Learning and Behavioral Characteristics of Students with Aspergers
Kids with Aspergers (high functioning autism) share some of the same characteristics as kids with autism, and there is debate on whether Aspergers is an independent diagnostic category or another dimension at the higher end of the autistic continuum (Szatmari, 1995). Although Aspergers shares some characteristics with higher-functioning autism, there are some unique features, and a different developmental progression and prognosis (Myles & Simpson, 1998) for children with Aspergers. According to DSM-IV (1994) criteria, the youngster must meet the criteria for social impairment, repetitive activities and age of onset, but have normal cognitive and language development. Aspergers involves fewer symptoms than autism. Learning and Behavioral Characteristics of Children with Aspergers— 1. Although kids with Aspergers usually speak fluently by five years of age, they often have problems with pragmatics (the use of language in social contexts), semantics (not being able to r