for all three-quarters of children.
It is important that the child’s surroundings, especially his / her family, understand the thought mechanisms associated with the disease to adapt their behaviour. Children should be protected from noise, social interactions and not overwhelmed with information, without diving them into isolation. These measures aim to reduce his anxiety to make him feel comfortable.
The action for children suffering from Asperger’s syndrome is to learn how to manage their skills in order to adapt to the world and people around them. This is done by teaching them how to compensate for the difficulty of decoding behaviours and communication by learning to behave as much as possible or at least in a sufficiently appropriate way. These learnings keep them from developing stress, anxiety, depression or violence towards themselves or outside.
Behavioral therapies have thus demonstrated an effect on the ability to master anger access. 1
Computer programs helping to learn face recognition in Asperger children have also shown efficacy. 2
Behavioral therapies can also help children adapt to unusual situations where they will not spontaneously know how they are supposed to behave.