What is Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome comes under the banner of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It is often called high functioning autism, as the individual may have many autistic spectrum disorder symptoms (aspergers symptoms) but has a normal range IQ and is able to learn at school. A diagnosis needs to be made by a paediatrician. Diagnosis is difficult before school age although some generalised ASD symptoms will be seen by parents and teachers in younger children. However, to be diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome the following formal criteria must be met:
- Impairment in social interaction.
- Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities
- Behaviour which causes significant impairment in social interactions at school and in occupational and other important areas of functioning as an adult.
How do I know if my child has Asperger’s Syndrome?
The Asperger’s child will demonstrate some of the following characteristics. It is important to note that many of the symptoms below are shared with other categories of learning difficulties and may indicate common, underlying developmental or auditory processing delays. Why not take our FREE online test to understand if your child is displaying common symptoms of learning or behavioural difficulties and to understand if your child would benefit from our natural and holistic therapies.
- Lack of empathy. Difficulty putting themselves into another person’s shoes.
- Difficulty making friends. May get on better with adults than their peers.
- Difficulty with social skills such as in “ give and take” social interactions
- Limited facial expressions
- Poor eye contact
- Difficulty controlling emotions, may be prone to outbursts and meltdowns
- Unusual language which may include advanced vocabulary or an accent
- A fascination with a topic or special interest which excludes other interests
- Difficulty maintaining a conversation about topics other than their special interest
- Difficulty maintaining attention in class and poor listening skills
- Uneven learning abilities and may be gifted in one academic area but struggle in others
- Clumsiness and may have poor fine motor skills
- Hypersensitivity, especially to noise, aromas, textures or touch
- Difficulty coping with changes in routine and tantrums may be common
- Anxiety
- May have other diagnosis such as ADHD, dyspraxia or dyslexia
Free Online Symptoms Test
Is your child showing Asperger’s Symptoms? Our purpose is to set children free from Behavioural or Learning Difficulties. We offer tests, assessments & treatment for children across all of New Zealand.
Take our online symptoms test to understand if your child is displaying symptoms of learning or behavioural difficulties.
How can the Developmental Learning Centre help?
We primarily offer two therapies for children with learning and behavioural difficulties:
Developmental Movement Therapy
Can you imagine trying to build a house without putting in a firm foundation? Trying to remediate a child who simply does not have the equipment (wiring) and foundation (mature neurological system, good spatial awareness, listening skills and visual perception) for their “house of learning” is very difficult.
At the Developmental Learning Centre, we believe our first task is to address the underlying immaturities to develop a good neurological foundation. To do this we use Developmental Movement Therapy (Extra LessonTM). Central to this therapy is the idea that learning and behavioural difficulties are a result of developmental issues in a child’s early years. This means they may not have received some of the sensory input they needed that form the basis of our learning processes. By repeating early childhood movement patterns, we are able to ‘rewire’ brain and rebuild the pathways and foundation of learning.
Click here to learn more about Developmental Movement Therapy and the amazing results it can have by reading our Success Stories here.
Auditory Retraining Therapy
If your child has learning difficulties, it may be a result of an auditory processing difficulty or disorder, and they will be likely to benefit from Auditory Retraining Therapy. This therapy uses filtered music to mature the pathways in the brain needed to recognise different sounds when reading and spelling and to process spoken language quickly and efficiently. Music therapy is also used to treat children who are easily overwhelmed, hypersensitive and anxious, and have difficulty regulating their emotions.
It is relatively new and is not used by audiologists and speech and language therapists in NZ as a rule. In fact your GP, your audiologist and your speech and language therapist may not have heard of it. However it has been in existence for approximately 40 years. It was developed by a French ear nose and throat specialist, Dr Alfred Tomatis (www.tomatis.com ) and is incredibly effective for children with auditory dyslexia.
You can learn more about Auditory Retraining Therapy and the amazing results it can have by reading our testimonials or watch the video below:
Testimonial - Asperger’s Syndrome
Mother’s testimonial:
"Josh was so anxious all the time that he followed me everywhere. He was very sensitive to noise, and especially to the echoing noise in the hall during assembly, which he said “makes me want to run away”. He was also diagnosed with ADHD.
Joshua would become very oppositional when overwhelmed or anxious and was prone to meltdowns…..
He struggled to make and keep friends….. he stumbled over his words, had very poor listening skills and had very poor eye contact. He was very much behind in academic learning and writing was particularly difficult. His self-esteem was also very low."
Now at 20 years of age Joshua has grown into a fine, confident young man. He has recently landed his dream job on a dairy farm and has been given the added responsibility of milking the herd each day on his own.
Joshua's hand written testimonial can be seen below.
Testimonial - Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger’s Syndrome
Saskia:“Every day was a struggle for her at school both socially and academically…..
We want her to thrive not just survive…..”
Saskia was diagnosed with mild to moderate ASD….. she was having difficulty making friends, had low self-esteem and lacked resilience. Her eye contact was poor, her speech was difficult to understand and she spoke very softly.
She lacked confidence and was anxious, particularly at school, and in large groups or crowds.
Saskia was hypersensitive to noise in the classroom and was getting behind academically in school.
She had regular meltdowns after school, when she would become very emotional, cry, and shout.
Immediately after completing the Safe and Sound Protocol program Saskia’s parents and adult friends noticed that she was showing more confidence, was more sociable and her eye contact had improved.
Six weeks after completing of the SSP programme Saskia was able to perform in the school production, which marked a major milestone. She was less anxious, gave more eye contact, could approach and speak to her teachers and was much more confident.
Asperger’s Testimonial
F was 3 years old when he started listening therapy. At first he could not tolerate the headphones on his head, as he was hypersensitive to touch, so we gave him therapy while sleeping.
Then when he was able to tolerate headphones he was able to continue therapy while he was awake.
His parents described his journey as follows:“F had high anxiety, was easily frustrated and he did not appear to have much interest in other children .
He was unable to be redirected from what he was doing, couldn’t cope with transitions and would have huge meltdowns on a daily basis. He wanted to be in control of every situation and it would take him sometimes half an hour to get him to come inside for dinner.
Although his speech developed very early, he had very poor speech interaction skills and comprehension of what others were saying to him, and was not able to follow instructions or interact with others.
He had low muscle tone, poor endurance, lacked strength and had poor coordination and was not able to be toilet trained.
About half way through the course of listening therapy I noticed that he was able to respond more quickly to verbal questions, and was able to reliably follow 2 and 3 step instructions.
He now rarely has meltdowns, is more tolerant of others and is showing visibly more concern and consideration of other people.
He is also now toilet trained, both day and night.” - AJ
Autism Testimonial
“As a parent of a child on the spectrum, it is such a comforting and good feeling when you have a team like Developmental Learning on board to help ease some of Yahyaa’s difficulties to help him reach his true potential in life. As his mother, I just want the best out of him and for him and as long as I have tried to do my best for him, my heart will be happy."
Does your child display Aspergers symptoms?
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Searching for an Aspergers treatment in NZ?
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Want to learn more about Aspergers in children?
Unlike other treatments, we take a 100% natural and holistic approach to learning and behavioural difficulties. Instead of looking at your child's symptoms on a superficial level, we assess for the underlying neuro developmental causes and are then able to remediate these to ensure lasting change.
The majority of parents surveyed agreed that the Developmental Learning Centre’s therapy improved their child’s well being at school, reduced anxiety, improved their child’s physical ability, and overall improved their child’s general happiness & relationship with their family.
Pre and post therapy standardised academic testing also shows significant improvements across all areas of learning.
Call 0800 543 399 or Request a free call back with the Developmental Learning Centre to understand if your child could benefit from our natural and holistic therapies.