How to treat a child with Asperger syndrome

The Asperger syndrome is a disorder included as part of the Autistic spectrum that affects the neurodevelopment of the child. This syndrome is characterized mainly by a serious alteration of social interaction, which leads to the person suffering from it to carry out inappropriate and repetitive behavior patterns. In this Psychology-Online article we are going to let you know what are some of the most common characteristics of children with this condition and give you a series of tips to know how to treat a child with Asperger syndrome at home and at school.

Children with Asperger syndrome show a obvious disability in social behaviorsHowever, they can have a normal appearance and intelligence and can even develop a higher than average intelligence. But once knowing this, how can we treat a child with Asperger's syndrome?

This is a question that parents and / or teachers frequently ask themselves when they are faced with a child with this condition. Before answering this question, it is necessary to first know the

• Present unusual behaviors and inappropriate and have problems relating to other children and / or adults.
• Tend to fix your attention towards a specific topic and can become engrossed in it.
• When they are fascinated by a topic, they tend to constantly talk, write or think about it and do not recognize when the other person has lost interest in that topic.
• They usually act awkward while doing some activities or walking.
• They can stay absent at times because they are immersed in their own thoughts.
• They lack empathy towards others. They have a hard time identifying their feelings and those of other people.
• Usually they do not enjoy social contact.
• They can speak using the same tone of voice in different situations.
• They are usually very sincere and noble, they do not identify the malice and / or when they speak to them in a double sense.
• When they try to play with other children, they don't understand the rules of the game so they don't follow them and they want to follow their own rules. This is why they prefer to play alone.
• Have conflicts with peers due to his inability to relate to them.
• They usually do not look the person who is speaking to them in the eye.
• They show little or no interest in what others are saying.
• It is common that learn to read quickly at an early age because when they pay attention to a specific topic they tend to focus too much on it so they learn it faster.
• Their body language is usually unusual.
• They tend to be very perfectionists and show a low tolerance for failure.
• They fail to understand punishments or criticism, so they can continue to act unusual in various situations.
• Has a excellent memory and great ability to remember dates and data of interest.

In this other article we will discover the Asperger syndrome in adults so that you learn how to act in this situation.

It is necessary that, as a teacher, you stay informed about everything related to this syndrome to that you can develop a series of strategies that can help children with this condition in the classroom. Here is a series of Practical tips to learn how to treat a child with Asperger syndrome in the school setting. It must be remembered that it is necessary to have the support of other professionals in the field such as educational psychologists.

• Identify the specific needs of each child. Because each child with Asperger syndrome is different from the others since, like everyone else, they have their own character, personality, life history, etc. You cannot generalize and apply the exact same thing to everyone. It is necessary to observe and be aware of the specific needs and strengths of each child to know how to treat them and what strategies can be used as appropriate. For this, it is also advisable that with the help of a support teacher, individual and group interventions are carried out.
• The school program must be adapted to the child. It must be taken into account that the environment and the school program have to adapt to the needs of each child and not the other way around as one might think.
• Encourage the child to learn some social skills. Strategies need to be developed so that the child can learn some practical social skills and that little by little he can learn to integrate with his peers.
• Arouse her interest and motivation. It is important to be aware of the preferences and interests that the child is manifesting since They can be used to motivate him so that in this way he can finish his school work newspapers. For example, if he shows a lot of interest in animals, they can be included in various subjects, that is, in mathematics he will be You can ask him to count how many animals of a certain type there are, in Spanish have him write about the animals he likes the most, etc.
• Use incentives. Another option to awaken interest in the child is to use some intensive ones as prizes so that he can do his school work. You can tell her that if it ends in a certain time or before the alarm that we can set, she will receive a reward. Like if you do quality work.
• Get their attention to avoid distractions. It is necessary to avoid as far as possible that the child becomes too distracted. For this, a series of strategies can be carried out such as that the material you use to work is attractive enough, that the place you occupy within the classroom is free of distractions, specify and leave in a specific place the materials you need for each job you have to do, etc.

The vast majority of parents who have a child with Asperger's syndrome worry about whether they are really treating their child appropriately. It must be taken into account that it is necessary that receive special treatment not only at home but in whatever environment they operate, but how to treat a child with Asperger's syndrome at home? Here is a series of tips that parents may find useful.

• Follow an established routine. It is necessary to know that children with Asperger's syndrome are very anxious to find themselves in new situations, especially if they were not planned in advance. Therefore, it is recommended that you try to follow a fixed routine as much as possible since this generates a lot of security. In case some modifications are required, the child must be prepared before carrying them out.
• Increase your motivation. Remember that they have enough capacity to learn and even though they have trouble concentrating, they can do it. To help him, you can encourage him to develop his abilities to the fullest, realize what his strengths are and use them to his advantage.
• Prevent frustration from appearing. Children with Asperger's syndrome tend to be very perfectionists, so if something doesn't go as expected, they get frustrated very easily and their self-esteem deteriorates. That is why when assigning them to school and / or household tasks, they are not too demanding and we must ensure that they are not too difficult. If you want to increase the level of difficulty, you have to do it progressively.
• Encourage him to observe and imitate the behavior of other children. One way to help your child to adapt socially is to encourage him to imitate the behaviors of other children. In this way the child will be able to know how to act in certain situations and will be able to gradually participate, for example, in play with other children. It is recommended that when it is observed that he performs some positive social interaction in a natural way, he is reinforced to continue doing it.
• Safety phrases. You can teach your child some safety phrases to use them when he deems it necessary. For example, if before a social interaction he feels confused and does not know how to react, he can use a phrase like. "I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're saying" or "I don't know what to do at this moment", etc.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.