Asperger's Syndrome Being Redefined

Column by Daniel J. Vance, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC).

Dr. Diane Twachtman-Cullen, editor-in-chief of Autism Spectrum Quarterly, began working with children with autism 25 years ago, "back when autism was a rare disorder," said Twachtman-Cullen in a telephone interview. "It involved about two (children) in 10,000 then." Now autism affects one in 110.
A National Institutes of Health website defines Asperger's syndrome (AS) as a mild form of autism and notes people with AS have three core symptoms: obsessive or repetitive routines, poor communication skills, and physical clumsiness. People with AS often are called "geeks" or "nerds."
Twachtman-Cullen described two boys, in particular, with Asperger's syndrome: one she worked with beginning in fourth grade; the other, from first grade on.
She said, "They both had problems socially and didn't have friends. That didn't matter to them at first, but as they approached adolescence, it did. For example, with the boy I began working with in first grade, at first he could care less if he had friends. When he got into seventh grade, however, it did matter. There are exceptions, but this has been my experience with children with Asperger's. At some point, most want friendships but don't know how to go about making them. That's one distinguishing characteristic between them and children with straight autism."