Asperger syndrome - Symptom
Alternative Names
Pervasive developmental disorder - Asperger syndrome
Symptoms:
- Abnormal nonverbal communication such as problems with eye contact, facial expressions, body postures, or gestures
- Being singled out by other children as "weird" or "strange"
- Failure to develop peer relationships
- Inability to return social or emotional feelings
- Inflexibility about specific routines or rituals
- Lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people
- Markedly impaired expression of pleasure in other people's happiness
- Preoccupation with parts of whole objects
- Repetitive behaviors, including repetitive self-injurious behavior
- Repetitive finger flapping, twisting, or whole body movements
- Unusually intense preoccupation with narrow areas of interest such as obsession with train schedules, phone books, or collections of objects
Signs and tests:
Physical, emotional, and mental evaluations are usually performed to rule out other causes.
- Reviewed last on: 5/8/2008
- Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
McPartland J. Asperger's syndrome. Adolesc Med Clin. Oct 2006; 17(3): 771-88; abstract xiii.