Asperger's Syndrome and Language

.   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 06:24 GMT
I haven't been formally diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, but I think I may have it. Does anyone know how it effects language ability?
JJM   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 06:27 GMT
In my experience (I know a couple of young people with AS), it generally means an above average ability in terms of self-expression, vocabulary and overall language skills!
andre in usa   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 06:51 GMT
People with Asperger's Syndrome don't notice subtle social cues, which can interfere with communication, but as JJM said, they tend to have superior linguistical abilities.
Mxsmanic   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 07:18 GMT
Some people, particularly Americans, like to characterize every aspect of indivduality that fails to conform to the norm as a disease: attention-deficit disorder, Asperger's syndrome, etc. Sometimes they do this in order to attraction attention and pity; sometimes they do it to justify the use of drugs. But not every departure from the norm in behavior is necessarily part of a disease process, nor does every such departure require treatment.

Even the "official" DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for AS are vague, and the uninformed might be tempted to apply them to people who don't have any psychiatric problems at all. People who really show signs of autism (including AS) show much more marked symptoms than most of the people I've encountered who claim to have AS (or who claim to see AS in others).

There's no correlation between AS and superior skills in anything that I'm aware of. The most common symptom of AS is an extreme obsession with a very specific topic, such as calendars, train or air schedules, specific books (especially reference books), etc. An intense interest in a general field, such as medicine or computers, is not AS; such intense interests are nearly ubiquitous and the entire population obviously cannot have AS.

Moral: Spend less time trying to figure out what disease you supposedly have and more time recognizing your individuality, even if it doesn't give you an excuse to start up a support Web site or take medication.
andre in usa   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 08:07 GMT
Mxsmanic,

True, a lot of people like to think they have some problem that they don't, but then there are those who really have certain disorders. Maybe the guy who posted this thread happens to have Asperger's; we don't know.
Bill   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 08:11 GMT
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html

By definition, those with AS have a normal IQ and many individuals (although not all), exhibit exceptional skill or talent in a specific area. Because of their high degree of functionality and their naiveté, those with AS are often viewed as eccentric or odd and can easily become victims of teasing and bullying. While language development seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody. Vocabularies may be extraordinarily rich and some children sound like "little professors." However, persons with AS can be extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context.
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Although the criteria state no significant delay in the development of language milestones, what you might see is a "different" way of using language. A child may have a wonderful vocabulary and even demonstrate hyperlexia but not truly understand the nuances of language and have difficulty with language pragmatics. Social pragmatics also tend be weak, leading the person to appear to be walking to the beat of a "different drum". Motor dyspraxia can be reflected in a tendency to be clumsy.
Bill   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 08:21 GMT
It'd be best to search the web yourself if you're trying to evaluate and diagnose your own condition.

Here's another on language, Autism and Asperger's:

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Aspergers

One of the major differences between Asperger's Disorder and autism is that, by definition, there is no speech delay in Asperger's. In fact, children with Asperger's Disorder frequently have good language skills; they simply use language in different ways. Speech patterns may be unusual, lacking inflection or having a rhythmic nature. Speech may be formal and too loud or high pitched. Children with Asperger's Disorder may not understand the subtleties of language, such as irony and humor, or may not understand the give and take nature of a conversation.

Another distinction between Asperger's Disorder and autism concerns cognitive ability. While some individuals with Autism experience mental retardation, by definition a person with Asperger's Disorder cannot possess a "clinically significant" cognitive delay. This does not imply that all individuals with autism have mental retardation. Some do and some do not, but a person with Asperger's Disorder possesses average to above average intelligence.
Ben   Wednesday, May 04, 2005, 15:05 GMT
In all fairness, a good percentage of the greatest geniuses of all time (Michelangelo, Beethoven, Mozart, Einstein, and a slew of others) have been diagnosed posthumously with the disorder based on their behavior.

As a matter of fact, there's a lot of theory that the difficult "artistic temperment" of people like Van Gogh and Beethoven was a result of AS. The syndrome often produces an obsessive focus in people which is great for artistic and intellectual pursuits, but makes for strained social interactions.
Xatufan   Thursday, May 05, 2005, 01:30 GMT
Mmmm, I have no social abilities, altho I have language capacities. I wonder.....
Damian   Thursday, May 05, 2005, 05:42 GMT
**Some people, particularly Americans, like to characterize every aspect of indivduality that fails to conform to the norm as a disease**

Isn't that a symptom of neurosis?
Xatufan   Friday, May 06, 2005, 00:25 GMT
:)