What is an Aspie?

Asperger's syndrome is a form of autism which affects high-functioning, intelligent people who have difficulty reading social interaction and communication. The People's magazine article about the book, "The Best Kind of Different" by Shonda Schilling, Curt Schilling's wife, and her son having a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, drew the desire to research this subject because of the high numbers being recorded. Autism is an umbrella of many other neurodevelopmental disorders: Aspergers Syndrome, PDD-NOS, Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegration Disorder. "People say that in autism, everybody is a snowflake," (Lord) There are different levels of severity with Asperger's and it is on the increase in the United States by 10-17 percent annually. (Badanes)(Wallis)

Asperger's syndrome was first identified in 1944 by Dr. Hans Asperger. He studied a group of young boys who had social and communication differences similar to children with autism. However, they had average or above average intelligence and had good language skills. In 1990 his work was accepted in the medical field and named Asperger's syndrome. It is a social learning disorder and people who are high functioning can be helped with proper coaching. It is a neurological disorder which affects a persons behavior and social skills differently. The symptoms consist of over sensitivity to some sounds, smells, tactile and visual stimuli. They are called Aspies for short and an Asperger person will call themselves this abbreviated name.
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An Asperger's person functions more effectively with a schedule. They like routine, store knowledge on things that interest them, observe fine detail, make decisions without emotion involved and they have no problem being alone. Aspies tend to have a less developed part of the brain regarding social interactions. They have multi-tasking difficulties when concentrating and stressed. They are constantly leaning toward the side of caution. Their mind wonders. They are challenged with immediate and short-term memory and can be socially isolated finding it troublesome to make eye contact or make lasting friendships. Arranging social events to practice social skills is imperative. In general they are not understood by typical people. (Segar)

Treatment for Asperger's is long term and mainly affects males. "School may overwhelm them with kids running with no clear rules of what to do. The world may feel too disorganized and chaotic. They thrive on routine. Aspies do not understand why they have trouble communicating with others and why others have trouble understanding them"(Winner). "Social Thinking" is an approach Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, named and developed for high-functioning autism and Asperger's people. The model she presents is called the "I Laugh", and teaches that to succeed socially you must listen with your eyes, ears and brain.(Winner) In society there are many unwritten rules that are accepted behavior. For an Aspie language is most difficult, idioms, phrases, sayings and expressions are hard for them to translate. For example, "cold feet" means you are afraid to participate. An Aspie would interpret that to mean your feet are cold. Fantasy and role playing are very hard for them to comprehend. Their thinking is black and white. "To assess a social situation you need to pick up clues and put the social puzzle together. An Aspie often misses some of the pieces resulting in difficulty being accepting in a social situation." (Grandin) Basics of communication must be taught. Initiating a conversation, staying on topic, abstract language and seeing the big picture are all difficult. If the rules are not taught an Aspie becomes laughed at, left out and bullied. They have no understanding of body language and the boundaries taught at an early age are not understood until maturity. (Winner)(Grandin).

The most difficult challenge for a person with Aspergers, they look normal. It is truly an invisible disorder and only by spending quality time with them would anyone recognize their differences. They are black and white in their thinking and extremely honest. Social coaching and quality time instructing them produce marvelous results. Socialization can be conquered and society can accept Aspies with patience and understanding. They make excellent employees as they are loyal, punctual and reliable. They have good characteristics: musical talent, visual logic, good at learning facts, skills and talents, accurate, dependable and are good at computer programming. There is hope and they can learn to work around their differences. Many famous people have been said to be Aspies: Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, and Mozart.