Aspergers syndrome

Description

Aspergers syndrome is a developmental disorder which belongs to the wider category of autistic disorders. Persons with this syndrome show social discomfort and clumsiness, they have limited and repetitive behavioral pattern, they tend to focus on one subject and they are often clumsy, they overcome motoric skills with delay. There is no medicine for this disorder, but early intervention may help to the child to assimilate and function better in the society.

Symptoms

Abnormal nonverbal communication: avoiding eye contact, abnormal facial expression, unnatural postures and gestures. Persons with this disorder are unable to develop interpersonal relationships, they cannot sympathize with others, they are not flexible in concrete routines, they have unusual repetitive behaviors (repetitive finger moves, twisting of the body), they have unusually intensive preoccupations with narrow topics, such as obsession with timetables, phonebook data, weather, sports statistics.

Overview

History of disease is being taken and medical examination is being done. Mental and behavioral assessments are done to exclude other causes from the diagnosis. Doctor may consult other specialists like psychiatrist and / or psychologist in order to confirm cause of disorder. There are no specific diagnostic blood tests or imaging procedure.

Specialists

General Practice, Psychiatry, Clinical psychologist

Therapy

There is no remedy. Social skills activities and adequate behavior exercises are useful for the children. Treatment consists of communication therapy and therapy for social skills developing, cognitive-behavioral therapy and medicines. Medicines are used for treatment of specific symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and aggression and they include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), antipsychotics and stimulants.