The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) in children is currently 1 in 88, up from 1 in 10,000 in 1990. Only some of that increase is due to changes in when and how autism is diagnosed. While much attention is being paid to autism in children and its causes and cures, many people are dealling with the milder form of autism known as Asperger Syndrome.

Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is an autism spectrum condition. It means someone has autistic qualities but that they are not as severely affected; they are on the “higher end” of the autism spectrum.Aspergers was not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (entered into the DSM-IV) until 1994. Prior to that, people with AS were either undiagnosed, or worse, misdiagnosed and put on medications such as Ritalin for conditions they did not have.Now, every day, all over the world, adults of all ages are receiving their first correct diagnosis, and breathing a sigh of relief as they realize they are not difficult, crazy, or alone…that there is a name for what they have.Aspergers is a neurological difference that (mainly) affects social interaction. It hinders or alters emotional processing and a person’s ability to read facial cues and body language. Social convention, the unspoken social rules of conduct, all these confuse them. It’s as if everyone else has GPS while they themselves barely have a compass.Sensory issues also figure highly in the AS experience: sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Reactions to sensory aversions or overload can include tics, withdrawal, and soothing behaviors. (See a list of Traits on the next page.)

While Asperger Syndrome carries with it many challenges, it also brings many gifts. Researchers in Tokyo have found that children with AS have higher fluid intelligence that non-AS children. Many are gifted in some way: art, music, design, research, problem-solving, computer programming, inventing, to name a few.

While people with AS have difficulty acquiring and keeping social relationships, they do desire friendships and love. But because of social and sensory difficulties they are are often misunderstood. Many with AS are ostracized, picked on and bullied for their differences, even as adults. This can cause a person to despair and withdraw from the world-depriving themselves of happiness and depriving the world of their unique gifts. It also causes problems finding and keeping gainful employment as well as staying in education.

People with Aspergers do not consider themselves disabled. They consider themselves different. The current prevailing wind is that people with AS are coming into their own-realizing their strengths and their weakness and learning to celebrate their differences. They just wish that the world would become more educated about AS and meet them halfway.

Recently Aspergers was taken out of the American Psychiatric Institute’s Manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). It was subsumed in the criteria for autism:
Autism Spectrum Disorder 299.00 (F84.0)

A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text):

1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

Specify current severity:

Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2)*.

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day).3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest).4. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).Specify current severity:Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2)*.

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).

D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level.

Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

*To see the entire criteria, you’ll have to purchase the DSM-5. I’m limited as to how much I can show you.*

The prevailing belief is that autism is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors:

“Autism is a developmental disorder. Because brain development follows a complicated series of delicately timed events beginning early in gestation and continuing through infancy and into early childhood, “environmental insults” may occur at numerous time-points, each with a distinct imprint in terms of the processes affected and the intensity of the impact.
Some of those environmental factors may include things like pesticides; flame retardants; ingredients in household products (incl. air fresheners and cookware); compounds used in plastics as well as in fragrances; food contaminants, or by-products of food processing; micronutrients; metals; and medications, especially those that target the central nervous system.
As yet, no research has established any of the above as influencing autism risk. Funding for such studies is woefully inadequate to the task, with most of the research dollars going to studies which primarily describe the phenomenon rather than looking at causes. We need to combine efforts of geneticists with environmental researchers to identify those combinations of genes and exogenous chemical insults that result in the hallmark behaviors of autism and ASD.” - Dr. Irva Herz-Picciotto, CHARGE (CHildhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment) UC Davis.

There is also strong evidence to support the theory that autism begins in the digestive system, which has been compromised by genetics and further, by poor diet and environmental factors; it is essentially a “Leaky Gut.” Some say autism can be cured or at least diminished by following a strict diet, such as the GFCF (Gluten-free, Casein-free) diet. It is thought that when gluten and casein (found in grains such as wheat and most dairy products) are broken down into peptides, they may pass through imperfections in the intestines. These peptides act like morphine in the body and can adversely impact brain development.

A second diet-based approach postulates that we receive our intestinal flora from our mothers, whether it is good and healthy or otherwise, and then are bombarded with metals,toxins and antibiotics which further weaken it. A digestive system which does not contain healthy flora (good bacteria) cannot eliminate toxins, and allows bad things to pass into our bloodstream. It also cannot get the most nourishment from our food. So say Donna Gates and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Both have come to the same conclusion: that the modern western diet, which has spread around the world, is essentially the root cause of the worldwide spread of autism and that the cure is already here—one just has to eat the correct food; a mostly plant-based diet with an emphasis on fermented foods. Watch a short six-part video presented by Gates and Campbell-McBride here.