Asperger's Syndrome

In this talk, I presented the finding of my MEd dissertation on autistic women diagnosed in adulthood. The project consisted of an international sample of more that 50 women and I conducted online focus groups based on the participants' suggestions for discussion.

This presentation took place at the study weekend organised by the Autism Centre of Education and Research in the School of Education, University of Birmingham in April 2015.

The aim of this paper is to develop a phenomenological analysis of those psychopathologies which involve an intersubjective disruption, such as schizophrenia or autistic spectrum disorder. After briefly summarizing the contemporary debate about intersubjectivity, I will emphasize the importance of the living body in the development of our understanding of otherness, and I will show two qualitative tools I have personally developed: a " phenomenological test " that takes into account specific phenomenological notions and is aimed at the analysis of the so-called existentialia (self, other, time, space, body); and a form of therapy focused on the fortification of intercorporeality and of bodily awareness.

This article argues that Canada fails to meet its obligation under article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to provide students with autism with access to inclusive education. Moving beyond Canadian legislation, under which every province and territory recognises the right of all students to an inclusive education, it analyses Canada’s education system and the implementation of the goal of inclusive education. It points out the effect of five interrelated factors on the inclusiveness of the Canadian education system and its accessibility for students with autism: reductions in funding for education; the inadequacy of individual support measures and parent participation; the lack of education and training for teachers; the use of language indicative of the medical model of disability by governments; and "voluntary segregation" – the voluntary removal of children from the public education system by their parents. It concludes that Canada likely does not meet its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The prevalence of Autism is on the rise worldwide with studies presenting the worldwide prevalence rates as 1 in 68 children. This is rising alarmingly every year and the combined presentation of Autism with ADHD in the same child is also increasing. In this scenario it is shocking to note that many medical professionals in general and paediatricians in particular are unaware of the availability of an Autism Cure that is already being accessed by parents with children with autism from all over the world and these children are thriving completely free from their limiting symptoms. This article seeks to enlighten medical professionals about this Autism Cure and emphasizes the urgent necessity for them to update themselves about the same so that more children with Autism and ADHD (and their parents) need not suffer unnecessarily due to this " autism cure awareness gap " that is currently prevailing among medical professionals and paediatricians worldwide. Read More ... #Autism #AutismCure #AutismTreatment

Der Aufsatz untersucht das Verhältnis von Persönlichkeit und Verhalten in der Definition und Diagnostik des Autismus von Kanner und Asperger in den 1940er Jahren bis in die neueren Ausgaben des DSM und ICD. Dazu unterscheidet er drei verschiedene epistemische Zugänge zum Autismus: ein externes Wissen der dritten Person, das über Verhaltensbeobachtungen, Testverfahren und Elterninterviews gewonnen wird; ein stärker praktisches Wissen der zweiten Person, das in der andauernden, alltäglichen Interaktion bei Eltern und Betreuer*innen entsteht, und schließlich das introspektive Wissen der ersten Person, d.h. der Autist*innen selbst. Dabei resultiert die Kerndifferenz in der Behandlung des Autismus daraus, ob man meint, die Persönlichkeit eines Menschen allein über die Beobachtung von Verhaltensweisen erschließen zu können oder ob es sich um eine vorgängige Struktur handelt, die introspektiv zugänglich ist, Verhalten prägt und ihm Sinn verleihen kann. Die Entscheidung hierüber führt zu grundlegend anderen Positionierungen zu verhaltenstherapeutischen Ansätzen, wie insbesondere zu Ole Ivar Lovaas' Applied Behavior Analysis.

As parents and school professionals are typically responsible for choosing or making available books for children and youth, guidelines for choosing literature that is inclusive and diverse are warranted. Using the Rating Scale for Quality Characterizations of Individuals with Disabilities in Children's Literature to conduct content analyses, we evaluated one graphic novel, 16 picture books, and 30 chapter books (n=47) for their portrayals of characters with developmental disabilities. All books were eligible for the 2020 Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award. Results indicated that most characters portrayed have autism spectrum disorders (71%) and the majority are male (74%); most characters are portrayed positively and realistically, and in the chapter books the characters generally have dynamic development. Most engage in positive social relationships with friends and family, and all are included in integrated settings to some degree. To help school professionals select and use literature for children and youth, we provide several teacher-friendly materials.

This interview relates to my book Naming Adult Autism: Culture, Science, Identity (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2017) and took place at Leeds Beckett University.*
Some of my answers to questions at the end are quite unfocused – see also 1 minute 27 seconds into this link to the conversation…

The poet Pentti Saarikoski (1937-1983) was one of the most significant Finnish writers of the 20th century. He was also a prolific translator, who received many prestigious awards for his literary production. Throughout his life Saarikoski showed evidence of a certain psychopathology and mental complications for which he was twice hospitalized. The paper argues that Saarikoski possessed a large number of autistic traits and elevated symptomatology of ADHD. The traits of these conditions are often found in persons with high creative achievement. The works of the psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald provide the theoretical background, on which the biographic evidence from Saarikoski's childhood and adult life is analyzed. The identity diffusion under which the poet suffered can be shown as beneficial to this level of creativity. Saarikoski was an autistic writer, who visualized his poetry which eventually provided him with artistic identity. In addition to autistic traits and high intelligence, Saarikoski also sought novelty and sensation, which can be attributed to his ADHD traits.

BACKGROUND: Asperger syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental condition within the autism spectrum conditions (ASC) characterized by specific difficulties in communication, social interaction, and empathy that is essential for sharing and understanding others' feelings and emotions. Although reduced empathy is considered a core feature of ASC, neurophysiological evidence of empathic deficits before and below mentalizing and perspective taking is lacking. We explored whether people with AS differ from neurotypical control participants in their empathic corticospinal response to the observation of others' pain and the modulatory role played by phenomenal experience of observed pain and personality traits. METHODS: Sixteen right-handed men with AS (aged 28.0+/-7.2 years) and 20 neurotypical controls (aged 25.3+/-6.7 years) age, sex, and IQ matched, underwent single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation during observation of painful and nonpainful stimuli affecting another individual. RESULTS: When observing other's pain, participants with AS, in contrast to neurotypical control participants, did not show any amplitude reduction of motor-evoked potentials recorded from the muscle vicariously affected by pain, nor did their neurophysiological response correlate with imagined pain sensory qualities. Participants with AS represented others' pain in relation to the self-oriented arousal experienced while watching pain videos. CONCLUSIONS: Finding no embodiment of others' pain provides neurophysiological evidence for reduced empathic resonance in people with AS and indicates that their empathic difficulties involve not only cognitive dimensions but also sensorimotor resonance with others. We suggest that absence of embodied empathy may be linked to changes at very basic levels of neural processing.

I would like to comment and elaborate on the letter from Michael Fitzgerald (Autism 6 (4), December 2002) in which he suggested, citing ICD-10 criteria (World Health Organization, 1992), that a number of adult patients with Asperger syndrome may have been misdiagnosed as having anankastic personality disorder. Professor Fitzgerald uses the terms 'autism' and 'Asperger syndrome' interchangeably, noting that the one factor that differentiates anankastic personality disorder from autism in ICD-10 is that the latter must have an onset in early childhood. However, careful examination of the ICD-10 criteria reveals that age of onset is not specified for Asperger syndrome. This is just one of the many anomalies in the ICD-10 and DSM-IV sections on 'pervasive developmental disorder'. So while Asperger syndrome may be misdiagnosed as anankastic personality disorder, it is much less likely that autism, as currently defined, would be. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved) Record 14 of 564 in PsycINFO (2004/01-2004/06)

There is a growing literature on girls and women on the autism spectrum. In the past, prevalence data has suggested that there are many more males than females on the autism spectrumand studies which have included both genders have often not focused on the particular needs of girls and women. It is thought by some that we are failing to identify and diagnose many girls with autism because they present differently and do not fit the existing diagnostic criteria – which have perhapsbeen 
largely based on the male presentation of autism and Asperger syndrome. This paper by Catriona Stewart presents some of the findings of her doctoral study which focused on four girls diagnosed with Asperger syndrome (AS). She reports their views on their lives at school and home and also considers their mothers’ experiences. From this it appears that schools and services still have much to do to recognise the stress that both the girls and their families experience and to take appropriate and effective steps to address these. She lists some recommendations for schools on how to make their school lives less stressful and more enjoyable.

This paper is an evaluation of “Asperger syndrome: a clinical account”, Wing's seminal paper. Over 30 years have passed since her paper was written but it is still relevant and useful today. By making Asperger's original research more known to the psychological community this started a wave of interest in research, diagnosis and treatment which has continued to the present day.  Wing's (1981) paper was significant because it helped to bring Aspergers disorder to public attention and to the attention of researchers and psychologists.

Le présent mémoire de CIU relate une expérience d'accompagnement à la reconstruction de soi d'une victime-témoin (ex-compagne d'un adepte de mouvement sectaire), victime de traumatisation indirecte dite secondaire. Le parcours d'Inès vers la reconquête de sa liberté d'être et d'agir est analysé en détail, de manière ethnographique, à partir d'une triple approche narrative, existentielle et transculturelle. Les applications cliniques des concepts étudiés en Victimologie et Psychotraumatologie font l'objet d'un éclairage anthropologique, systémique et philosophique. Les phénomènes de dissociation, crise, deuil compliqué et lâcher-prise sont discutés par rapport à leurs conséquences sur la vie intrapsychique et interpersonnelle de la patiente. Sont mises au jour la mécanique de l'emprise, dans la secte comme dans le couple, et ses ambivalences en termes de lien et de relation. Les facteurs de protection et de résilience d'Inès sont abordés en parallèle aux facteurs de risque de son ex-partenaire, dont la quête spirituelle était pervertie et a produit des effets délétères. La prise en charge thérapeutique du trauma complexe d'Inès s'appuie sur une démarche intégrative qui vise à soutenir au long cours les processus de remaniement identitaire en favorisant le rétablissement de la sécurité ontologique via divers outils de « créativité symbolique ». L'auteure examine également de façon réflexive sa posture d'intervenante. Pour conclure, elle envisage enjeux et perspectives.

This literature review brings together almost all of the literature available worldwide for person-centred counselling for autistic people. The review demonstrates that person-centred counselling can be a highly effective therapy type for the autistic client group, the core conditions of empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard are vital. Autistic people often grow up with many conditions of worth, the PCA is ideal for breaking these down. The review explores what adaptations are currently being made and which could be made to make person-centred counselling more accessible to this under-supported group. The author is of the firm opinion that as autistic people are individuals too, it is important that all therapeutic approaches are made available to them, not just CBT which is the predominant offering.

This essay examines the formation of self-concepts among people on the autism spectrum, focusing on an existential and qualitative analysis of the ways people view their identity, as opposed to framing the autistic experience within a solely medical model.

"Ragionevolmente Differenti è un libro che parla della produzione sociale della diversità e lo fa attraverso lo studio della sindrome di Asperger. L'Asperger è un disturbo nello spettro autistico i cui sintomi principali fanno riferimento a interessi ristretti e ossessivi e concomitante presenza di un QI medio o superiore alla media. Spesso le persone che li manifestano vengono considerate alla stregua di nerd un po' bizzarri. Il libro presenta una ricca serie di rappresentazioni interne in cui sono gli stessi individui con Asperger e i loro familiari e amici a raccontare le proprie esperienze e a darne un senso. Ne emerge un'identità ambivalente, dei connotati spesso estremamente positivi, che può essere utilizzata e performata in maniera creativa e funzionale. Al tempo stesso si approfondisce il profondo processo di medicalizzazione di quei comportamenti che si posizionano al di fuori di un quadro culturale condiviso e che coinvolge diversi aspetti della realtà contemporanea.


Being different is not something one can do alone. The ability to recognize difference represents the core of our understanding; it serves as a method that helps us to experience the world we live in. In our cultural world some people are more different than others and psychiatrists tried to tell which differences really matter by settling them into categories described by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder). Ragionevolmente Differenti (Reasonably Different) reflects on the creativeness of science, focusing on a peculiar condition which has become a diagnostic category: Asperger’s Syndrome. In recent years, this once obscure diagnosis, given to more than four times as many boys as girls, has become increasingly common. This increase could be analyzed from the point of view of a dynamic which tends to create a very desirable diagnosis rather than a less desirable one.
Asperger's Syndrome (AS, also known as Asperger's Disorder) has been included in the DSM since 1994 (Forth edition), and is considered to be in the Autism Spectrum. It has seen a considerable increase in diagnoses in recent years. Meanwhile, the American Psychiatric Association is working on the next edition of the DSM (the fifth, due in May 2013) and a committee of experts has already taken the decision to eliminate Aspergers's Syndrome from the manual in order to subsume the diagnosis under a general category of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
AS is named after the Austrian paediatrician who first talked about a particular case history during the '40s. Hans Asperger described children who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy. As noted in autism, AS is characterized largely by an inability to interact socially and the presence of intense and specialized interests that can appear obsessive.
Individuals diagnosed with AS tend to be isolated, engrossed in their activities, and have a limited social life. The main difference with regards to classical autism is the presence of an average or higher than average intelligence. IQ measurement, a widely problematic way to assess people, seems to be part of the diagnostic process. Among those diagnosed with AS there are individuals with very high IQ, which led some researchers to hypothesize that perhaps intellectuals such as Einstein, Newton or Wittgenstein could have fallen into this category because of their unusual behaviour. Clinical experts tend to analyze the peculiarity perceived in and performed by people with AS from a variety of perspectives, taking into consideration psychological, metabolic, genetic and neuroscientific theories. Whether seen as a contingent or inherent, issue the inability to follow a socially acceptable, normal behaviour is the common denominator used to depict these people. Basically, in clinical accounts, difference from what is taken to be the norm seems to be their main characteristic. On the other hand, people with AS tend to use the medical pluralistic scenario they live in to negotiate a less problematic identity for themselves while, at the same time, seeking treatments and useful assistance for an inclusive environment.
In this way, the phenomenon shows its ambivalent aspects: it is known as a disability from the clinical point of view and as an original way of being in the world from an inner perspective. On the one hand, AS seems to be a diagnostic category which has strong implications for individual identity and perceived identity. On the other hand, AS is a category marked in the medical tradition as pathology defined by deviance from the norm, as opposed to conceptualized as individuals expressing complaints. All this ambivalence leads us to the consideration of the legislative frame of biomedicine, which is capable of drawing up a clinic framework from specific behaviour. In searching for major causes of AS even pollution and the whole western economic system is charged in order to explain the severe increase in AS and ASD rates, as if it were a sort of “disorder of civilization” embodied by those who cannot appreciate the hypocrisy of postmodernity.
In situations where individual pathological behaviour is made to correspond metaphorically to a weakness or pathology in society itself, the care and cure of that behaviour corresponds also with eliminating the undesirable from society. This metaphorical relationship opens the door to the intellectual premise in which social differences, corresponding to established limits, must be considered pathological and therefore must be medicalized (Szasz 1961, Furedi 2005). It is easy to extrapolate from this position the complicated nature of certain contemporary and historical medical philosophies that mix discussions concerning pathology with morality and quality of life. This interactive dynamic contributes to creating an interplay between people who manifest problems and people who categorize manifestations of problems. According to Hacking, the perfect way to reify what is medicalized is (among other things) to make the behaviour an effect of biological and genetic causes. In fact, if we recognise biological causes for autism and AS (including neurology) people with AS will consequently be relieved of “responsibility” for their difference. If problematic behaviour is attributed to chemical imbalance, it ceases to be seen as “a moral defect”.
Ragionevolmente Differenti (Reasonably Different) analyzes the category of Asperger's Syndrome from an anthropological perspective: what it is, why society recognizes it as a particular way of being, why it is seen as pathological, what are the historical and political frameworks which have led to it becoming a medical category, and what people with Asperger's think about it. The analysis is based upon two years of anthropological research with an Italian support group: Gruppo Asperger. In response to a sort of normalization dynamic, shown by biomedicine, many support groups run by people with Asperger's all around the world have stressed their identity issues, pointing out that AS is generally considered problematic particularly by those who do not have it. The concept of normality therefore emerges as relative to a given context, not as a natural state. They say that AS, contrarily to autism, is seen as something positive particularly thanks to the popular books and films on the subject, which have portrayed AS as a characteristic of weird nerds and savant-like geniuses. It is difficult to not see identity playing a major role in some of these dynamics. People with AS are even considered more desirable than others bysome of the parents running Gruppo Asperger, who claim to be proud of the frankness and candour of their sons and of their inability to lie.
Ragionevolmente Differenti (Reasonably Different) discusses various aspects of the issue, not only a dynamic involving identitarian views but also economic and practical aspects such as the shaping of a plurality of situated medical realities and the thin boundary between scientific knowledge and self-determinism. In each chapter the analysis tries to focus on a main issue while taking into consideration a larger perspective.
“Epidemics of heterodoxy” describes some practical and official aspects regarding Asperger’s and autism in Italy. Contextualizing a few key legislative bills, and their biopolitical horizon of meaning, it describes how science and politics merge themselves and emerge as a powerful tool to create realities. “Confessions of a meticulous mind” approaches AS from a subjective point of view. Narratives from people with AS provide the core of the chapter. It introduces the reader to adult people who have deliberately sought this diagnosis. At the same time  the reader encounters a young person revealing how he was feeling during the process of his diagnosis, and why some people apparently do not need to seek one. “Exceptions” is about another subjective point of view: that of parents and friends of people with AS. Even in this case, inner perspectives can be divergent and original in comparison with the classical clinical understandings.
“Some people are more different than others” focuses on the phenomenon of self-diagnosis and the cultural construction of identity for those who describe themselves as “aspies”. Compared to the rest of the book, it is one of the most typically anthropological chapters. “Asperger's syndrome in theory and in practice” is about how AS has become thinkable as a diagnostic category, and why recently society seems to produce a few - extremely functional - scientific theories on the matter. Finally, in “The diseased devised”, the author presents her conclusive reflections on the research."

The aim of this article is twofold. First, I argue that Asperger's Syndrome is a productive lens through which the characterization of Newt Scamander, protagonist of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay can be analyzed. His behaviours, including his love of animals over attention to wizard fellows, are reminiscent of the condition. I suggest, however, that these are not to be considered asocial demeanours but as reactions of empathy over non-human creatures stemming from a system of ethical values worthy of praise for a children's book hero. The second aim of this article is to use the stage directions describing these behaviours as guidelines in the context of dramatherapy for children diagnosed with Asperger's.

In this dissertation I will analyse the films of Stanley Kubrick to see how these may display stylistic, aesthetic and narrative features which in my opinion reveal Asperger's-like traits.
The research is conducted within an Auteurist framework with the intention of revealing a non coincidental pattern throughout Kubrick's career and it can serve as basis for a future analysis of his own possible Asperger's-like personality traits.

This paper explores how creative counselling can enhance person-centred counselling (and similar talking therapies) for autistic people, bridging the gap from a predominantly verbal endeavour, which can exclude people who struggle verbally. Included is a piece written by Harry who is 13 and ASD, demonstrating how art can prompt a deep understanding of feelings.

This article was first published as a blog for The Creative Counsellors Club: https://thecreativecounsellorsclub.com/2019/08/07/autistic-clients/

This paper presents a model of Asperger Syndrome as a hypodopaminergic condition. Several genetic factors lead to a faster than normal turnover of dopamine and chronically low dopaminergic tone reminiscent of pre-clinical Parkinson’s Disease. It explores three etiologies from different genetic bases, leading to similar hypodopaminergic states:

1. Dopamine Transporter type (DAT type): Polymorphisms in SLC6A3 causing dopamine leakage from the DAT, the 10-repeat VNTR of SLC6A3 causing DAT overexpression, or syntaxin 1A polymorphisms leading to increased DAT function and a faster rate of dopamine turnover: ‘the overclocking model’. The subsequent postsynaptic low dopaminergic tone may cause higher neuronal excitability and a faster rate of firing, producing sensory hypersensitivity, fast thoughts, sensitivity to salience, poor executive function and anxiety.

2. Glutamate type: Polymorphisms of SLC25A12 resulting in a reduction of VMAT2 and dysfunctional dopamine handling and oxidative stress within the neuron.

3. GABRB3 type: Polymorphisms of GABRB3 causing reduced binding to GABAA receptors with a β3 subunit. GABAA receptors co-localise with dopamine D2 receptors, and levels of tonic dopamine may modulate them in terms of neuronal spine formation. Reduced β3 subunit function/expression may inhibit the emission of more dopamine, leading to chronically low dopamine.

The paper discusses compounding effects from stress hormones and COMT. It describes the ‘female protective effects’ and male exacerbative effects of sex hormones on tonic dopamine levels.

Viewing Asperger Syndrome as a dopaminergic disorder allows us to develop a diagnostic tool focusing on hypodopaminergic traits. It also opens an avenue of research into treatment with modafinil, a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, for AS depression, self-harm and suicidality.

This presentation will examine the apparent paradoxical notion of children who are both gifted and have a disability, the twice exceptional. How we define these terms in education and how we differentiate instruction, will be briefly examined with a view to exploring equitable educational practices for these children.

Gifted children with disability need to work continuously in finding ways to situate themselves inside and outside the discursive categories of disability, giftedness and special needs, yet relatively little is known about how this occurs in relation to children who are twice exceptional.

Research concerning the needs of twice-exceptional children in Australia is limited. The majority of research into twice-exceptionality has been carried out in North America where empirical research has focused on academic achievement, intervention and classroom strategies for the twice-exceptional, with a focus on addressing the needs of gifted students with learning disability rather than the full spectrum of twice-exceptionality as encompassing all disability, and that these individuals are children first and foremost.

This presentation will expound the PhD research findings from a current Griffith University study, investigating the lived experiences of children identified as twice exceptional. What are their experiences in school and outside school, and what are the implications for educators? This research is concerned with the participation and equity of gifted children with disability, within the social structures where their lives are lived. The participants were children aged between 9 and 16 years, many of whom had multiple disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, sensory and auditory processing deficits, and ADHD, to name a few. The incidence of bullying amongst this population was high, as was the appearance of co-existing anxiety disorders.