Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Helping Preteens and Teens Get Ready for the Real World

Asperger Syndrome is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum and is characterized by a lack of social skills, abnormal preoccupation with certain objects or tasks, and the inability to control one's rage. It is also characterized by high creativity and passion that can be too often squelched in a parent's or teacher's efforts to manage the behavior of the AS child. There is no specific treatment or cure. This is a relatively new diagnosis, and has been retroactively applied to geniuses like Vladimir Nabokov. But for the modern kid, who has to follow the social norms of the day, which include sitting for long periods of time in a chair, AS can be excruciatingly difficult.