What is Asperger's?

Asperger’s syndrome is named after Hans Asperger, a Viennese physician, who in 1944, described a pattern of behaviour in several young boys who demonstrated normal intelligence and language development, yet showed poor social and communication skills.

Asperger’s has since been diagnosed as a mild form of autism, which is a group of brain development disorders that span a spectrum of severity. Specialists also refer to them as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD).

In studies of Asperger’s syndrome and High Functioning Autism (HFA), it seems that boys are more often affected than girls. This is much less evident in more severe, low functioning autism and atypical cases.