From Parenting Your Asperger Child
By Alan Sohn and Cathy Grayson

This appendix contains a description of the characteristics displayed by children and teens with Asperger's syndrome. Once again, because our approach is practical, we provide descriptions of the characteristics, rather than merely listing them. By describing what a particular characteristic will look like when displayed, you will have a clearer picture of which characteristics are most problematic for your child. Before you begin to work on problems, you must know what those problems are and how they are manifested. The characteristic list is presented in a checklist format. We encourage you to copy this checklist and share it with all those involved with your child. It will be useful in determining initial diagnosis. Later, it will help those working with your child to better understand how particular attributes are translated into behaviors. The result will be a clearer understanding of the reasons behind the behaviors displayed by your child. It is important to remember that the more you understand about Asperger behaviors and the reasons behind them, the more effective you will be when you begin to intervene and change behaviors.

From Washington Post
By Shankar Vedantam
Friday, May 5, 2006; A09

About 300,000 American children have been diagnosed as having autism, according to the first comprehensive national surveys of the developmental disorder.

From Autism Asperger's Digest via www.autismtoday.com
By Catherine Faherty

A young woman who has participated for several years in a social group for adults with high functioning autism and Aspergers sponsored at our TEACCH Center in Asheville, recently remarked, "There aren’t a heck of a lot of women who have Aspergers or autism. The majority are males, and although we get along with the guys, there are some issues that they are never going to understand. I wish there was more information specifically for women who have autism." Her comment prompted the initiation of the first women’s group at the Asheville TEACCH Center. While talking with this woman, who is in her 20’s, I was reminded of my own early adulthood. I remember the strong comradery and support of "women’s consciousness-raising groups" that sprouted up on college campuses and in living rooms in the 60’s and 70’s. While struggling for and demanding equality between the sexes in the society at large, we discovered that there were important distinctions that needed to be honored. Together we explored and defined what "being a woman" was about, in the company of other young women searching for self-awareness. Being a member of a women’s "CR" (Consciousness-Raising) group was educational, exciting, exhilarating, emotional, relevant - and never boring.

From Psychological Medicine via National Autistic Society - Surrey, UK
By Lorna Wing, from the MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London

[BSNPTA Note: This 1981 paper is one of the classic publications that brought Asperger's Syndrome to the attention of everyone.]

Synopsis - The clinical features, course, aetiology, epidemiology, differential diagnosis and management of Asperger syndrome are described. Classification is discussed and reasons are given for including the syndrome, together with early childhood autism, in a wider group of conditions which have, in common, impairment of development of social interaction, communication and imagination.

The many patterns of abnormal behaviour that cause diagnostic confusion include one originally described by the Austrian psychiatrist, Hans Asperger (1944, 1968, 1979). The name he chose for this pattern was 'autistic psychopathy' using the latter word in the technical sense of an abnormality of personality. This has led to misunderstanding because of the popular tendency to equate psychopathy with sociopathic behaviour. For this reason, the neutral term Asperger syndrome is to be preferred and will be used here.

From Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database

Autism is a disability syndrome characterized principally by significant problems in the development of communication and social functioning. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a broad definition of autism that includes related disabilities such as Asperger Syndrome, Rett's Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Autism and ASD are labels describing students with a great range of abilities and disabilities, including individuals with severe intellectual challenges as well as students who are intellectually gifted. With appropriate teaching, all students with autism can learn. This digest provides an overview of considerations for teaching students with autism.

From National Institute of Mental Health part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a broad continuum of brain illnesses that includes Asperger's syndrome, share common genetic roots and essential clinical and behavioral features, although they differ in severity and age of onset. Autism, the most severe of these pervasive developmental disorders, typically begins in early childhood and impairs thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others.

By the Associated Press
via the Portland Press Herald
January 31, 2006

PORTLAND, Maine --A York County girl who suffers from Asperger's syndrome is entitled to special education services even though she completes her homework, behaves well in class and scores well on tests, a federal judge ruled.

U.S District Judge D. Brock Hornby ordered School Administrative District 55 to assemble a team of teachers and specialists to design an appropriate learning program for the girl, identified in court documents only as "L.I."

In his ruling, Hornby said the girl's parents demonstrated that the disability adversely affects her educational performance "and is thus eligible for special education under (federal law) due to her Asperger syndrome and her depressive disorder."

Autism 101 Launched May 2005 by National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY)

On Autism: Short and Sweet
Start with NICHCY's 4-page fact sheet on Autism and PDD.
www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs1txt.html
If you're looking for the basics on autism and its associated disorders, this is a good place to start. Our fact sheet will hook you up with ORGANIZATIONS that can help, online and print resources of more information, and an overview look at this spectrum of disorders.

Jan 2006 press release from American Psychological Association

Differences in spatial working memory and complex visual, verbal memory may contribute to problems with social interaction, information processing.

WASHINGTON — If children with autism can’t see the forest for the trees, that may be partly because the burden of processing all those trees at once makes it harder to lock in the scene. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System have found that children with autism differ from other children in two specific memory capabilities. The research is in January’s Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

This document, Asperger Syndrome: Treatment and Intervention. Some Guidelines for Parents, provides assessment, education and treatment strategies for children with Asperger syndrome. This 13 page, doc by Ami Kiln and Fred Volkmar from the Yale Child Study Center was written in 1996. These recommendations are made as general strategies: