Asperger’s Syndrome has been described as “high functioning Autism”.

People with Asperger’s Syndrome may not have a learning disability; Asperger’s Syndrome may not become obvious until a child is older. Indeed some people can go through their whole lives having Asperger’s Syndrome and not receive a diagnosis until they are in their 40’s or older.

Hans Asperger identified Asperger’s Syndrome in the 1940’s; however, it only became widely known and researched in the 1980’s when Dr Lorna Wing gave comprehensive accounts of 34 cases.

Dr Wing described the main clinical features of Asperger’s Syndrome to be:

• Lack of empathy.
• Naive, inappropriate one sided interactions.
• Little or no ability to form friendships.
• Pedantic or repetitive speech.
• Poor non verbal communication.
• Intense absorption in certain subjects.
• Clumsy and ill coordinated movements and odd postures.

People with Asperger’s Syndrome can go on to achieve a lot of things; they may have above average intelligence, they may go on to university, have a job, a family. Some people with Asperger’s Syndrome have gone on to become professors, world experts in their chosen field; an example of this is Professor Temple Grandin. Check out her website at www.templegrandin.com