Asperger Syndrome
Around 1943, when Leo Kanner was positing the existence of a syndrome that has
since come to be called Autism, a physician from Vienna published a description of
a similar group of children he had observed in his medical practice who presented
with impaired communication and social interaction skills (Asperger, 1944). This
physician’s name was Hans Asperger. Asperger identified a consistent pattern of
different behaviours and abilities shared by these children that included “a lack of
empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversations, intense absorp-
tion in a special interest and clumsy movements” (Attwood, 1998, p. 11).
Despite the seminal use of Asperger’s paper throughout Europe in diagnos-
ing and assessing persons with the disorder, the term Asperger Syndrome was not
coined until Asperger’s work was translated into English. Gillberg published the
first diagnostic criteria for Asperger Syndrome in 1989, with revisions in 1991
(Gillberg, 1991; Gillberg and Gillberg, 1989). Later, in 1994, came the recognition
of Asperger’s work by the American Psychological Association with the inclusion
into the DSM-IV manual (APA, 1994) of 299.80 Diagnostic Criteria for Asperger’s
Disorder. Combined with autistic disorder, Rett’s disorder, childhood disintegra-
tive disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-
NOS), Asperger’s Disorder was now formally a part of the spectrum of Autism
disorders.
The criteria for Asperger’s Disorder or Asperger Syndrome (AS) revolved
around two impairments: first, a focus on social interactions and second, a focus on
restricted and repetitive behaviour movement patterns, with the remainder of the
criteria ruling out Autism as an option (APA, 1994). The social interactions cate-
gory highlighted an inability for individuals to display appropriate social behaviours,
such as eye contact, appropriate facial expressions and the use of other non-verbal
4
IDENTITY FORMATION IN
INDIVIDUALS WITH ASPERGER
SYNDROME
Caitlin van der Walt