Aspergers Syndrome Essay -- Disease/Disorders

Hans Asperger, a pediatrician from Austria, began to study a group of children at his clinic in 1944. He noticed that the young boys he was studying were clumsy, lacked social skills, and did not understand nonverbal communication. Asperger’s syndrome (AS), named after Doctor Hans Asperger, is a developmental disorder. Research by Woodbury-Smith and Volkmar (2009), claim that AS was originally thought of as a less severe form of Autism, in which the individual has higher linguistic ability but still lacks social skills. Many researches now consider AS an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, it is disputed amongst researchers as to whether it is explicit from High Functioning Autism (HFA). Many characteristics of AS and HFA are overlapped, making it difficult to distinguish between one and the other (Woodbury-Smith and Volkmar, 20089, p. 2). In this paper, Asperger’s syndrome, as depicted in the film, â€Å"Adam†, will be evaluated. Asperger’s syndrome is defined as an ever-present neurodevelopmental disorder, in which social communication is affected and discernment and attentiveness may be bounded (Woodbury-Smith and Volkmar, 2009, p. 2). According to Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Robinson, & Woodbury-Smith (2005), Asperger’s syndrome can be characterized by various behavioral and social symptoms: lacking the ability to understand social cues; preoccupation with one or few interests; disliking change in routines; repetitive behavior; failure to understand emotional tones in speech; and a seeming lack of empathy. The title character in the film â€Å"Adam†, Adam Raki, is a 29-year-old man who has AS. At the beginning of the film, Adam is left alone for the first time after the death of his father. When Adam meets his new upstairs neig... ...Cited Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Robinson, J., & Woodbury-Smith, M. (2005). The Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA): A Diagnostic Method. Journal Of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 35(6), 807-819. Hurlbutt, K., & Chalmers, L. (2004). Employment and Adults with Asperger Syndrome. Focus On Autism & Other Developmental Disabilities, 19(4), 215-222. O'Connor, K. (2007). Brief Report: Impaired Identification of Discrepancies Between Expressive Faces and Voices in Adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. Journal Of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 37(10), 2008-2013. Rogers, K., Dziobek, I., Hassenstab, J., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2007). Who Cares? Revisiting Empathy in Asperger Syndrome. Journal Of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 37(4), 709-715. Woodbury-Smith, M. R., & Volkmar, F. R. (2009). Asperger syndrome. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,18(1), 2-11.