Asperger's in a Nutshell

I looked at several websites to find a good link to clearly and simply explain Asperger's Syndrome. Nearly everything I found was too lengthy for my purposes. After sifting through many websites, I finally found the description I was looking for.

Aspergers syndrome
Definition
As·per·ger's syn·drome[ ás pùrjərz sìndrōm ]NOUN
1. developmental disorder: a severe developmental disorder, similar to autism, characterized by difficulties with social relations, strange behavior patterns, concentration on details of objects, and often a heightened ability to memorize.



Gasp. There! That's perfect. That tells you everything. AND it doesn't even call it "autism". The definition calls it "similar to autism" which I dig. Since nearly everything I read says "a form of autism" or the like. Only a handful of times have I seen it referred to as actual autism. Here is a video the kids and I enjoyed watching. It was made by a 16 year old with Asperger's Syndrome.


A few weeks ago I tried to explain Asperger's Syndrome to Lane, but it flew straight over his head. He was thinking about Mario at the moment and nothing would deter his train of thought. However, this weekend, while were were eating lunch he blurted out "No one at this table has Asperger's Syndrome, whatever that is." and continued on eating. Clearly he had heard us talking about it. This was his way of letting us know that he was ready to talk about it and wanted to know what it meant.

So we talked to him about what it meant as carefully as we could. We explained that he would just have to learn some skills that come natural to many other people (a thing we know can be done). We told him how far he's come already. We told him his good memory is a gift and how proud we are of him. We said that now we know better how to teach him and how he learns best. He stared off, maybe listening, maybe not (but I think he was). It is always hard to tell how he is taking things. His happy face is quite similar to his angry face. He keeps his thoughts and feelings locked up so secure. It is only every now and then that we get a glimpse of true joy, sorrow, amusement, etc.

Probably in a few weeks I'll know if he understood any of it and if he did what he thinks about it. It takes him a long time to think about things. Sometimes when we tell him some bit of news or interesting info we get zero feedback. But then one day, maybe even weeks later, he'll finally say something about it as if we were speaking of it just a few minutes ago. And what he has to say is usually pretty insightful. I look forward to hearing his thoughts.