DSM-IV For Asperger’s Disorder Criteria Made Simple

A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of following: (1) marked impairment in use of multiple nonverbal behaviours such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction. (2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level. (3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (eg., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people). (4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity.

B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least one of following: (1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus. (2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, non-functional routines or rituals. (3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (eg.,hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements) (4) persistent preoccupation with parts or objects.

C. The disturbance causes clinically significant general delay in language (eg., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

D. There is no clinically delay in cognitive development or in development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than social interaction) and curiosity about environment in childhood.

E. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

The above is criteria that is given in DISM IV which is what doctors use to diagnose Asperger’s Disorder and other related disorders. I’m going to give a more informal description in hopes that parents can more easily decide if they should seek help. Although you may feel certain that your child exhibits all symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome only a doctor can actually give a diagnosis. Asperger’s Disorder (also referred to as Asperger’s Syndrome) is often diagnosed when a child exhibits some of characteristics of Autism but there is no delay in development of language skills. Asperger’s kids often are very well spoken with large vocabularies. One of key characteristics of persons with Aspergers Disorder is their social impairment. They are unable to read social cues or body language. You could stare at ceiling during conversation and they would not catch on that you were not listening. There is also a problem understanding give and take of a conversation. Asperger’s persons will talk at you not with you.

Where My Son Lives

I watch as my son’s eyes glaze over and I know that for a little while at least I have lost him to splendor of his world. My son suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and it has taken us as parents a long time to accept that there are certain things that my son does that we will never really understand. When he travels around house doing what doctors call “stiming” he looks at us like we are strange ones that don’t do this that we don not require such activities in order to survive. “Stiming” is self-stimulation, which can be opening and closing window blinds for extended periods of time, watching tap drip or carrying around a shoe. In my son’s case it is flicking a soft cloth right in front of his eyes, which is visual stimulation. Sometimes it calms him and other times it gets him all excited but it is as necessary to his existence as air is. When he is stiming he leaves our world and goes into his. I’ve asked him what makes his different and he says in his world he is popular, understood and feels happy. It saddens me that this world cannot offer that to him. I knew that there was something wrong at a very early age but it took me years to convince doctors. I was just another mother over reacting to what was perfectly normal. As an infant he was colic and it wasn’t only at certain times it was 24hrs a day. The first time I slept through night was when I purchased a jolly jumper for him and he basically jumped himself to sleep. I curled up around bottom of him and we stayed there for 5 hrs. To this day sleeping is still a big problem for him. As my son grew there was more and more strange behavior. He never played with toys or with other children for that matter. He walked on his tiptoe never flat foot. He was always flapping his hands and would spend long hours playing with a pen that made a clicking noise. If he became overly agitated I would put on high-heeled shoes and clicking sound of heels on floor would calm him. As long as he was awake he was either rocking or bouncing. We had to put his high chair up against a wall so he wouldn’t tip it over he rocked so hard. Once my son reached age of 4 his behavior turned aggressive and out of control. It was a nightmare of hospitals and doctors and he became a guinea pig for various medications. Over course of a few years he was diagnosed with various disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), tourette syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder and Non Verbal Learning Disability (NLD). Finally at age of 9 he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome is part of a sub group which is part of a much larger category called Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). Asperger’s Syndrome (or Asperger’s Disorder) is a developmental, neurological disorder characterized by severe impairment in social development, obsessive traits causing repetitive patterns of behavior and very narrow and focused interests. They are usually very clumsy and have awkward movements. Unlike with Autism, children with Asperger’s show no delays in development of language skills. Once we actually knew what was wrong with my son a whole new avenue of opportunity opened up for us. As a mother first thing I did was research. I spent hours with my nose in a book or staring at computer screen. The one piece of hope that I found in almost all of my research was that with treatment children with Asperger’s can grow up to have fulfilling lives as adults. Of course earlier they receive treatment higher rate of success but my son only started receiving real treatment when he was 11 and we have still seen great improvement.