Asperger Syndrome in toddlers
Asperger Syndrome is a type of pervasive development delay neurological disorder that is characterized with difficulties in social interactions, with difficulties in interpreting the non-verbal cues from different people. These children may have odd speech and mannerisms and may at times have an obsessive interest in certain subjects in exclusion to others and may also be rigid and inflexible in certain habits and routines. It would prove useful as a part of parenting to understand Asperger Syndrome in toddlers so that you could help them.
Watch out for these characteristics of Asperger Syndrome in toddlers
1.Your toddler with Asperger syndrome may have difficulty in varying levels to interact with others, with some not wanting to interact at all, while others may not know exactly how to present themselves. Their great difficulty to correctly comprehend verbal and non-verbal cures used include facial expressions, eye contact, taking turns while conversing, matching conversational and nonverbal responses to interactions and perception taking. So it is a pity that they find it very difficult to mix openly with toddlers and children of their age and rarely share similar interests and experiences shared by their peers.
2.It is a pity to see toddlers with this syndrome not being able to use language skills in the most appropriate way; these children would rather use the
language to express facts, figures and other information and rarely to express and thoughts, ideas and emotions. You would observe that these children have difficulty in processing information verbally expressed, in sustaining attention, in speaking on appropriate topics and may in many cases have impairment in stress, pitch, melody or rhythm of speech. You will find they also have other difficulties that extend to analyzing or synthesizing information, problem solving, and understanding language beyond a certain level.
3.An Asperger syndrome toddler is generally anxious by nature, so he/she is not just rigid and obsessive and has just a few interests that may usually dominate.
In addition living in his/her strong world that may or may not coincide with other peers, such children are very clumsy in their gross and fine motor skills. It is not rare to find them have great difficulty in rising a tricycle or playing with a ball. It is peculiar, clumsy and odd as you see such toddlers flap their hands and using other postures that are peculiar.
4.Cognitive issues like inability to make inferences about what the other person thinks due to rigidity of thoughts could stand in the way of his ability for
impulse control, problem solving, flexibility in thoughts and actions, mental planning, and the ability to stay focused on a task until it is completed. Imaginary play is always a problem for such toddlers with Asperger syndrome, for his world is all about materials and themes.
5.Sensory sensitivities could be the issue with many toddlers that have Asperger syndrome. Such sensitivities could affect one or more of the sense organs of
like eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin, with the degree of sensation varying in each toddler. It is not rare to see them over sensitive to certain sensations while dumb to other. The challenge of parents lies in your determining whether the toddlers response is caused by mere habit or as a response to a sensation.
However you need not get perturbed if you find Asperger syndrome in toddler as they can be helped tremendously with training in social skills and how to make modifications in their behavior patterns. Psychological intervention would also be needed in certain cases along with medications that would help these toddlers to overcome their debilitating rigidness that is caused by anxiety and related issues.