Asperger’s Disorder

Amazingly, one percent of new births will have some type of autism (Autism Society of America, 2010). Asperger’s disorder is one type of Autism, and is at the high end of these disorders. This “disorder, which is also called Asperger's syndrome (AS) or autistic psychopathy, belongs to a group of childhood disorders known as pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) or autistic spectrum disorders”(Exkorn, 2006). A characteristic of this disorder is harsh and strict disruption of a certain type of brain development. The most affected areas of Asperger's disorder is difficulty in social understanding and in behavior or activities that are limited or recurring (Frey, 2003). Students with Asperser’s have different levels of seriousness, which makes it difficult to make the proper diagnosis, but each student will have some trouble with “interpersonal, motor, and language characteristics” (Safran, 2002). There is a significant amount of misinformation about this disorder in the public, not just the general public, but also the medical and educational professional. A significant amount of this misinformation claims children with this disorder will never achieve the basic level of competence necessary to function in school. Current literature shows that this is false. This paper accepts the current position that these students can function in an educational and social environment, and will show that further progress can be made. Specifically, this paper will show that a student with Asperger’s will be better able to function in school with early diagnosis, assistance of educators and the support of the family.

To illustrate, I sat with Mr. Glover, an Autism specialist at Mountain View Middle School, he talked to me about a young ma...

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