Asperger’s: ‘This is our normal’

Giulia Rhodes meets the Cook O'Tooles, a family of five who all have Asperger's syndrome

Jennifer Cook O'Toole and her husband, John, with their children Moira, Sean and Gavin: ‘My way of learning these unspoken social rules is to write them down.’ Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Giulia Rhodes  |  The Guardian

Maura, nine, is an expert on ancient history. Her brother Sean, six, specialises in the classification of animals. Gavin, the youngest, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Spiderman – a little less high-brow, but then he is only three.

All three like to hold forth on their chosen subjects – regardless of whether anyone else is listening or, for that matter, speaking. Family meal-times, admits their mother, Jennifer Cook O'Toole, can be quite a headache-inducing affair.

Fortunately, Jennifer and her husband, John, are not averse to delivering impassioned monologues themselves – about, respectively, the history of monarchy and astronomy – if the mood takes them.  READ MORE >>

Parents, autistic children share special bond that spans decades

Written by Erin Kourkounis
Full story: Gannett News Service

David Bodkin says his wife is akin to a translator in a foreign country as they raise their autistic daughter.

“Amy sometimes knows what Jessica is thinking before she does,” he said. “She's able to explain why Jessica does some things and acts certain ways.”

There's a special reason for that.

Amy Bodkin, 29, a school counselor turned stay-at-home mom, has Asperger's syndrome, a disorder on the autism spectrum.

They are among a growing number of parents and children finding links as they jointly live with autism or autism-related disorders.

Dr. Teresa Mahaffey, a pediatrician, at Growing Child Pediatrics in Pace, Fla., said the parent-child genetic connection is a relatively new concept.

“Now that people with autism are having children, it's going to be interesting to see if their kids have it or not,” said Mahaffey, whose 20-year-old son has autism.

Take one example of the link between Amy and Jessica Bodkin, 4.

When Amy Bodkin was a child, she liked to press on her eyes repetitively because it was visually stimulating.

Jessica also started sticking her fingers between her eye and socket.

“It makes the sun come up,” Jessica said.

With her own history, Amy Bodkin immediately understood.

Autism is a disorder that affects the normal development of social and communication skills.

Asperger's is considered a high-functioning form of autism in which people affected have trouble interacting socially, repeat behaviors and often are clumsy. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders because linguistic and cognitive development are not affected.

Amy Bodkin studied the behavior of people with autism and Asperger's syndrome when she was enrolled at Mississippi State University for her master's degree in psychometry, which is a discipline of psychology and education.

Those studies cleared up a lot of questions she had about her own behavior.

David Bodkin is grateful for that insight.

“Amy is able to say, ‘She can overcome her disability like me,' as opposed to a normal parent who might say, ‘My child is disabled and will never be normal,'” he said... READ MOIRE >>

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Husband a right old grump? it could be Asperger's: Thousands have it without realising

Asperger’s is a ‘high-functioning’ form of autism where sufferers often have very high IQs

Daily Mail | By ANNA MAGEE

When martial arts teacher Sandra Beale-Ellis discovered one of the children in her class had Asperger’s syndrome, she set out to discover more about the condition.

‘I’d seen the film Rain Man, but that was the extent of my knowledge about autism,’ says Sandra, 44, who lives in Herne Bay, Kent. ‘So I bought a book about Asperger’s to read up about it.’

Autism is a developmental disability causing difficulties with communication and relating to other people. 

Undiagnosed: Teacher Sandra Beale-Ellis was surprised to recognise some of the traits of Asperger's in her husband, Joe

Asperger’s is a ‘high-functioning’ form of the condition, where sufferers often have very high IQs.

Learning about its classic characteristics — social awkwardness, a love of detail and repetition, and a tendency for obsessions and collecting — Sandra was surprised  to recognise some of the traits in her husband, Joe, 50.

Baby born with rare condition, leaves him unable to smile, cry, blink or show any facial expression

Joe, who is the founder of Kent Karate Schools, a string of martial arts academies in Kent, owns hundreds of salt shakers he  has been collecting since he was ten, which sit in neat rows in their house. He is also obsessed with castles and runs an online tearoom review site.

Sandra grew more interested, and signed up for a postgraduate certificate in Asperger’s. That was when the lightbulb moment came.

Recognisable traits: The film Rain Man, pictured, was the extent of Sandra's knowledge about autism - until she realised her husband had it

‘One of my tutors said people with autism and Asperger’s often have sensitivity to light, touch, colour or taste,’ says Sandra.

1 in 50: The number of men who have some form of autism

‘Joe hates clothes against his skin and would strip off to his T-shirt and underwear the minute he got home, even in winter. He hates the colour red and bright lights. I’d always called them Joe-isms. Now I realised they were signs of Asperger’s.’

Joe was sceptical, but after two years of persuasion, he saw a psychologist and after a three-hour interview he was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s.

Read more >>