Asperger Syndrome
(2-20-14)

Hans Asperger, a Viennese psychiatrist, published a paper in 1944 describing four children with a type of social disability--tendencies toward social withdrawal, interpersonal awkwardness--as well as other "autistic" like features: self-stimulatory behavior and insistence on environmental sameness, but with normal cognitive abilities and language.

Asperger, H. (1944). Die 'Autistischen Psychopathen' im Kindesalter. Archiv fur Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117, 76-136.

Current conceptualizations of Asperger Syndrome

In DSM-5 Asperger's Disorder was collapsed with other pervasive developmental disorders into the Autism Spectrum Disorder category

In DSM-IV Asperger syndrome was grouped as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, along with Autistic Disorder, Rett's Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and PDD-NOS (not otherwise specified)

DSM-IV defines Asperger Disorder in terms of two symptoms clusters:

an qualitative impairment in social interactions; as reflected in:

difficulty with social or emotional reciprocity
not seeking out social contacts and interactions
absence of developmentally appropriate peer relationships
impaired nonverbal behavior (eye contact, interactive gestures, facial expression)

repetitive and restricted stereotyped patterns of behavior, activities, and interests; as reflected in:

preoccupation with parts of objects
stereopathies (hand or finger flapping or twisting; repetitive, nonpurposeful body movements, repetitive and nonfunction uses of objects)
inflexible adherence to rituals or routines
preoccupations with a narrow and restricted interest

These are two of the three defining symptom clusters for Autistic Disorder

What differentiates Asperger Disorder from Autistic Disorder is the presence of relative normal language, and secondarily better cognitive functioning and adaptive adjustment than comparable children with autism

Nevertheless, the differentiation of Asperger syndrome from autism, especially high-functioning autism, remained somewhat controversial

Epidemiological characteristics

Asperger syndrome is approximately 2 to 3 times more common in males than females