Asperger’s isn’t really a disease at all, but rather a condition that many children have. The word illness itself can give the wrong impression of Asperger’s and the many wonderful children who experience it. In this article, I’ll give a simple explanation of some of the characteristics of Asperger’s, and then give some helpful tips on how to manage the challenging behaviors that are often associated with this condition.
Asperger’s is a developmental disorder that affects a child’s ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others. Children with Asperger’s often exhibit social awkwardness and an absorbing interest in specific topics. Asperger’s signs and symptoms include displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact, few facial expressions, or odd body postures and gestures. People with Asperger’s often display an intense obsession with one or two specific and limited topics, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, the weather, or snakes. They will appear not to understand, empathize, or be insensitive to the feelings of others and will find it difficult to “read” other people or understand humor. When they do speak, it is often in a monotone, stiff, or unusually fast voice. At times they will appear to move awkwardly, uncoordinated, and display an awkward posture or stiff gait.
Children with Asperger’s often display challenging behaviors in response to a world with which they cannot deal effectively. Any attempt to discontinue behaviors must first consider why the behavior occurs. The best way to establish why the person with Asperger’s is displaying challenging behaviors is to complete an ABC analysis. This includes an analysis of Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence. The antecedent is what happens before the behavior. The behavior is your response to the antecedent. The consequence, and this is the tricky one, is what immediately follows the behavior. Often the child with Asperger’s will have a limited ability to verbalize her needs; he can help them with this once she has identified the cause of the behavior. Remember that it will be something that happens before or after the behavior occurs. Once you have established the reason for the behavior, the child with Asperger Syndrome will need a consistent behavior program or method of intervention. Children with Asperger’s crave consistency and routine and need to know what’s coming up, or it will simply create more challenging behaviors.
For children with Asperger’s, behavioral intervention should include consideration of environmental changes that may be necessary. This can include removing items that may be overstimulating or providing things they seem to need. For the child with Asperger’s, the behavioral intervention must also plan to provide the individual with replacement behavior. Remember, if you remove the behavior without satisfying the need, they will find their own replacement behavior! Autism and Asperger syndromes are difficult to diagnose, especially in young children where language and cognitive skills are still developing. All children are different, and many young children show signs or symptoms of Asperger’s at some point.
It’s natural for young children to be self-centered, and many little ones show great interest in a particular subject, such as dinosaurs or a favorite fictional character. These alone are not cause for alarm! However, if your child is having frequent problems at school or seems unable to make friends, it’s time to see your pediatrician. These have many possible causes, but developmental difficulties such as Asperger’s should not be ruled out. We hope this article has given you some ideas about what to do next, where to seek help, and how to best manage your child’s behavior.