What are the most significant issues that parents of children with Aspergers Syndrome face?
Tony Attwood: The most significant issue that parents face is a lack of understanding and inappropriate attitudes towards those with Asperger’s Syndrome. They also face problems with regard to remedial tuition in the areas of social cognition and empathy in that schools may not have the knowledge and resources to help children in these areas. My clinical experience suggests that success in the social and emotional area is one of the best predictors of successful outcome. Is there a link between prematurity and Asperger’s Syndrome? Tony Attwood: On the link between prematurity and Asperger’s Syndrome, we do know that for some families there is a higher incidence of unfavourable events, and recent studies have suggested a link between prematurity and autistic spectrum disorders including Asperger’s Syndrome. At present this is a link, but no causal factors have been identified.
