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Article Excerpt
At first glance, Matt seems to be no different than the other boys running around the practice field in their soccer shorts and shirts. He doesn't have any distinguishing physical disabilities, he seems to be able to talk as well as his teammates, and he seems to understand what to do during the scrimmage. But ask coach Bill or Matt's teammates about Matt, and you will begin to understand how different Matt is from his teammates. You would get similar replies from Mrs. Hansen, Matt's physical education teacher, and from his classmates at school.
First, Matt has a strange obsession with telephones. He is always asking his coach, his teammates, his physical education teacher, and his classmates (as well as anyone else nearby) whether they have a cell phone, what kind of cell phone, what calling plan they have, who their long distance carrier is, what song is played when the phone rings, and so on. This makes it difficult to get Matt to focus on soccer or physical education. If this is not challenging enough, Matt lacks even simple social skills such as not standing too close when talking to a peer or not interrupting friends in the middle of a conversation. At other times Matt seems to be in his own world, ignoring the activities in soccer or physical education. His teammates and classmates find it easiest to try to avoid him.
When Matt focuses on soccer or physical education, he is extremely competitive. Being competitive is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in sports, but if Matt's team loses -- whether it's a scrimmage during soccer practice or in a fun, lead-up game in physical education--he has a complete breakdown. He usually screams and yells at coach Bill or Mrs. Hansen, calling them cheaters. He has been known to push and hit opposing teammates or classmates, and he even has run away in tears screaming, "I hate all of you."
Matt has Asperger syndrome (AS), a type of autism that was first described in 1944 by Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician. The American Psychiatric Association officially recognized the term for a form of autism, with its own diagnostic criteria, in 1994 (Nash, 2002). Because AS is a relatively new label, more and more children are being diagnosed with it (Bashe & Kirby, 2001), so it is increasingly likely that physical education teachers and youth coaches will have children with AS in their programs. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to introduce general physical educators and youth-sport coaches to Asperger syndrome, to common characteristics associated with this syndrome, and to ways to accommodate these children in general physical education and youth-sport programs.
What Is Asperger Syndrome?
More common in boys than in girls, Asperger syndrome is a neurological disorder that is the result of some anomaly in the brain (Bauer, 1996). This brain disorder causes children with AS to think, act, and react differently compared to typically developing children. This is a critical point for teachers and coaches to understand; actions displayed by children with AS are not due to willful misbehavior. In fact, children with AS have no more ability to control their behaviors and preoccupations than children with cerebral palsy have the ability to control their muscles. Intervention can help children with AS learn to accommodate their behaviors, but these children will still have this brain disorder (Bashe & Kirby, 2001).
The American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2000) classifies AS as a pervasive developmental disorder (also known as an autism spectrum disorder). Children with AS are characterized by problems with social interactions, communication, and restricted interest. However, unlike children with classic autism, children with AS do not show delays in the appearance of major developmental milestones, have no delays in the onset of speech and language, and have no cognitive impairments (Bashe & Kirby, 2001; Gillberg, 1991; Kirby, 2002; Szatmari, 1991). In other words, these are children who can talk, read (many learn to read as preschoolers), and write, and who look the same as typically developing children. The disorder becomes most apparent in social situations, including school and recreation settings.
Characteristics
Many of the characteristics associated with Asperger syndrome are found in the APA definition in table 1. The following discussion divides the characteristics into five categories: behaviors, cognitive abilities, social skills, communication skills, and...
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