Aspergers Symptoms
On this page we'll discuss the most common Aspergers symptoms, how they manifest and also give information on how to manage the symptoms for the best results. We'll start with a 'quick reference' list of Aspergers symptoms and move on to more in depth explanations as the page progresses.
It is likely that you arrived here seeking information, however the next important step is to gain understanding into the processes behind Aspergers symptoms and ultimately to convert that knowledge into helping yourself (if you're an Aspie) or helping a loved one if you're a concerned family member or friend. We specialise in providing 'real understanding' and 'genuine help' to all our clients. If you would like to ask any questions or discuss your situation with a Consultant, you can contact us on 01782 855585 from 11am to 9pm seven days a week. If you are not resident in the UK, that's fine as we work with clients all over the world. See our International Consultations page for contact details and further information.
Aspergers Symptoms Quick Reference List
Here is a quick reference list of common Aspergers symptoms. Whilst you do not need to display all of the symptoms to be diagnosed with Aspergers, obviously the more you relate to, the more likely it is that you (or your loved one) has Aspergers.
Social Interaction:
- Limited social interaction ability including difficulties reading non verbal cues such as body language, gestures and facial expressions.
- Difficulties reading other people in terms of their emotional states.
- Difficulties in maintaining appropriate levels of social eye contact.
- Limited social group and difficulties in creating new friendships.
Language:
- Often sophisticated use of language with above average vocabulary.
- Appropriate tonality, pitch and volume modulation difficulties within conversations.
- Communications tend to be one-sided rather than socially interactive.
- Communications tend to be restricted to the Aspies narrow interest(s).
- Aspies tend to talk about themselves rather than other people.
- Lack of reciprocal flow making conversations awkward.
- Rigid (literal) language perception meaning an Aspie takes words literally rather than in the overall context.
Physical
- Difficulties with motor function, coordination and balance (often perceived as clumsiness).
- Awkward posture and movements.
- Difficulties with handwriting due to motor function (rather than mental capacity)
- Physical habits and mannerisms.
Neuro Processing
- Rigid (and possibly unhelpful) habitual routines.
- Restricted interests - often very narrow, specialised and niche.
- Hypersensitivity to certain smells, sounds, light, tastes, textures, etc.
- Sensory overload under certain circumstances (such as crowded places).
- Difficulties in transitioning from one task to another.
- Common problems with anxiety sometimes leading to bouts of depression.
- Generally of average intelligence upwards.
- Occasional 'savant' skills on par with high functioning autism
In the following sections we will go into more considerably more detail in identifying the process behind the Aspergers symptoms and offering information on how to manage (and in some cases change) those processes for the better.
Social Interaction Symptoms Of Aspergers
As with many things involving humans Aspergers is more of a sliding scale between extremes rather than a simple "yes this is applicable to me" or "no it isn't". With this in mind it is important to be aware that you don't have to be at the extreme end of the scale for 'everything listed' in order to have Aspergers.
Aspies tend to struggle to interpret non verbal cues such as facial expressions, gestures and body language. This aspect of Aspergers is particularly applicable when an Aspie interacts with a complete stranger, someone they don't know particularly well and often in group situations.
Essentially, someone with Aspergers has not developed an intuitive generalisation of non verbal cues between different people. It seems that each new person represents a new challenge to understand their personal non verbal cues rather than relying on the natural 'awareness' a neuro-typical would have under similar circumstances. It is like the skill has to be re-learned for each new person rather than the same skill simply being generalised from one person to another.
A knock on effect of struggling to interpret non verbal cues means people with Aspergers tend to also struggle to empathise with someone elses emotional states. This can lead to a misunderstanding that the Aspie is cold, uncaring or aloof yet in reality the person making the judgement does so only on the basis of their perception of events, rather than understanding the process running in the background. Thus the problem is 'communication breakdown' rather than with Aspergers itself.
It would be true to say that an Aspie is every much as empathic as a neuro-typical, however they need to work much harder in order to gather the relevant information and process it. Understanding what to look for, what to pay attention to and what to discard tends to be an ongoing learning experience for many Aspies, particularly as there are so many combinations of patterns and variations to consider.
A lack of appropriate eye contact is something that can cause problems during social interactions with neuro-typicals, as it is the neuro-typical that often misreads the situation. In an interaction between two neuro-typicals, if one fails to maintain appropriate eye contact the other may assume (based upon their intuition and emotional responses) that the first is either being deceptive or has some kind of serious problem with them as a person. The trouble is that people generally struggle to maintain eye contact when they are lying, embarrassed or have destain for someone else... leading to an association between a lack of eye contact and emotional discomfort. This feedback in neuro-typicals is subconscious and emotional rather than being based upon any sort of rationalisation - thus it is a compulsion rather than a choice.
Perhaps the most simple way to avoid this situation is for an Aspie to give out a little information up front. For example: "Hey John, I just wanted to explain that I have Aspergers and sometimes I struggle with eye contact. It's not a big deal but I didn't want you to think I was being rude or anything". Having Aspergers becomes far less of a problem when other people understand what the Aspie has to contend with. Generally speaking people are extremely flexible and forgiving when they are aware the person they are speaking to is struggling in some way. You're not asking for charity or special treatment - just to be understood.
As a result of social interactions being 'difficult' for many Aspies it would follow that their social groups tend to be small and that they can find it hard to make new friends. However, in reality all that is really lacking is the ability to create deep levels of rapport. This is an area where both Aspies and neuro-typicals can excel with the right tools and techniques. We teach our clients how to rapidly build and deepen rapport with absolutely anyone they choose.
We recently worked with the head of psychology from a local university and ran a few covert techniques on him to see if he would notice. Incredibly, even a head of psychology couldn't work out why he felt so comfortable in our presence so quickly. A colleague actually asked "Well Mike, we've been chatting for about forty minutes now, but if you put your intellect to one side for a moment - how long do you feel you have known us?" Mike replied "It's the strangest thing... I feel like I've known both of you for years..." The truth is that as people we're nothing special - it is the understanding of the process of how things work and our application of tools and techniques that create such incredible results. Anyone with the knowledge, understanding, tools and techniques can replicate our results... including you!
Language Symptoms Of Aspergers
The Aspies we work with tend to have far superior vocabularies and language sophistication than the neuro-typicals. Although for some Aspies, particularly when they start talking about their 'niche interests' their pitch, tonality and volume modulation can become erratic.
In reality, when a neuro-typical discusses something they are genuinely passionate about, their pitch, tonality and volume tends to rise. Thus it would seem this is a phenomena that is shared between Aspies and neuro-typicals. The subtle difference (which makes all the difference) is that an Aspie will have a greater intensity and hence a greater shift in terms of their voice.
The process behind this is driven by thoughts (information processing) and emotional responses to those thoughts. The more intense the signal the thought creates, the more intense the emotional response feels. The more intense the emotional response, the greater the shift in pitch, tonality and volume. Thus there is nothing wrong with the 'process' an Aspie uses - it merely raises an issue with neuro-typicals because the changes to the voice are often outside of their own 'accepted parameters'. These accepted parameters are dictated by the intensity of their own thoughts and hence emotional responses. In effect, a neuro-typical judges an Aspies voice against neuro-typical acceptable parameters.
We could argue that this simply isn't fair, but people are what they are and the neuro-typicals hold the majority vote. The real problem here is two fold. First, a neuro-typical will often judge an Aspie by neuro-typical standards whilst remaining ignorant of the actual reasons behind it, and second - this is enough to break rapport, which is rarely a good thing in social interactions.
The solution to the first part is to graciously educate the neuro-typicals you encounter. By helping a neuro-typical to understand you, they are put into a position of empowerment where they can make allowances rather than automatically judging you by neuro-typical standards. Aspies are only at a disadvantage because they are in a minority and society caters for neuro-typicals as being 'normal'. If Aspies made up 90% of the population it would be the neuro-typicals that seemed a little odd with their 'funny behaviours'. It's time for people to stop thinking about Aspergers as being a 'disability' and instead find ways to deal with the 'social disadvantages' (which are merely because neuro-typicals are numerically dominant and hence 'normal') and capitalise on the advantages - of which there are many.
The second part solution, regarding rapport, requires a two tier approach. The first tier is self-awareness. Much of our self-awareness is filtered out of our consciousness, however it doesn't need to be that way. You can learn self-awareness quickly and easily with the right help. This skill enables you to 'be aware' of when you transition into the highly emotionally charged state where your voice starts to push at the boundaries of what is acceptable to the neuro-typical crowd. At this point you will not have broken rapport (yet) so by applying tools and techniques we can teach you it is possible to either maintain your emotional levels or even reduce them a little. The knock on effect is to maintain or 'normalise' your pitch, tonality and volume within appropriate levels. This will help you maintain rapport with other people during social interactions.
The second tier is to actively use tools and techniques to build rapport with other people and use this to create contacts, acquaintances, friends and even relationships if you choose.
Self-awareness is also key in maintaining rapport in terms of recognising (early on) that a discussion may be very one-sided or relating only to the Aspies niche interest. Few neuro-typicals will accept this sort of interaction for very long before rapport is lost and they feel increasingly offended. It's just the way neuro-typicals are... but statistically speaking you're going to encounter them a lot so learning to keep them happy is a necessary evil. Mastering self-awareness makes learning everything else so much easier. Whereas many Aspies try so very hard to fit in and do their best - most are using strategies that simply don't work. This is why so many Aspies get frustrated and live lives full of anxiety worrying about what else could go wrong.
Do what you've always done and get what you've always got. Try harder in that respect... and you'll get even more of the same.
Perhaps it's time for a more fruitful approach instead...
Physical Symptoms Related To Aspergers
To date there has been no conclusive proof that the physical symptoms people with Aspergers commonly seem to suffer is due to any kind of damage to the brain. It seems far more likely that there has been a lack of development or learning in certain areas when compared to the average neuro-typical.
Although many Aspies do seem to struggle with 'clumsiness' this could be perceived as a default setting... but not necessarily a long term problem. If an Aspie is left to their own devices, essentially acting intuitively and doing what they've always done - they will to continue to get what they've always got. If an Aspie were to receive specialised external help (and thus different development strategies) there is no reason why, particularly when we consider there is no actual brain damage, why they shouldn't be able to achieve improved motor function and body language.
Body language in particular runs on habitual strategies. So if a person continues to run the same strategies they will continue to use the same body language. This is also true for neuro-typicals of course. For example we do a lot of work with neuro-typicals that suffer with social anxiety, which pretty much mirrors the body language of many Aspies. The body language of one social anxiety sufferer tends to be similar to the body language of another social anxiety sufferer. This is because both are running the same internal thought processes which in turn manifest in external body language. We know this to be true not only from comparing the habits of different social anxiety sufferers, but also in witnessing the obvious changes in body language when their internal thought processes develop for the better.
A neuro-typical social anxiety sufferer will commonly display the following body language traits:
- Lack of sustained eye contact.
- Looking downwards with fleeting and rapid surveys of their environment before looking down again.
- Sudden jerky movements.
- Hurried movements (for example sitting down or standing up very rapidly when in new company).
- Physical uncertainty resulting in clumsiness.
- Rounded shoulders, often with arms crossed across the front of their body.
- Stooped posture reducing their height (particularly in tall individuals).
- Obvious inappropriate muscle tension through physical anxiety.
However, upon completing our recovery programme their body language displays the following traits:
- Maintained appropriate eye contact.
- Eyes maintained at appropriate levels (head height) with structured environment surveys.
- Relaxed flowing movements.
- Confident movements.
- Natural upright posture with arms held appropriately for the situation.
- Calm and relaxed demeanour.
The above transition comes about through learning a new skill set, which focuses on both 'thought process' as well as 'physical awareness'. With focus and effort anyone can make this shift. The more the person maintains the new body language the more natural and habitual it becomes. Thus at a given point rather than having to maintain such body language, it becomes natural.
Neuro Processing Symptoms Of Aspergers
Neuro processing (thought process) is without doubt the key area where, with the right help, any Aspie can make huge improvements in their quality of life. By addressing and developing thought process strategies we can improve:
- Emotional states (such as greatly reducing anxiety)
- Habits (by teaching Aspies how to overcome 'compulsion')
- Body language (thoughts dictate posture and movement)
- Social interaction (understanding what makes successful interactions)
- Rapport (learning how to gain and deepen rapport with anyone)
- Management (structuring prioritisation and resources)
- Motivation (applying the motivation surrounding their niche interests to other important areas of their life - it's just thought process!)
Aspies are not broken, they're just wired differently out of the box. The main problem is that they're in the minority and thus society doesn't cater very well for their differences. The knock on effect is often alienation and isolation simply because the Aspie doesn't fit in. Here at the Anxiety Clinic we welcome Aspies as normal human beings - and we have met some great Aspies! However, unfortunately there is a lot of ignorance in society which means 'most people' simply don't understand and thus can't make allowances for an Aspies differences.
Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with being an Aspie, other than it being tough a lot of the time - finding a way to 'fit in' with the majority goes a long way in making life so much easier. Thus whilst Aspies don't need fixing or curing (because its not an illness), steps can be taken to make things better in terms of improved quality of life. If you need to travel ten miles, there's nothing wrong with walking... but the journey is a lot easier in a car.
Converting Knowledge Into Structured Help...
We hope that the information on this page has helped to stimulate your mind into thinking about what is possible and what can be done to improve things. It is true to say that knowledge is indeed the first step. However, simply knowing something but failing to act on it won't change anything. In order to create positive change something has to be 'done' - you need to act. Now, you have several options:
- You could continue researching by looking at other pages on this website, however remember that no amount of 'reading alone' will make the required changes.
- You could have a look at how we work with Aspies. This is a step towards actually doing something. Here is our page on Aspergers Treatment
Alternatively you could look into how we work as a Clinic. We can work with you face to face at our Clinic if you live in or near to Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. Or if you live further afield in the UK or abroad we can work with you via telephone or webcam (Skype). The following links contain information on our very affordable (pay as you go) fixed rate fees, our zero risk guarantee and just how quickly we can start work with you.
