What is Asperger’s disease?
Symptoms
The signs that commonly appear in a person suffering from this disorder are:
- Facing a lot of difficulty making friends with people of the same age. Children may only feel good with adults, or anyone younger to them.
- Engaging in one sided conversation, without knowing if the listener is really listening to or is trying to change the subject.
- Displaying nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact or awkward gestures.
- Insensitive to the feelings of a person, or having a hard time reading other’s mood or understanding the other person’s humour.
- Always self absorbed
- Speaking in a voice that is jerky or abnormally fast.
- Having a difficulty in understanding the nuances and depth of language, despite having a great vocabulary.
Causes
The cause of asperger’s disease is unknown. According to researchers, genetics remain to be one of the major factors. In some cases the following were accounted as the cause for this disease:
- Toxic exposure
- Complication during birth or pregnancy
- Prenatal infections
- Teratogens
Risks
The following could be taken as risks factors of the disease:
- Being male
- Co-occurring mental disorder like anxiety or depression
- Tuberous sclerosis
- Epilepsy
- Tourette syndrome
Preventions
As there is no concrete reason for this disease, there is no way it could be prevented. However early diagnosis can prevent further complications.
How is it diagnosed?
In case of children, this disease cannot be diagnosed until the child reaches a certain age between 4 – 11 years. If the child has reached the proper age, the disease can be diagnosed by behavioural patterns only.
