Istanbul Gelisim University - Asperger's syndrome symptoms may increase during school-age

Asperger's syndrome symptoms may increase during school-age

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Assoc. Prof. Canan Tandır made statements about Asperger's syndrome (AS). Stating that the cause of the syndrome is not yet known, Tanıdır said, "The characteristic symptoms usually appear around the age of 8-10. The difficulties associated with the syndrome become more apparent as children go to school since at these ages, social expectations increase.”

Providing information about Asperger's Syndrome (AS), Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Canan Tanıdır, "It is one of the pervasive developmental disorders characterized by significant difficulties in social and communication, limited interests and repetitive movements. The difference from classical autism, which is the first example of pervasive developmental disorders, is that there is no significant delay in language development, cognitive development and self-care skills in the first 3 years.”

“WEAK EMPATHY SKILLS”

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Assoc. Prof. Canan Tandır shared the following information about the syndrome:
“In 1944, Austrian Pediatrician Hans Asperger described four children who had difficulty integrating with their peers socially. Being unaware of Kanner's definition of ‘early infancy autism’ published a year before him, he called this self-described "autistic psychopathy". Hans Asperger stated that these children, despite preserved intellectual skills, are markedly deficient in non-verbal communication such as gestures and tone of voice, and have weak empathy skills, a tendency to intellectualize emotions, and interests in unusual subjects make up a large part of their speech.”

“OCCUR BY 8 – 10 YEARS OLD”

Emphasizing that the cause of AS is not known yet, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Canan Tandır said, “Genetic inheritance is thought to be important in many cases. Characteristic symptoms usually appear around 8-10 years of age. The difficulties associated with the syndrome become more apparent as children go to school since at this age, social expectations increase.”

“THEY CANNOT RESPOND EMOTIONALLY”

“In fact, these individuals want to interact with others and make breakthroughs for this, but their approach is inappropriate and strange,” said Tanıdır and continued;

“They engage in a one-way, long-winded, pedantic conversation about an unusually narrow topic. They are excluded because of their inept social approach and insensitivity to other people's feelings, intentions, and implied communications. Family members of individuals with AS complain of a lack of mutual emotional sharing. They cannot evaluate events from the other person's point of view and cannot empathize with the other person; therefore, they cannot provide appropriate emotional responses. This is considered as coldness and insensitivity by the other person. They have special interests that take up most of their time. It is problematic when people devote too much energy and time to this interest rather than its content. So much time and energy is wasted that little time is left for all other activities. Most of their social exchanges are also related to this area of interest.”