Asperger Syndrome: What Is It Really?

People with Asperger’s syndrome have difficulty understanding emotions. But they have many other qualities, such as being passionate about everything that interests them.

Although barely known a few years ago, Asperger’s syndrome has today become a subject well known to the public.

Indeed, television, with characters like Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory) , cinema, with Alan Turing’s biopic or the world of technology, with personalities like Mark Zuckerberg, have had a great impact on this regard.

However, there is great ignorance of the reality of the syndrome. The various information or rumors about celebrities have given rise to an amalgam of information which only serves to complicate its comprehension.

The causes of Asperger’s syndrome are not known

First of all, it should be noted that its onset is not linked to lack of affection. For a long time, it was believed that the behavior of these people was due to a lack of tenderness during childhood.

On the other hand, there are certainties, thanks to brain imaging tests:

• People with Asperger’s syndrome have structural and functional differences from a neurobiological point of view. However, we still don’t know what produces these differences.

According to specialists, these people are different in some ways, especially when it comes to social interaction and emotional management.

Symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome

Although this condition falls on the autism spectrum, no two people are alike. However, it is true that a number of symptoms appear more often than others.

Altered social behavior

Many families find that their child is different from others when they observe them in the school yard.

While the other children are playing together, he prefers to be alone. He doesn’t talk to his classmates. He can spend recess walking around the yard, or observing something that interests him.

This happens because children with the syndrome have difficulty interacting with others. In fact, they prefer the company of adults, although in the early years they also have problems with them.

Thus, they take a long time to start talking. Their late language development is linked to this issue. This is why many families consult a psychologist and a speech therapist at the same time.

Hyperrealistic thinking

They have difficulty understanding “double meanings”, jokes or irony. Knowing that games for children are mainly based on the imagination, this may be the reason why they prefer adults.

However, the emergence of video games has done a lot for the integration of children with Asperger’s syndrome.

More and more based on logical thinking, they become an ideal space for these children.

On the other hand, they are subject to principles which govern the logical relation  of cause to effect and which they seek above all.

However, sometimes their syndrome and their way of understanding the world can cause them problems. Indeed, many people regard them as rude or rude.

Difficulty feeling emotions

It is not unusual for us to say to someone things like “today you have a sad face” or “why are you looking so angry?”

However, Asperger’s syndrome is a barrier to reading other people’s facial expressions. We tend to think that they are insensitive, but they are not. This is reinforced by the fact that they also do not reveal what they feel in them. They don’t show it on their face.

They do, however, but with tics or stereotypical movements, such as grinding of the teeth, or movements with the hands or other parts of the body.

When we call them “insensitive”, in fact, we are failing to decode their own body language. And if we think a little, sometimes we ask ourselves: “Won’t I be limited in my way of perceiving others ?”

Asperger’s love routine

As we said, this hyperrealistic thinking leads them to seek order above all else. They need to know what they are doing, why they are doing it and what will happen next. This way, they feel more secure.

On the contrary, the absence of these habits destabilizes them. For them, improvisation is a kind of leap into the void. They feel the same dizziness.

Asperger’s people are passionate about the things that attract them

All this does not mean that they lack imagination. On the contrary, when they find a center of interest, they want to know everything about it. On the other hand, many of them want to create something in this same area.

Alan Turing or Temple Grandin show that as soon as they are faced with a dilemma, they do everything in their power to resolve it. Whatever the cost.

Therefore, Asperger’s syndrome is a different way of being, of seeing life.

In general, people affected by this syndrome are a great chance for us to become aware of our prejudices and how they lock us up. They,  like us, have our own limitations.