“Common Traits of Individuals with Asperger Syndrome

Social/Communication Traits

Despite a desire for friends, difficulty in initiating or maintaining close relationships

Problems reading non-verbal or social cues or understanding/using social rules

Very socially naïve and as a result are often taken advantage of, rejected, or bullied

Social contact may be directed by them (e.g. play is "on their terms" or not at all)

Poor (or intense) eye contact, atypical use of gestures and flat or inappropriate facial expressions

One-sided conversations, and little ability for "small talk"

May appear overly shy or overly extroverted, but inappropriately so

Unaware of others' thoughts, feelings or perceptions resulting in inadvertently appearing rude or inconsiderate

Literal interpretation of communication from others

Avoidant of social contact or events, and may experience heightened anxiety in social situations

Language is learned and used in "chunks" (e.g., phrases, dialogue from TV shows, etc.)

Communication is used for delivering information or requesting, not as a way of interacting socially

Behavioural Traits

May respond poorly to changes, sensory stimuli, transitions, lack of structure, and restrictions

Repetitive movements (e.g., jumping, rocking, pacing) and speech (i.e., talking about favourite topics, interest)

Rigid, inflexible and rule-bound behaviour

Inappropriate behaviour given the social situation (e.g., speaking too loud in place of worship)

Exaggerated emotional response to situations (e.g., tantrums when asked to something that they don't want to do)

Superior ability to focus on favourite activity or area of interest (e.g., spends hours mastering video game to the exclusion of other pastimes)

Cognitive Traits

Average to superior intelligence

Detail oriented approach to tasks which may result in missing the “bigger picture”

May have associated learning disabilities (e.g., non-verbal learning disability)

Often have high verbal scores in a cognitive assessment, and low performance scores

Difficulty seeing “parts-to-whole” and “whole-to-parts” relationships

Prefer technical/factual information over abstract”

 

Source: The Aspergers Society of Ontario