The Symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome In The Adult

Adults who have Asperger's Syndrome have a developmental disorder that affects how their brain processes information. Adults with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) usually have trouble making or keeping friends, have a great deal of difficulty communicating with others at work, school or home, and are unable to understand social rules or to interpret or understand body language.

Symptoms may be mild to severe and involve many different symptoms or just a few symptoms. The more common symptoms that an adult may have who has AS are as follows:

An IQ that is normal or above normal

An inability to think in abstract terms

An inability to empathize with others or to see things from another person's point of view

Lacks in conversational ability, usually talks out of turn, or initiates and continues one-sided conversations even if the other person isn't listening or is showing signs of being bored that the person with AS is completely unaware of.

Has difficulty controlling feelings of anxiety, anger and depression

Does well with routines and following the law or rules and has a difficult time dealing with changes.

Has difficulty managing appropriate social behavior

Develops obsessive specialized interest in one subject or hobby

The adult who suffers from AS like the child and teen with AS is unable to understand the emotions of others or to have empathy. They are unable to understand non-verbal communication such as facial expressions so the look of sadness will go unnoticed in the adult with AS. Due to the fact that adults with AS are unable to detect facial expressions or other non-verbal communications they are often seen as uncaring, selfish and rude.

Even though the adult male and female with Asperger's Syndrome are interested in sex they lack the social or empathetic skills that are necessary in order to manage adult relationships. Because there are so many "hidden" rules of dating, an adult with AS may show inappropriate behavior sexually simply because they are unaware of what is appropriate behavior.

Adults with AS can successfully navigate the waters of relationships and become married and even parents, but there will be difficulties doing so. One Dutch study shows that the divorce rate for individuals with Asperger's Syndrome is 80%.

The parent who has AS is unable to understand when the partner needs emotional support or help with the children which creates tension in the relationship as this leaves the other parent to basically become a "single parent".

Adults in the workplace who suffer from AS:

Should avoid jobs that require short-term memory such as air traffic controller, receptionist, waitress, short order cook and cashier.

Careers that adults with AS who are visual thinkers would do better in are:

Computer programming, drafting, photography, mechanic, appliance repair, handcraft artisan, WebPages designer, video game designer.

Careers that adults with AS who are good at mathematics or music would be better in are:

Accounting, computer programming, engineering, taxi driver, filing positions, statistician, physician, mathematician, bank teller, telemarketing.

Visible Symptoms of Autism in Child