What is Aspergers?

You were likely pointed to this website by someone who thinks you should read it. Perhaps your child has Aspergers and your family or friends would like you to learn more.

So, what is Aspergers and how can you tell if you or someone you love has it?

We've gathered common traits as reported by parents of Asperger children. This is not the official DSM-IV description of Aspergers, but it is interesting to hear from the people who interact with their Asperger children every day.

Your Child Might Have Aspergers If...

Your child has a single-minded focus on Thomas the Tank Engine, Yu-Gi-Oh, airplanes, or Pokemon. This single-minded focus means that he or she is obsessed with that theme to the exclusion of all else. Your child may know all the Yu-Gi-Oh cards in his deck as well as the attack and defense points of each (even if there are over 1000 cards in the deck).

He or she talks like a "Little Professor".

Your child may interpret everything literally. If you say "Just a minute, sweetie" to your son, he'll start a stopwatch and notify you when a minute has passed.

He is hyper-sensitive to foods, lights, sounds or smells. Or hypo-sensitive. (More on Sensory Issues)

He is having a very hard time socially with his friends. He just seems a little "off" when interacting with them.

Possibly poor handwriting skills.

And, most importantly, he or she feels different or is unhappy.

Read the entire DSM-IV category of Aspergers here.

In very broad terms, individuals with Asperger's have normal or above average intelligence, with poorly developed social skills, often with emotional/social development maturing later than his or her peers, and speech and language peculiarities.