Opinions on Treatment for Asperger Syndrome?

[dnagenga]

Hey everyone - I'm interested in people's perspectives on treatment for Asperger Syndrome. I don't have a diagnosis but am interested in becoming a clinician in the future and am looking for some opinions. I have a few specific questions that i'll put up here, but would love any perspectives that I don't ask about.
If you're a parent/friend, please feel free to answer in relation to them (like how long they have been diagnosed or what treatment they've gotten). I really appreciate any feedback, thanks so much.

- Do you view Aspergers as a personality (i.e. a different way of perceiving the world that is pervasive and untreatable) or a disorder (i.e. a ow long have you been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome?

- What do you see as the purpose of treatment for Asperger Syndrome? What do you see as the end goal of treatment for Asperger Syndrome?

Also, if you want to answer some other questions for me and don't want to spam the feed, PM me and we can chat! I'd love to learn from you and talk about the controversy that treatment can provide.

 

[eon]

Asperger's itself is too broad of a thing to answer your question A. I don't find any use in separating the definiton used for asperger's, instead what needs to be talked about is the spectrum. Aspies is a better definition for spectrum people. Second- It is neither personality nor disorder. There are aspies of a huge variety of different personalities and passions, with a huge variety of different talents and personal weaknesses. It is neurological features which define aspie, the spectrum.

The end goal of treatment for asperger syndrome is equal to the end goal of any person for Life. Human needs met, fulfillment, finding a value to this short, inherited occupancy within perishable cells and seemingly finite consciousness.

 

[dnagenga]

Thanks so much for that reply, I find it really interesting.
I've always perceived Asperger's not as a spectrum but as a finite diagnosis, since that's what it's described as in the DSM that I study. May I ask why you believe it's further broken into a spectrum?
Also, do you think clinicians see it the same way? I sometimes feel like they view it as a "disorder" to be "cured" instead of something to be supported, but I definitely could see a different side.

 

[Loomis]

If you want your questions answered well, get the book Asperger Syndrome in Adulthood A Comprehensive Guide For Clinicians by Stoddart Burke & King Norton press 2012.

ASD is a complex heritable condition resulting from the interplay of multiple genes affecting dozens of biochemical pathways and neurobiological structures that result in a loss of global brain communication in exchange for enhanced detail orientation due to high density connections in more localized microneural structures .

Treatment of ASD comprises either counseling or pharmaceuticals if the aspie or autie chooses to minimize some ASD characteristics they find objectionable.

For children on the spectrum early intervention and training can prepare them for more effective integration into the NT world.