The brain is an infinite labyrinth. No one-despite the surmountable efforts of history and modern day's great men-can truly decipher or describe how it ticks and how it works. Although it is considered as a powerful tool of any man who can utilize it to its maximum potential, the brain-or the mind-is not always designed for greatness.



Due to its inexplicable ticking, sometimes, the brain itself can be destructive to a person's life. One of the cases in which the brain causes intolerable pain to the person affected and to the individuals that surround him is the Asperger's Disorder or the Asperger's Syndrome.

Together with Autism, Rett's Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and PDD-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Asperger's Syndrome is considered as one of the five Pervasive Development Disorders or PDDs.

PDDs or the set of neurologically based disorders has been identified to show a distinctive range of delays in different developmental stages of an individual.

First described in 1940 by Hans Asperger, a Viennese pediatrician, the concept of Asperger's Syndrome stemmed from the autistic-like behaviors of boys that have normal intelligence. Since the symptoms are like those in autism, many experts considered it as a "milder form of autism."

Although they have almost the same characteristics, Asperger's Disorder is comparably the less severe form of autism. This severity in the symptoms is mainly highlighted by the absence of language delays because children who are suffering for the illness are slightly affected when it comes to their communication skills. More often than not, these kids do have good language and cognitive skills.

The disorder-that is also distinguished by the same kind of abnormalities of correlative social interaction like in autism-also embodies a restricted, conventional, incessant repertoire of activities and interests. But, unlike people who suffer from Autism, the people who are suffering from Asperger's Syndrome do not experience a delay in cognitive development or retardation in language. And unlike autism, most individuals are of normal general intelligence. But since they are suffering from a neurological disorder, they exude extreme clumsiness. Unlike autistic children that are perceived as indifferent, children with Asperger's are more than willing to fit and mingle-only, they just do not know how. Since they are clueless on how to interact with others, they are seen as socially awkward individuals that do not have the grasp of social norms. Due to absence of empathy, these people usually may have limited eye contact, seemingly not attentive in a conversation, and do not know how to use gestures.

One of the common symptoms of a child who has an Asperger's Syndrome is his or her unusual speech pattern. Since they have generally good language skills, it is quite noticeable how the child he or she uses language in various ways that usually lack inflection or doing it in some sort of a singsong. When it comes to inclination of interests, a child suffering from Asperger's Syndrome tends to be obsessive on a particular subject.

Although the case of Asperger's Syndrome is slightly mild compared to Autism and any other PDD, the threat might be a little underrated or underestimated. Most experts agree that there is indeed a strong inclination that the abnormalities will continue up the person's later stage of life like in adolescence and adult life. It is also possible that that as the person suffering from the disorder get older, he or she would represent individual characteristics and occasionally disturbing psychotic episodes.

Aside from the autistic-like behaviors, it can be said that the person suffering from Asperger's Syndrome is he or show symptoms of language impairment, social impairment marked by impaired social understanding, obvious peculiarities or behavioral "oddness" or mannerisms. Other symptoms of Asperger's Disorder are social delays with non-verbal communication problems, lack of spontaneity, clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements, limited interests and/or unusual preoccupations, repetitive routines or rituals and preoccupation in their own world with their own agenda