What is Aspergers Disease

Aspergers is not actually a disease at all but more of a
condition that many children have. The word disease itself
can give the wrong impression of Aspergers and the many
wonderful children who experience it. In this article I
will give a simple explanation of some of the
characteristics of Aspergers and then give some useful tips
on how to manage challenging behaviours which are often
associated with this condition.

Aspergers is a developmental disorder that affects a
child's ability to socialize and communicate effectively
with others. Children with Aspergers typically exhibit
social awkwardness and an all-absorbing interest in
specific topics. Signs and symptoms of Aspergers include
displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of
eye contact, few facial expressions, or awkward body
postures and gestures. People with Aspergers will often
show an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow
subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules,
weather or snakes. They will appear not to understand,
empathize with, or be sensitive to others' feelings and
will have a hard time "reading" other people or
understanding humor. When they speak it is often in a voice
that is monotonous, rigid or unusually fast. They will
sometimes appear to move clumsily, with poor coordination
and display an odd posture or a rigid gait

Children with Aspergers frequently display challenging
behaviors as a response to a world which they cannot deal
with effectively. Any attempt to discontinue the behaviors
must first consider why the behavior is occurring. The
best way to establish why the individual with Aspergers is
displaying challenging behaviors is to complete an A-B-C
analysis. This includes an analysis of the Antecedent,
Behavior, and the Consequence. The antecedent is what
happens before the behavior. The behavior is their
response to the antecedent. The consequence, and this is
the tricky one, is whatever immediately follows the
behavior. Often the child with Aspergers will have limited
ability to verbalize their needs; you can help them with
this once you have identified the cause of the behavior.
Remember it will be something that happens either before or
after the behavior occurs. Once you have established the
reason for the behavior, the child with Aspergers will need
a consistent behavior program or method of intervention.
Children with Aspergers crave consistency and routine and
need to know what is coming, or you will simply create more
challenging behaviors.

For children with Aspergers, the behavioral intervention
should include consideration of environmental changes that
may need to be made. This may include removing items that
may be over-stimulating or providing things that they
appear to need. For the child with Aspergers, the
behavioral intervention should also plan to provide the
individual with a replacement behavior. Remember, if you
eliminate the behavior without meeting the need, they will
find their own replacement behavior! Autism and Aspergers
are difficult to diagnose especially in young children
where language and cognitive skills are still developing.
All children are different, and many toddlers show a sign
or symptom of Aspergers at some point. It's natural for
small children to be egocentric, and many little ones show
a strong interest in a particular topic, such as dinosaurs
or a favorite fictional character. These alone aren't
reasons to be alarmed! However, if your child has frequent
problems in school or seems unable to make friends, it's
time to consult your pediatrician. These difficulties have
many possible causes, but developmental disorders such as
Aspergers shouldn't be ruled out. Hopefully this article
will have provided you with some ideas of what to do next,
where to seek help and how to manage your child's behaviors
better.

----------------------------------------------------
Dave Angel is a social worker with families who have
children on the Autistic Spectrum and is the author of a
new e-book that answers the 46 most asked questions by
parents of children with Asperger's. To claim your free 7
day Mini-Course for parents of children with Asperger's
Syndrome visit:
http://www.parentingaspergers.com today.