The purpose with my examination is to make a contribution to how, as a pedagogue, you can work to make it easier for pupils with Aspergers syndrome that are integrated in an “average” class. I will concentrate my work to these questions: how pedagogues can work to make it easier for pupils with Asperger syndrome that are integrated in an “average” class. If it affects the other pupils in the class when pupils with Asperger syndrome is integrated in the class and also if it affects the pedagogues work having these children integrated in their “average” class.I have decided to study research and other literature and also to do two interviews to find out how pedagogues can make it easier for children with the diagnosis Asperger syndrome. The pedagogues that I´ve interviewed has in different ways worked with pupils with Asperger syndrome. The first person works as a pedagogical instructor and the other one works as a teacher in a preschool-class. I compare the facts that I´ve found in research, literature and in the interviews to later be able to draw my own conclusions.The result of my examination shows that the facts that I got from the research and the literature broadly agree with the facts that I got from the interviews that I´ve done. The general conclusion of my work shows that pupils with Asperger syndrome need a clear and structured schooling. It´s important that the pedagogues proceed from the actual pupil when planning the schooling otherwise the pedagogue won´t be able to create the right opportunities for the pupil.

The theoretical basis of psychological and emotional distress such as anxiety in individuals with autism is under researched. The present study draws upon a mainstream information processing model of childhood anxiety along with theoretical accounts of autism to investigate some of the possible factors associated with the development and maintenance of anxiety in this population. Adolescents with high functioning autism were compared to two comparison control groups on measures of anxiety and social worries. Comparison groups were children with expressive language disorder and typically developing children. There were 15 children in each group aged between 11-16 years and matched across groups for age and gender. Children with autism were found to be more anxious than typically developing children. There were no significant differences between groups in levels of social worries as reported by the children themselves. Parent ratings showed that children with autism were perceived to have considerably more social worries than both comparison groups. The groups were compared on measures of the recognition and expression of emotion, theory of mind and/or central coherence abilities, social and communication abilities and social competence with peers. The children with autism performed significantly worse than both comparison groups on the measure of social ability. They also perceived themselves to be less socially competence with peers. On the measure of emotional recognition and theory of mind/central coherence, the children with autism performed at a similar level to children with an expressive language disorder. Children with expressive language disorder showed poorer performance than children with autism and typically developing children on the measure of communication. The pattern of between group differences for self perceived social competence with peers was the same as the pattern of difference for anxiety. Social ability was found to correlate negatively with anxiety for the autism group. Therefore social competence with peers and impairments in social ability were highlighted as possible factors associated with anxiety in adolescents with high functioning autism. A simple schematic model of how such factors may be associated with the experience of anxiety in adolescents with high functioning autism is presented, from an information processing perspective. Impaired social ability is considered in relation to the response access or construction stage of the information processing sequence. It is suggested that adolescents with high functioning autism may lack the social skills required for adaptive coping responses to anxiety provoking situations, showing greater reliance on responses directed at escape or avoidance. The selection of escape/avoidant responses at the response selection stage of the information processing sequence is considered in relation to the possible lack of perceived competence and low estimation of coping ability for children with autism. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

No description available.

A Síndrome de Asperger, um Transtorno Global do Desenvolvimento, pertencente ao espectro autístico caracteriza-se por dificuldades na comunicação, abstração e socialização. O conceito de morte é adquirido paralelamente ao desenvolvimento cognitivo e afetivo da criança, sendo descritos três estágios em seu desenvolvimento paralelos aos estágios piagetianos. Ele é composto pelas dimensões universalidade, irreversibilidade e não funcionalidade. O objetivo deste trabalho foi de verificar se o conceito de morte em portadores da síndrome de Asperger é similar ao observado em pessoas sem psicopatologia ou se relaciona com o observado em portadores de deficiência mental leve. Para isso foram avaliados indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger, indivíduos com deficiência mental leve e indivíduos sadios, sem doenças mentais e/ou neurológicas, utilizando-se o Instrumento de Sondagem do Conceito de Morte elaborado por Wilma Torres. Os resultados apontaram prejuízo na aquisição do conceito de morte de acordo com a seguinte hierarquia, nas dimensões universalidade e não funcionalidade: Sadios > Síndrome de Asperger > deficiência mental leve. Na dimensão irreversibilidade a hierarquia encontrada foi Sadios > Síndrome de Asperger = deficiência mental leve. Esses resultados apontam déficits na aquisição do conceito de morte por indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger, possivelmente relacionados a déficits na teoria da mente, função executiva e fraca coerência central. / Aspergers Disorder, a Pervasive Development Disorder, is part of the autism spectrum and is characterized by difficulties in communication, abstraction, and social interaction. The concept of death is acquired in parallel with cognitive and affective development of children, and three stages in its development are described in parallel with piagetian stages. It is made up of the dimensions of universality, irreversibility, and non-functionality. The objective of this work is to verify if the concept of death in people with Aspergers disorder is similar to the one observed in people without psychopathological symptoms , or if it relates to the one observed in people with mild mental retardation. With that purpose, individuals with Aspergers disorder, individuals with mild mental retardation and healthy individuals, without mental and/or neurologic diseases were evaluated by means of the Instrument of Investigation of the Concept of Death developed by Wilma Torres. The results indicated damage in the acquisition of the concept of death according to the following hierarchy, in the universality and non-functionality dimmensions: Healthy > Aspergers disorder > mild mental retardation. In the irreversibility dimension, the hierarchy found was healthy > Aspergers disorder= mild mental retardation. These results indicate deficit in the acquisition of the concept of death by individuals with Aspergers disorder, possibly related to deficits in the theory of mind, executive function, and weak central coherence.

A Síndrome de Asperger, um Transtorno Global do Desenvolvimento, pertencente ao espectro autístico caracteriza-se por dificuldades na comunicação, abstração e socialização. O conceito de morte é adquirido paralelamente ao desenvolvimento cognitivo e afetivo da criança, sendo descritos três estágios em seu desenvolvimento paralelos aos estágios piagetianos. Ele é composto pelas dimensões universalidade, irreversibilidade e não funcionalidade. O objetivo deste trabalho foi de verificar se o conceito de morte em portadores da síndrome de Asperger é similar ao observado em pessoas sem psicopatologia ou se relaciona com o observado em portadores de deficiência mental leve. Para isso foram avaliados indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger, indivíduos com deficiência mental leve e indivíduos sadios, sem doenças mentais e/ou neurológicas, utilizando-se o Instrumento de Sondagem do Conceito de Morte elaborado por Wilma Torres. Os resultados apontaram prejuízo na aquisição do conceito de morte de acordo com a seguinte hierarquia, nas dimensões universalidade e não funcionalidade: Sadios > Síndrome de Asperger > deficiência mental leve. Na dimensão irreversibilidade a hierarquia encontrada foi Sadios > Síndrome de Asperger = deficiência mental leve. Esses resultados apontam déficits na aquisição do conceito de morte por indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger, possivelmente relacionados a déficits na teoria da mente, função executiva e fraca coerência central. / Aspergers Disorder, a Pervasive Development Disorder, is part of the autism spectrum and is characterized by difficulties in communication, abstraction, and social interaction. The concept of death is acquired in parallel with cognitive and affective development of children, and three stages in its development are described in parallel with piagetian stages. It is made up of the dimensions of universality, irreversibility, and non-functionality. The objective of this work is to verify if the concept of death in people with Aspergers disorder is similar to the one observed in people without psychopathological symptoms , or if it relates to the one observed in people with mild mental retardation. With that purpose, individuals with Aspergers disorder, individuals with mild mental retardation and healthy individuals, without mental and/or neurologic diseases were evaluated by means of the Instrument of Investigation of the Concept of Death developed by Wilma Torres. The results indicated damage in the acquisition of the concept of death according to the following hierarchy, in the universality and non-functionality dimmensions: Healthy > Aspergers disorder > mild mental retardation. In the irreversibility dimension, the hierarchy found was healthy > Aspergers disorder= mild mental retardation. These results indicate deficit in the acquisition of the concept of death by individuals with Aspergers disorder, possibly related to deficits in the theory of mind, executive function, and weak central coherence.

<p>People with Aspergers syndrome (AS) have proven difficulties maintaining jobs according to previous research. This is a quality study. Four women with AS were interviewed about their experience of employment. What difficulties and contributions have they experience at work? What is the self experienced need of support within the research group? The result has been analyzed with different types of “support”. The need of work related support has been analyzed with performance, assimilation, inclusion and marginalizing. In difference to previous research, social aspects of employment didn’t prove a sufficient difficulty in this study but some social difficulties were found. Misunderstandings between coworkers were found to complicate the work situations, together with their lack of ability to understand critics. Minor problems described within the research group were their need to be absolute honest. The lack of ability to deal with destructions such as surrounding noise has proven difficulties in their work role. Emotional support and clear instructions at work, together with a suitable work environment has been pointed out in the group. Key strengths found are their high levels of work ethics and their dedication to perfection.</p>

People with Aspergers syndrome (AS) have proven difficulties maintaining jobs according to previous research. This is a quality study. Four women with AS were interviewed about their experience of employment. What difficulties and contributions have they experience at work? What is the self experienced need of support within the research group? The result has been analyzed with different types of “support”. The need of work related support has been analyzed with performance, assimilation, inclusion and marginalizing. In difference to previous research, social aspects of employment didn’t prove a sufficient difficulty in this study but some social difficulties were found. Misunderstandings between coworkers were found to complicate the work situations, together with their lack of ability to understand critics. Minor problems described within the research group were their need to be absolute honest. The lack of ability to deal with destructions such as surrounding noise has proven difficulties in their work role. Emotional support and clear instructions at work, together with a suitable work environment has been pointed out in the group. Key strengths found are their high levels of work ethics and their dedication to perfection.

Author: Julia Falk and Linnéa Linderoth Title: “Am I being me? Or am I being a girl with Asperger´s?” A qualitative study of the role relationships have for young women with Asperger´s syndrome identity [Translated title] Supervisor: Melker Labory Assessor: Ulf Drugge   During adolescence, relationships are important for young people and studies show that having a partner is something that becomes more important, especially for young women. Creating and maintaining good relationships can be problematic, but can this problem be different for a young woman with a neuropsychiatric disability as Aspergers syndrome? A person with Aspergers syndrome often has difficulties with communication and interaction with other people. But the syndrome is also characterized with special interests, different language management and difficulties with sudden changes. The aim of our study was to examine how young women with Aspergers syndrome experience the creation, maintenance or absence of couple relations. Furthermore, we wanted to see the significance these relationships have in the young women´s identity and how they are, based on their disability, managing any problems that may arise with this meaning. In our qualitative study we have followed three young women with Aspergers syndrome through their blogs, individual websites where they write down their thoughts and experience in the form of digital diaries. These three women are seen as three extremes: a young woman with a relationship, a young woman who is single but looking for love and a young woman who is single but not interested in being part of a relationship. Through a content analysis of their texts, we have been able to distinguish experiences, significance and managing. The data that we have collected, did we analyzed to three different theories: intersectionality, Svedberg´s ideas about group processes and symbolic interactionism. The experiences have permeated the whole analysis and what we can see after the completion of the study is that relationships are very important for the three young women. All three women write about thoughts and experiences related to couple relations in their blogs. By using Svedberg, we have come to the conclusion that relationships can be more or less important for the young women. Depending on their experience and whether the desire for a partner is a part of their inner world or not. How this picture is consistent with the external reality is in turn crucial to the creation of an identity, can the young woman´s desire get consistent with reality? And what happens when this connection does not exist? When we have read the blogs, we have seen examples of how the young women both choose to grab on to the idea of a partner or choose to be alone to maintain their identity. The meaning of the couple relations variates between the young women and the way they choose to handle the problems that follows with it. Furthermore, there are variations in both experiences, significance and managing and this can be understood from the extremes but also in terms of their personality, previous experience and the fact that they are divided into different groups in the society. Keywords: young, woman, adolescents, Aspergers syndrome, disability, identity, relationships, couple relations Nyckelord: ung, kvinna, ungdomar, Aspergers syndrom, funktionsnedsättning, identitet, relationer, parrelationer

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Os obstáculos encontrados por crianças e adolescentes com Síndrome de Asperger em termos de interação social, comunicação e imaginação são notórios e causam sentimentos de angústia nos pais que procuram escolas para inserir seus filhos e centros especializados para tratá-los. As pesquisas tem evoluído sobremaneira através dos anos, desde as primeiras descrições sobre o transtorno na primeira metade do século XX, apontando diferentes visões e modos de intervenção, alguns destes que pudessem ser levados à cabo por pais, professores e cuidadores. Entretanto, em termos de língua portuguesa em geral e da realidade brasileira especificamente, há uma carência de instrumentos que possam ser utilizados no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas à esses indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger. Aproveitando a experiência de pesquisadores ingleses, que na década de noventa elaboraram um guia prático para pais e professores intitulado Teaching children with autism to mind-read: a practical guide for teachers and parents, partindo da intervenção com tradução para a língua portuguesa, o presente estudo exploratório tem os objetivos de: verificar a efetividade de referido instrumento no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas, identificar as estratégias de ensino utilizadas e comparar o desempenho de dois meninos de doze anos, gêmeos monozigóticos com Síndrome de Asperger, alunos de uma escola da rede pública do município do Rio de Janeiro. A metodologia utilizada implicou na análise comparativa dos escores obtidos na pré e pós intervenção, pela avaliação das habilidades sociais com o Inventário Multimídia de Habilidades Sociais para Crianças e das habilidades cognitivas, em especial as funções executivas, via alguns dos subtestes da Escala de Inteligência Wechsler para Crianças WISC-III; e a filmagem das sessões de intervenção e posterior análise dos vídeos para identificação das estratégias de ensino. A análise mostrou que o instrumento foi efetivo no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas, merecendo novos estudos visando sua adaptação para nossa realidade cultural; que as estratégia de ensino mais utilizadas e que contribuíram para a modificação do comportamento dos sujeitos foram levantamento de questões para verificar a compreensão, explicação de conceitos pouco familiares e a ampliação da resposta verbal. / The obstacles encountered by children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome in terms of social interaction, communication and imagination are notorious and cause feelings of distress in parents seeking schools for their children and specialized centers to treat them. The research has evolved greatly over the years since the first descriptions on the disorder in the first half of the twentieth century, pointing out different views and methods of intervention, some of which could be carried out by the parents, teachers and caregivers. However, in terms of portuguese in general and specifically the brazilian reality, there is a lack of instruments that can be used in teaching social skills and cognitive abilities to those individuals with Asperger Syndrome. Drawing on the experience of british researchers, who in the nineties have produced a practical guide for parents and teachers titled "Teaching children with autism to mind-read: a Practical Guide for teachers and parents", starting with the intervention translation into portuguese, this exploratory study has objectives: to assess the effectiveness of this instrument in teaching cognitive and social skills, identify teaching strategies used and compare the performance of two boys of twelve, twins monozygotic twins with Asperger Syndrome, students at a public school of the Rio de Janeiros county. The methodology involved the comparative analysis scores of pre and post intervention, the evaluation of social skills with the Inventory of Social Skills for Multimedia Children and cognitive abilities, in particular executive functions, via some of the subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - WISC-III, and videotaping of intervention sessions and subsequent analysis of the videos to identify teaching strategies. The analysis showed that the instrument was effective in teaching social skills and cognitive deserve further studies aimed at adapting to our cultural reality; that the teaching strategy most used and contributed to the modifying the behavior of the subjects were raising issues for check for understanding, explaining unfamiliar concepts and extension of the verbal response.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Os obstáculos encontrados por crianças e adolescentes com Síndrome de Asperger em termos de interação social, comunicação e imaginação são notórios e causam sentimentos de angústia nos pais que procuram escolas para inserir seus filhos e centros especializados para tratá-los. As pesquisas tem evoluído sobremaneira através dos anos, desde as primeiras descrições sobre o transtorno na primeira metade do século XX, apontando diferentes visões e modos de intervenção, alguns destes que pudessem ser levados à cabo por pais, professores e cuidadores. Entretanto, em termos de língua portuguesa em geral e da realidade brasileira especificamente, há uma carência de instrumentos que possam ser utilizados no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas à esses indivíduos com Síndrome de Asperger. Aproveitando a experiência de pesquisadores ingleses, que na década de noventa elaboraram um guia prático para pais e professores intitulado Teaching children with autism to mind-read: a practical guide for teachers and parents, partindo da intervenção com tradução para a língua portuguesa, o presente estudo exploratório tem os objetivos de: verificar a efetividade de referido instrumento no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas, identificar as estratégias de ensino utilizadas e comparar o desempenho de dois meninos de doze anos, gêmeos monozigóticos com Síndrome de Asperger, alunos de uma escola da rede pública do município do Rio de Janeiro. A metodologia utilizada implicou na análise comparativa dos escores obtidos na pré e pós intervenção, pela avaliação das habilidades sociais com o Inventário Multimídia de Habilidades Sociais para Crianças e das habilidades cognitivas, em especial as funções executivas, via alguns dos subtestes da Escala de Inteligência Wechsler para Crianças WISC-III; e a filmagem das sessões de intervenção e posterior análise dos vídeos para identificação das estratégias de ensino. A análise mostrou que o instrumento foi efetivo no ensino de habilidades sociais e cognitivas, merecendo novos estudos visando sua adaptação para nossa realidade cultural; que as estratégia de ensino mais utilizadas e que contribuíram para a modificação do comportamento dos sujeitos foram levantamento de questões para verificar a compreensão, explicação de conceitos pouco familiares e a ampliação da resposta verbal. / The obstacles encountered by children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome in terms of social interaction, communication and imagination are notorious and cause feelings of distress in parents seeking schools for their children and specialized centers to treat them. The research has evolved greatly over the years since the first descriptions on the disorder in the first half of the twentieth century, pointing out different views and methods of intervention, some of which could be carried out by the parents, teachers and caregivers. However, in terms of portuguese in general and specifically the brazilian reality, there is a lack of instruments that can be used in teaching social skills and cognitive abilities to those individuals with Asperger Syndrome. Drawing on the experience of british researchers, who in the nineties have produced a practical guide for parents and teachers titled "Teaching children with autism to mind-read: a Practical Guide for teachers and parents", starting with the intervention translation into portuguese, this exploratory study has objectives: to assess the effectiveness of this instrument in teaching cognitive and social skills, identify teaching strategies used and compare the performance of two boys of twelve, twins monozygotic twins with Asperger Syndrome, students at a public school of the Rio de Janeiros county. The methodology involved the comparative analysis scores of pre and post intervention, the evaluation of social skills with the Inventory of Social Skills for Multimedia Children and cognitive abilities, in particular executive functions, via some of the subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - WISC-III, and videotaping of intervention sessions and subsequent analysis of the videos to identify teaching strategies. The analysis showed that the instrument was effective in teaching social skills and cognitive deserve further studies aimed at adapting to our cultural reality; that the teaching strategy most used and contributed to the modifying the behavior of the subjects were raising issues for check for understanding, explaining unfamiliar concepts and extension of the verbal response.