what exactly is aspergers if not autism?

[sjodin]

what exactly is aspergers if not autism? and do you believe that... "Essentially, Asperger's syndrome causes behavior that can best be described as “quirky.” Bill Gates, Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Keanu Reeves, Al Gore, and Garrison Keillor are some of the many notable public figures who experts believe show symptoms of Asperger's syndrome. There is also some evidence to suggest that Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton suffered from the condition as well. "

[angelina]

i believe it's a form of autism

[tramp]

this article on cnn confused me a bit asperberger's as with autism requires a special needs education; but I wonder if they are 2 totally diff diseases.

[schappert]

asperger's is a type of autism but it's really kind of it's own beast .. it has many differences from "regular" autism, so it makes sense they are referred to as different conditions

[Kerrill]

if it is a functioning form of autism and the have proven to be quite smart, why do they need specialized classes?

[derington]

aspergers doesn't even sound like a real conditi

[wollard]

prolly named after someone

[Giacinta]

oh wow .. i know a guy i work with has it doesn't seem to have as severe of a case .. but it does appear that many people with it do eventually lead normal lives i wish the best for you and your son

[macartney]

tattooedchick, how does the guy at work act? What are some examples of his behavior or mind set?

[folta]

he obsesses on stuff when he was younger it was pokemon.He could only talk about pokemon---nothing else.He knew everything about them though.But if you interrupteed the barrage of poke-talk he would throw things. But tht was once he became verbal.He didn't talk till he was over 3 and only then after alot of speech therapy- he didn't or couldn't make all the sounds. Now hos thing is video games-he functions on a 10 yr old level. His 9 yr old brother is more mature.He has been seeing shrinks and various docs therapists since he was 5.I wish I had gotten him help sooner, but the reg doc kept saying he was fine.I should have pushed harder for an evaluation by a behavioral pediatrician.But he was misdiagnosed several times,ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, you name it. Aspergers fits him best though he is definitely attention deficit as well and they added intermmittent explosive disorder recently. I think that his explosive temper is just his frustration at not being able to shut out the world.

[mcreynolds]

Exactly. Just drug 'quirkiness' out of everyone. That way, we can all be as boring as each other.

[kondas]

we have triied several meds but he is not taking anything currently.The things that help the attention make the Aspie problems worse. The things that help regulate sleep issues make him groggy so we just try hard to keep a strict schedule.We have tried some diet things (gluten free dairy free) but it didn't help and was very hard to maintain.We do try to eat mostly organic and preservative free and that seems to help some.

[wisdom]

haven't found a med that works...risperdal worked on his rages when he was younger, but it stopped helping after a while. He tried a total of x different medications over the years.Therapy has been the best thing overall.Medication is not a cure but can help with some symptoms for some.He has been off meds for about x years.We let him have a say in it as he has gotten more mature.We always used his feedback on how a medication made him feel or if he thought it was helping as a big part of the decision-making process.We also charted the behavior so there was "evidence" to see if it was making a positive difference.But I am not anti- medication.I would be willing to try again if his docs came up with something new to try.But I would be reading the studies about it before we filled the Rx.

[langer]

lots of articles say about it talk about how their kids have the condition yet are geniuses that is the only reason I am confused

[Naser]

his nonverbal IQ is x, verbal IQ is x. There is so much he can't get out with words or in written language.Average IQ is x. The standard deviation is x I think, so anything over x is above the normal range, anything under x is below the normal range.