At the present time there are a large number of adults who have suspected Asperger syndrome (AS). In this paper we describe a new instrument, the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA), developed in our clinic for adults with AS. The need for a new instrument relevant to the diagnosis of AS in adulthood arises because existing instruments are designed for use with children. Properties of the AAA inclu...

Although Asperger syndrome (AS) has been included in the ICD-10 as a distinct category within the pervasive developmental disorders, it is still unclear to what extent it differs from normal-intelligence autism (high-functioning autism; HFA). Persons with AS are said to be particularly clumsy. To test the hypothesis that clumsiness can reliably distinguish AS from autism, the present authors co...

The semantic and phonemic fluency performance of adults with high functioning autism (HFA), Asperger syndrome and a neurotypical control group were compared. All participants were matched for age and verbal ability. Results showed that the participants with HFA were significantly impaired in their performance of both semantic fluency tasks and the phonemic fluency task using the letter M. The A...

First described in 1944 by Hans Asperger (1944), it was not before 1994 that Asperger Syndrome (AS) was included in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, only to disappear in the Manual's fifth edition in 2013. During its brief existence as a diagnostic entity, AS aroused immense interest and controversy. Similar to patients with autism, AS patients sh...

In the present study we introduce a sensitive video-based test for the evaluation of subtle mindreading difficulties: the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). This new mindreading tool involves watching a short film and answering questions referring to the actors' mental states. A group of adults with Asperger syndrome (n = 19) and well-matched control subjects (n = 20) were adm...

Despite the rapid growth of interest in Asperger disorder in children, there continues to be a lack of awareness of the diagnosis and its implications for adolescents and adults. The reasons for this lack of awareness lie in the history of the disorder and in the historical development of mental health services. Because, as Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to r...

A deficit in empathy has consistently been cited as a central characteristic of Asperger syndrome (AS), but previous research on adults has predominantly focused on cognitive empathy, effectively ignoring the role of affective empathy. We administered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, and the Strange Stories test to 21 adults with AS and 21 matche...

A D D R E S S Correspondence should be addressed to: C A R R I E A L L I S O N , Autism Research Centre, Douglas House, 18b Trumpington Road, Cambridge CB2 8AH, UK. e-mail: [email protected] 173 al questionnd DSM-IV entify subtle 5 www.sagepublications.com DOI: 10.1177/1362361307075710 aut.sagepub.co Downloaded from manifestations of autism spectrum conditions, and in particular Asperger syndrome...

Asperger syndrome (AS) is a childhood-onset disorder often described as a mild variant of autism. Although classified as a distinct disorder in the DSM-IV, its overlap with autism continues to be a matter of ongoing debate. While the family genetic origins of autism are well established, few studies have investigated this topic in AS using current operational criteria. In this report, we examin...

● BACKGROUND: Not much is known about the long-term outcome of Asperger syndrome (AS). The first set of diagnostic criteria was published in the late 1980’s. Research on other normal range IQ Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has shown great variability in terms of outcome. ● AIMS: The purpose of the present study was to study the naturalistic course of AS into adulthood in a clinical cohort of 1...