Asperger Syndrome

Asperger's syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, is an increasingly common disorder seen in school-age students. There is some dispute among experts as to whether Asperger's syndrome and high functioning autism are the same thing, Tony Attwood - an authority in this area - believes that the terms are equivalent in clinical practice. (Attwood, 2007) Children with Asperger's syndrome have typically developing intellectual and language skills, but often have great difficulty with social language. On the face of it, the most recognizable problem these children display is an absence of empathy for the person they are talking with. Other prominent features of the syndrome are a fixation or obsession for one particular topic and flat, monotone voice prosody. For more information, see www.speechlanguage-resources.com