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What is Asperger's Syndrome?Wow! What is Asperger's Syndrome? That's definitely not an easy question to answer... I'm going to try to describe the various symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome using real-world descriptions. Most of these descriptions will come from my son's day-to-day life, as well as my own experiences. So here goes... First description: (more to come as we grow our website) Imagine you're in a room and you have the TV turned up full blast on a 'static' station and the stereo blaring as loud as it'll go. In addition there's someone behind you banging away on a drum set and for good measure there's a guy in the corner running his fingernails across a chalkboard, again and again and again. While this cacophony is at play, everything around you is moving super fast, so fast that details are blurred, you can see some things come into focus here and there but for the most part everything is just flying around you with you standing still in the middle of it all, your head aching from the overload of sight and sound. You can't make sense of anything because it's all just so much noise. Now imagine that no one else around you is experiencing what you are, to them everything is moving along at normal pace and no one has a clue that there's anything different going on with you... That's what a person with Asperger's Syndrome can experience every single minute of every single day of his or her life. The only difference between his experience and your experience is that you can stop the assault of sight and sound whereas the person with Asperger's Syndrome cannot put a halt to it, he just has to suffer through it, because the sights and sounds that are assaulting him are actually just the regular sights and sounds of every day life. And it gets worse when the level of the sound increases, say for example in a restaurant that's playing loud music that bounces off the walls and mixes with everyone's various conversations, or in the restroom when someone turns on the electric hand dryer. Some Aspies are so aware of all the sights and sounds around them, they'll even see things such as the flicker of a fluorescent light that happens every 30 seconds or so. Second description: You can't get through the school day without wearing your backpack. It doesn't matter that it's against the rules to wear your backpack, you're willing to break the rules because you absolutely cannot get through the day without wearing it. It doesn't matter that the other kids laugh at you and call you names because you're the ONLY kid in the school wearing your backpack, you still wear it because you absolutely CANNOT get through the day without wearing it. Actually it does matter that the kids laugh at you and call you names, you cry about it at night but you STILL wear your backpack the next day and the next and the next because for whatever reason that you don't understand you cannot go without wearing it. Some say this is due to sensory issues, some Asperger's Syndrome sufferers need to feel pressure or weight. Others say it's a security blanket of sorts, a familiar item which can be another very necessary thing for Asperger's Syndrome sufferers. Whatever it is, if he isn't allowed to wear his backpack he'll melt-down and end up being sent to the office in trouble. --------- The above situations are just a couple of many that people with Asperger's Syndrome have to deal with, there are many, many things that affect them on a daily basis. Welcome to our world, the world of Aspergers Syndrome (AS) and PDD. If you're reading this then chances are it's your world too, or the world of someone you love. Our 12 year old son, Cameron, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in November of 2005, when he was 11 years old. As we travel on this journey of major discovery, we decided to build a website about Aspergers Syndrome, PDD-NOS and our son's life. We want to help him, and anyone with Asperger's Syndrome, to recognize their wonderful talents, realize their incredible potential and to just know how special they truly are. Click around and check things out and if you don't see something that you'd like to see, please let us know. Enjoy your visit and please come back often, your support means the world to us! Learn About Natural Remedies for the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome Quick note: Although it's often spelled Asberger (with a "b") it's actually Aspergers with a "p" (and often with or without the second "s"), named after Hans Asperger who is one of the original identifiers of this syndrome. |