Making Sense of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's
Think back to the days of grade school. Can you remember one or two peers (probably male) who were a bit different from the other children? Maybe they exhibited some of the following ‘strange’ behaviors: They always stood too close to you They constantly wiggled and rocked while sitting at their desks They made odd, distracting noises They never looked anyone in the eye They never raised their hands They never seemed to have any friends They talked on and on about favorite subjects They waved their hands and knew all the answers They were noisier than the others They were often teased, chased, shoved, tripped, called names and bullied Do you remember anybody like that? These kids probably had Asperger's (AS) or High-Functioning Autism (HFA), but no one knew much about it then. To help make sense of the disorder, we will need to look at the deficits associated with it. Here are the three core deficits: 1. Theory of mind deficit: an inability to recognize tha