History of Asperger's syndrome and its context within the "autistic spectrum".

Hans Asperger was a Viennese Paediatrician who first noticed a pattern of able people with impairments of social interaction, communication and imagination. We now see this group of people as similar to, but more able than the people with classical autism. Whereas people with classical autism may well have severe global learning difficulties and relate to other people like they are objects rather than independent 'agents', people with Asperger's syndrome have much more subtle deficits. Indeed, autism and Asperger's syndrome seem to represent "extreme points" on a scale of severity within "the autistic spectrum". Although some people with Asperger's syndrome manage to function quite well as adults (often in engineering or computer careers), most have difficulties throughout their entire lifespan.

Demographics of Asperger's syndrome

Estimates of the prevalence of Asperger's syndrome range from 0.01% (Wing, 1981) to 3.6% of live births (Ehlers and Gillberg, 1993). Gillberg (1989) estimated that the male to female ratio was 10:1 based on his clinical experience.

Attwood (1998) and Klin, Volkmar and Sparrow (2000) agree that people with Asperger's syndrome lack empathy, have naive inappropriate one-sided interaction and an impaired ability to form friendships. They tend to be very concrete in their understanding of the world and can find abstract concepts difficult. People with the syndrome have pedantic repetitive speech, poor non-verbal communication and an intense absorption in certain subjects. Features also include clumsy and ill co-ordinated movements and odd postures, and being described as eccentric, odd, and difficult to get on with. This group tends to insist on sameness, and have difficulties accommodating to change. However, people with Asperger's syndrome have average to above-average intelligence according to most criteria used to diagnose the condition.

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