Asperger's syndrome is a form of Autism Spectrum Disorders and children diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome often show the same signs of difficulties in social interaction along with restricted patterns of behavior and interests.
This condition is named after Hans Asperger, who studied children in 1944 that displayed physical clumsiness, lacked nonverbal communication skills, and had little empathy with their peers.
Asperger's Syndrome wasn't standardized as a diagnosis until 50 years later, in 1994.
There is no single treatment for Asperger's Syndrome but the common form of treatment is behavioral therapy that focuses on poor communication skills, obsessive or repetitive routines, and physical clumsiness.
There is no cure for Asperger's Syndrome and many advocates of the disability are trying to get it labeled as a difference and not a disability.
The main characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome are social interaction, restricted and repetitive interests and behavior, speech and language and other signs and symptoms that are independent of the diagnosis.
One of the most basic difficulties with children that have Asperger's Syndrome is their ability to develop friendships or to seek enjoyment with others.
Children with this disability also do not exhibit eye contact, facial expressions, good posture or good gestures.
Children with Asperger's Syndrome do not shy away from others though.
They might approach another person and begin a long winded speech without taking a break and listening to the other person.
This is different from children with Autism.
Children with Autism will shy away from others and not speak to them at all.
Children with Asperger's Syndrome often display repetitive and restrictive interests and behavior.
For instance, children will play with one toy or object for a prolonged period of time despite other toys or object being present at the time.
Some children will lineup decorations such as Easter Eggs on a table and will scream if other people around him or her decide to move them out of order.
There really is no specific order to how the child lines up objects either.
Children with Asperger's Syndrome will memorize certain things around the age of five or six even if they show little to no care about the topic.
For instance, a child will be able to recite the numbers of their father's favorite football team's players.
The child might not have an interest in football though.
Children with Asperger's Syndrome don't have that much trouble developing their language and speech in terms of making sounds and speaking but they do have trouble with pitch, tone, verbosity, loudness, rhythm, abrupt transitions and much more.
They have no control whatsoever over how they present their speech and more often than not their speech will not be understood by others except for themselves.
Children with Asperger's Syndrome actually have a very sophisticated vocabulary at a young age but do not understand the difference between figurative language and literal language.
The other symptoms or problems caused by Asperger's Syndrome can include differences in perception and problems with motor skills, sleep, and their own emotions.