The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome

by Anthony Attwood

One critical observation is the fact that as much as 99 per cent of the things that worried me never happened. Autistic people can waste an incredible amount of energy getting every part of their body tensed up in a state of anxiety while dwelling on something that they will probably never have to face.

When I was discussing with a child with Asperger’s syndrome strategies to encourage him not to go into a rage, I asked him if a hug from his mother would help him feel better. He replied with an emphatic ‘No! It makes me madder.’ That was very useful information to know. Touch, and especially attempts at physical restraint, can increase the feelings of anger and energy levels. Sometimes asking the person ‘What’s the matter?’ can also inflame the situation, because when experiencing severe emotional distress, the person’s ability to articulate the cause of the anger can be significantly diminished and create further frustration.

This is the most bewildering experience of them all. How can I both crave physical touch, and resent it at the same time?

Temple Grandin explained that: My brain scan shows that some emotional circuits between the frontal cortex and the amygdala just aren’t hooked up – circuits that affect my emotions and are tied to my ability to feel love. I experience the emotion of love, but it’s not the same way that most neurotypical people do. Does this mean my love is less valuable than what other people feel? (Grandin and Barron 2005, p.40)

In his guidebook for teenagers with Asperger’s syndrome, Luke Jackson explained that: If I am focused on my fascination, whether it is dinosaurs (when I was little I hasten to add), Pokémon, a particular PlayStation game, computers – this has always been an everlasting obsession for me – or anything else, I feel an overwhelming excitement in me that I cannot describe. (L. Jackson 2002)

We are not precisely sure why a person with Asperger’s syndrome can have exemplary long-term memory for details and facts and an ability to recall events in infancy. A plausible explanation is that people with Asperger’s syndrome have a different pattern of brain wiring from birth and weak central coherence affects the perception, cognitive processing and storing and retrieval of memories. The result is an ability to recall events in infancy that others cannot retrieve.

Other children do not have to learn social integration skills consciously, but these children have to decipher the social cues and codes and cognitively determine what to do and say in social situations. Often their primary feedback is criticism for an error, with little recognition from others when they make the correct response. Unfortunately, learning only from your mistakes is not the most constructive way to learn.