by Bayla Maya

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

It is hard to imagine that there are children who do not know how to respond emotionally or socially to their surroundings. I had the opportunity in my career to meet such a child. This boy doesn't know when it's the right time to laugh or cry. When someone smiles at him, he thinks they're making fun of him. He takes every spoken word literally, and does exactly what you say. This youngster isn't able to determine when another child is joking with him. What amazed me the most is his artistic talent. In kindergarten he was able to draw at a fifth grade level. Academically the boy was above level with his spelling and reading. This child suffers from a disorder on the autistic spectrum called Asperger's Syndrome. Children with Asperger's tend to excel beyond their autistic tendencies, and may deserve the title "little professors."

Hans Asperger, an Austrian psychiatrist, phrased the term "little professors" when he discussed his autistic case study patients. He was impressed with how mature and clever the language they used sounded (Paradiz 67). Asperger also noted, "Often they had highly specific interests and fixations involving a large degree of memorized fact" (Paradiz 67). In 1944, Asperger described an "abnormality of personality" which he called "autistic psycopathy" (What is 1). During this study, Hans Asperger viewed some children who had autistic tendencies with social and communication skills. These same boys had normal intelligence and language development. It wasn't until 1977 that Asperger's work was translated into English, and accepted by the United States (What is 1). Asperger's Syndrome was recognized in 1994, and was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Asperger 1). This makes Asperger's a relatively new disorder that is still being studied today.

Researchers have recognized that children with Asperger's display autistic characteristics. These children show signs of limited eye contact, the inability to socialize, a monotone voice, and limited facial expressions. Another symptom that may be observed is their reaction to high pitch sounds (by covering ears or screaming). When over stimulated the children may jump in place, or even flap their hands. Children with this disorder can suffer from many different sensory issues. Some rather unique characteristics very different from autism may be displayed by children with this syndrome.

One of the most interesting and distinctive characteristics is how they fixate on

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