Understanding Asperger Syndrome and Its Treatments

Asperger Syndrome is characterized by difficulties in social interaction and having bad motor skills. It is one of the autism spectrum disorders, and is usually diagnosed in children in age of above three. A child with Asperger’s Syndrome doesn’t feel like interacting with others. Basically, it’s a developmental disorder that causes a child feel very awkward when he or she is in the situations where speaking to others more clearly and loudly is a necessity. Though, there are some children who are naturally shy this way, it’s also one of the key symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome.

Symptoms of Asperger Syndrome

Though, there is a large range of symptoms of Asperger Syndrome, two children will not display the exactly same symptoms. There are certain Asperger syndrome tests that can be conducted for correct diagnosis.

Also, here is a list of most common symptoms of Asperger Syndrome. A child with such a medical condition:

· Needs to follow a fixed routine and doesn’t accept any changes with what he or she has defined as a routine for himself or herself.

· Unable to relate to others.

· Unable to be socialize and make eye contact when trying to talk

· Lacks tone, accent and pitch in the speech. Their speech often sounds older than their age and is in a formal style.

· May show signs of being awkward or ungainly. They may also show poor body gestures.

· Have poor handwriting, and may also have problems with skills requiring balance such as riding a bike.

Treatments

Treatments for Asperger vary from child to child. Just because one treatment has worked with a child who is suffering from Asperger doesn’t signify that it will work for another. Though, no medication is given to treat an Asperger patient, there are various treatments to help with this condition’s symptoms.

Here are different treatments to help a child who has Asperger Syndrome.

Social Skills Training

A child with Asperger has a hard time to distinguish between voice tone and facial expressions. In social skills training, these children are taught to understand the difference between mockery and jokes. They also learn how facial expressions differ from a voice tones. In addition, social skills training help them gain enough confident to make eye contact and interact with others (adults and children) as well as become comfortable in the social setting.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Children with Asperger Syndrome are taught to recognize a bad situation before it takes place. Many children with such a medical condition live in high levels of anxiety and distress, and cognitive behavior therapy helps them reduce stress and cope with high levels of anxiety.  Generally, the child gets a render down or throws a temper outburst when something doesn’t go as they want to. This therapy helps them cope up with these situations better and reduce the number of outbursts.

Parental Education

When it comes to treating Asperger Syndrome, it isn’t only applied to children but also parents have to go through some training. Parents should also go through training sessions to understand the ways of dealing ​with their child who is suffering from Asperger Syndrome. Parents are taught to use a reward system with their child that demonstrates them the benefits of remaining calm. Furthermore, parents also learn how to handle the situations when children have outbursts.

Medication

Usually, there aren’t any particular medicines prescribed to treat Asperger, instead, there are several prescriptions to help with its symptoms. However, children are given anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications depending on the severity of their particular symptoms. Provided that, these medicines may come with some side effects, parents have to monitor their children closely. They must check to see how the child is responding, and if their behavior becomes more unusual after taking certain pills. Many children may also experience difficulty with sleeping and can be given sleeping sills to help them at night.

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement can be very helpful to children with Asperger Syndrome in doing well with the parents and teachers. Parents can be supportive to their children by demonstrating them what they want to do and help them maintain independent lifestyles.

Children with Asperger Syndrome can have normal lives with proper treatments. Remember, there are no magical medicines or treatments that will cure Asperger Syndrome but there are certainly ways to help children reduce the symptoms.