What is Asperger Syndrome?

Here are more about Asperger syndrome - a form of autism - including the three main difficulties that people with Asperger syndrome share, how many people have the condition, and what may cause it. 

As soon as we meet a person we make judgement about them. From their facial expression, tone of voice and body language we can usually tell whether they are happy, angry or sad and respond accordingly.

People with Asperger syndrome can find it harder to read the signals that most of us take for granted. This means they find it more difficult to communicate and interact with others which can lead to high levels of anxiety and confusion.

Asperger syndrome is a form of autism, which is a lifelong disability that affects how a person makes sense of the world, processes information and relates to other people. Autism is often described as a 'spectrum disorder' because the condition affects people in many different ways and to varying degrees.

Asperger syndrome is mostly a 'hidden disability'. This means that you can't tell that someone has the condition from their outward appearance. People with the condition have difficulties in three main areas. They are:

• social communication
• social interaction
• social imagination.

While there are similarities with autism, people with Asperger syndrome have fewer problems with speaking and are often of average, or above average, intelligence. They do not usually have the accompanying learning disabilities associated with autism, but they may have specific learning difficulties. These may include dyslexia and dyspraxia or other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy.

With the right support and encouragement, people with Asperger syndrome can lead full and independent lives.

How can I motivate my child to try new things that they may not be good at?

As a parent, one of your main priorities are to support and motivate your child in all areas of development.  It begins early-you teach them to eat, to talk, to walk, and many other necessary skills.  You motivated your child at each stage of growth and development.  However, as they get old enough to make their own choices, it takes more internal motivation than it does external motivation.  This is where your guidance comes into play.  Starting early, teaching your child how to use self-motivation, will help set your child on a path of growth in a place of acceptable change.

Change can be very difficult for children with Asperger’s Syndrome.  They often do not have the strong social actions needed to make changes, try new things, or to transition from one way of life to another.  Just the thought of making a major life change can be absolutely paralyzing.  It is hard to motivate someone once they reach this fear stage.  Here are a few suggestions for you.

Start early and build on it, or better yet, just continue as you have from birth, allowing your child to try new things, to stretch and to grow.   A little parental motivation can go a long way.
Be an encourager, even during the times when your child tries to avoid change.  Give him plenty of opportunities to become independent and successful.  An encouraging word at just the right time may be that extra push that your child needs to get out there and try something new.
Use logic to motivate your child with Asperger’s Syndrome.   He relies on the logical.  He thinks in black and white.  If you can give him a logical reason for making a change, chances are, he will give it a try.
Look for books and videos that can give ideas to help you motivate your child.  Incentives for Change: Motivating People with Autism Spectrum Disorders to Learn and Gain Independence by Lara Delmolino and Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D. touches base on different ways you can motivate your child to grow and change.
So much of parenting and motivating children with Asperger’s Syndrome comes down to being a positive and motivating personality.  Setting positive examples in tough situations will allow you to motivate your child through actual life experiences, which, in turn, can increase your child’s chance of success.

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Aspergers in Girls and How They Present and Dissimilar from Boys?

Asperger's in girls is an essentially distinctive from that in boys. For quite a while, girls were not as liable to gain the determination of Autism (A mental imbalance) or Asperger's Syndrome. Far additional boys still gain the Extreme introvertedness conclusion, leaving girls without as much support at school, and without as much help to manage with life. Here are a couple of the notable dissimilarities of indications and aspects between boys and girls with Asperger's Syndrome.


Asperger's in Boys:

• Single obsessive investment are more regularly watched in boys. 
• Domineering behaviour and meltdowns because of disappointment are extremely normal in boys.
• Boys tease different boys with weaknesses as opposed to show support. 
• Boys with Asperger's are more averse to show feeling. 
• Boys show less covet for friendships. The craving may be there under the surface, yet it ordinarily matches nearly with capability. 
• Boys are more inclined to have major distinct and motor skills insufficiencies. 
• Generally speaking, boys are more severely influenced by Asperger's than girls are. 

Asperger's in Girls:

• Girls as a rule have a more extensive mixed bag of obsessive interest. 
• Girls are more uninvolved and more averse to show forceful conducts and meltdowns. 
• Girls are more inclined to support different girls in spite of their clear weaknesses. 
• Girls are more inclined to emulate alternates feelings and social aptitudes than boys are. 
• Girls show more yearning for fellowships and social connections. 
• Girls are as a rule less influenced by gross motor skills & distinct systems lacks. 
• On the whole, girls generally have milder side effects of Asperger's Syndrome. 

Obviously, not all instances of Asperger's in girls will take after these guidelines. Kids with Asperger's are people with their particular qualities and weaknesses. There are girls with Asperger's who are severely socially unable, who have colossal distinct coordination situations and extremely frail gross motor skills. Nonetheless, the greater part of girls with Asperger's do present on the milder side of the range. 

Question: How to Help Improve my Son with Aspergers Eating?

There is regularly a connection between Aspergers and eating situations. Kids with Aspergers once in a while have exceptionally restrained sustenance decisions, and in addition oral abhorrences because of tangible issues. Numerous kids with Aspergers don't consider nourishment passionately, so they just eat when they are exceptionally eager, and the true feeling of appetite might be affected by a tyke's tactile mix dysfunction.

Since Aspergers eating situations could be basic, therapeutic consideration is frequently required. Exceptional essential nourishment is so significant to a junior youngster's advancement. At times working with adolescent kids in a calling earth can upgrade the kid's eating issues. Here are a portion of the treatment choices that may be accessible to you.

* Speech treatment fronts numerous zones other than explanation. Discourse therapists work additionally chip away at social aptitudes, options to talk like PECS communication and sign language, and oral repugnance issues.

* Feeding help is performed by talk therapists or word related therapists. Assuming that your youngster has both of these treatments, it may be an exceptional thought to counsel with every therapist to shape a bolstering treatment arrangement.

* Feeding centers might be recognized in clinics, college customizes, and in treatment focuses. These centers are regularly kept in gatherings and are short in term, yet extremely accommodating for kids with sustaining situations.

* Sensory help can help some kids with eating issues. An extreme touchiness to smells, plus an oral revultion or under touchy mouth depression, can signify genuine eating situations. Much of this could be tended to as time passes with tangible help.

Certain guardians of kids with Aspergers eating situations decide on to either evade private or open school helps, or have no right to gain entrance to the aforementioned treatments. It is essential, be that as it may, to keep in touch with your pediatrician for fundamental social insurance and growth checks. This expert can exhort and underpin you on your home project. Here are certain things you can do at home.

* Allow top picks following attempting new things. Probably this intonations such as pay off, however there is no damage in compensating your youngster when he attempts something new. For each nibble of the new nourishment, offer a nibble of his favourite.

* Speech/feeding help could be polished at home with the assistance of composed curriculum guides. Orderly headings prepare guardians to accomplish fruitful helps at home. "Upgrading Speech and Eating Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders-An Oral Motor Program for Home and School", by Maureen A. Flanagan, is one such book.

Sneak wholesome purees into the tyke's most beloved nourishments to support nourishment. You can find cookbooks that reveal to you which leafy foods purees work best with which sustenances. Case in point, you can include pureed carrots in macaroni and cheddar and it is imperceptible.

* Supplement with protein beverages might be utilized to up the healthful worth and calorie data of your youngster's eating regimen. You can find protein drinks and healthful supplemental beverages outfitted straight to your youngster's requirements and taste inclination.

With a little backing and arranging, guardians can efficaciously handle Aspergers eating issues at home.

Treatment of Hypertrichosis

Cosmetic treatment is usually undertaken, particularly for congenital hypertrichosis, where, unlike in many acquired hypertrichosis cases, the underlying problems cannot be cured. There is no single treatment for all hypertrichoses and patients. The site, nature and amount of growth, and the patients and their preferences are taken into account when deciding the most appropriate treatment method.

The common treatments are shaving, plucking, epilation, depilation, electrolysis and laser removal. Laser and electrolysis treatment approaches hold the promise of being permanent hair removal approaches. Other treatments are temporary and have to be repeated.

Cosmetic Hair Removal Treatment:

In most cases, excess hair growth caused by hypertrichosis is not due to any underlying medical problems. However, they produce severe emotional problems where cosmetic treatment is the only viable therapy. Where there is an underlying problem, it is a necessary part of the overall treatment regimen.

Several treatment options are available which differ in their efficacy, comfort levels and cost. The treatment mode depends on the site, nature of growth and the patient. In most cases, more than one treatment is needed.

Cosmetic treatment methods:

Shaving is the simplest and cheapest but leaves hair roots intact and therefore hair growth unaffected. Side effects are minimal but in some ethnic groups, folliculitis may occur. Women are averse to it because of its masculine nature.

Plucking and epilation involves removing the hair shaft and bulb. It is done singly by tweezers in plucking. In epilation, waxing is used to uproot a large number of hairs in one operation. This treatment is one of the least expensive and the cosmetic effect lasts for 4 to 8 weeks, but it is slow and not practical for large areas. Plucking is done in the anagen phase because if done in other phases it encourages further hair growth.

Side effects are sometimes caused by the waxing material and include burns due to hot wax, folliculitis, hyperpigmentation and scarring. Children have poor tolerance to plucking and epilation since degree of comfort is low.

Depilation uses variants of thioglycolates, used in perming, to dissolve the hair shaft, sparing the hair bulb. The cosmetic effect produced is excellent and lasts for about two weeks.

The thioglycolate variants are used in an alkali solution to get a pH concentration, which dissolves the hair without damaging the skin. For removing coarser terminal hairs, sulfides of strontium, barium and calcium are used. The bad odor of hydrogen sulfide gas, produced by sulfides is masked by fragrances.

Side effects include irritant dermatitis in 1% to 5% cases. Occasionally sulfides cause an allergic dermatitis. To prevent systemic absorption, depilatories for children should be used in only small localized areas.

Laser Hair Removal Treatment:

Excessive hair disorders are a great embarrassment and a source of emotional stress to affected individuals. Cosmetic treatment, which improves the appearance, is essential to lessen the pains of these unfortunate people.

Laser hair removal systems are currently widely used for long-term hair removal. The need to have a fast and non-invasive treatment method led to the development of this treatment.

All laser treatment systems use the principle of selective photothermolysis where a selected chromophore is targeted by the laser to produce the heat that destroys the follicle. Therefore deep penetrating wavelengths in the range of 600 – 1100 nano meters (nm) are used. Care is taken to limit skin damage by restricting damage to the target area. This is done by ensuring enough laser absorption by the target and using a pulse rate shorter than the thermal relaxation time of the target.

The systems differ in the parameters like wavelength, pulse duration, fluence, spot size and repetition rate and in the cooling system used. The cooling device reduces heat conduction limiting skin damage and pain. The selection of these parameters is important for getting the ideal laser for an individual.

All laser treatment systems are more or less equally effective attaining on an average 20% long-term hair reduction with every treatment in 80% of cases. This shows that multiple treatments give better results. Likelihood of long-term hair reduction bears a strong correlation to hair color. Dark hair on fair skin responds better to treatment than blond, red or white hair. The re-growing hair is sometimes thinner and lighter improving the overall appearance.

Electrolysis – Hair Removal Treatment:

Excessive hair disorder, such as, hypertrichosis and hirsutism are a source of great embarrassment and emotional stress to the affected individuals. Cosmetic treatment, which improves the appearance, is essential to lessen the pains of these unfortunate people.

Of all the cosmetic treatment techniques available today, electrolysis is the only cosmetic treatment, which has the potential to become a permanent hair remover. It is a kind of electrosurgical depilation where the hairs are electrochemically destroyed using electric current. Electrolysis treatment is carried out with a very sophisticated machine, called the depilator, which is operated by highly skilled personnel. This apparatus is used to send a regulated and controlled electric current to the hair follicle.

Today, by broad consent, the term electrolysis is used to describe the general process of electrochemical destruction of hair. Under this broad term there are three available techniques to carry out the process. These are galvanic electrolysis, thermolysis and a blend method. The aim of all three techniques is to destroy the hair follicle without causing any serious scarring.

Eflornithine Hair Removal Treatment:

Excess hair growth disorders, such as, hypertrichosis are a common problem seldom discussed in primary care setting. Unwanted hairs are a source of great embarrassment and distress to those affected and can badly disturb their social life. Hair removal treatments are therefore an important part of the total treatment regimen.

There are several treatment options all varying in their efficacy, degree of discomfort and cost. They are shaving, plucking, depilation, epilation, electrolysis and laser treatment. A single treatment will not work on all body sites and patients. The treatment selected depends on the body site, nature of hair growth, the patients and cost. In most cases, more than one method of treatment is needed.

Side effects:

Side effects are mainly local and include acne, stinging, burning and erythema. They are more common in patients treated with eflornithine than in those given placebo treatment. Percutaneous absorption of eflornithine, which causes these side effects, is 4 percent. But it is less than 1 percent when the 15 percent eflornthine cream is applied twice a day on a shaved 50 sq.cm. area of skin under the chin. The no-effect dose is presently not known. However, these side effects generally resolve without treatment or discontinuation of eflornithine.

The use of eflornithine in the generalized forms of hypertrichosis is limited because no data is available regarding the maximum area it can be applied on. Safety and efficacy of eflornithine (vaniqa) for various types of hypertrichosis and on a wider patient population, especially children, has not been established. Eflornithine is a pregnancy category C medication, and it is not known whether it is excreted in human breast milk.

Types of Hypertrichosis

Congenital Hypertrichosis Lanuginosa (CHL):

This is a very rare inherited disorder with about 50 cases reported worldwide since the Middle Ages. In earlier times, the patients were considered an exotic "species", much prized for their curiosity value. At birth, the long and silky lanugo hairs, normally shed before or shortly after birth, remain on the infant’s entire body, sparing only the palms and soles. The growth is typically more on the face, ears and shoulders. In the documented cases, no reduction in hair growth was seen later in life.

A variant of generalized congenital hypertrichosis is congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa (CHL) where the hair is fine, blond, lanugo type hair. The patients are normal except for abnormal dental eruptions. The hypertrichosis may persist, decrease or increase with age. Brachmann de Lange is a variant of CHL where the growth is less generalized and the infants have a particular appearance due to associated mental and growth retardation. Hair shedding begins in the first year of life starting at the trunk and progressing to the limbs.

Generalized Acquired Hypertrichosis:

Acquired generalized hypertrichosis is commonly caused by drugs like phenytoin, cyclosporine A, and minoxidil among others. Hypertrichosis disappears once the drug intake is discontinued. The time taken depends on the growth site and is usually 3 months to a year. Less commonly, hypertrichosis is caused by head injuries, malnutrition, starvation and AIDS.

Generalized hypertrichosis is also caused by a class of disorders known as porphyries, which are often triggered by exposure to chemicals of which hexachlorobenzene is a common example. Excess growth tends to disappear once exposure ceases.

Localized Congenital Hypertrichosis:

Localized hypertrichosis here is restricted to a single or just a few sites such as the back, elbows, ears and nevi. Excess hair on the back can be a sign of underlying neural abnormalities or spinal defects. Therefore, early daignosis treatment is critically important.

Excess hairs on the elbows are termed hypertrichosis cubiti. The growth becomes more prominent in early childhood and usually disappears partially or fully in adolescence.

Hairy pinna is excessive hair on the ears and is more common among older men. In babies, it can be associated with a diabetic mother. AIDS patients and diabetic patients can also have excess hair on their ears.

Hairy nevi are the most common hypertrichosis among babies. Additionally the nevi are often pigmented. It is usually not anindicator of any underlying abnormality.

Localized Acquired Hypertrichosis:

These are transient hypertrichoses caused by a variety of injuries like trauma, irritation or inflammation, which transform vellus hairs into coarse terminal hairs as a repsonse to the local injury.

Becker’s nevus is a common disorder where sunburn or other injuries to the shoulder cause excess hair growth and pigmentation of the site. It heals with time and is more common among men. The application of plaster casts for broken bones often causes excess hair growth underneath the cast. AIDS is known to cause excess hair growth of the eyelashes, a disorder called trichomegaly.

Naevoid Hypertrichosis:

This is an unusual form of hypertrichosis where a solitary circumscribed area of terminal hair growth occurs. It is not usually associated with any other diseases, except if it arises as a faun-tail on the lower back, when it may indicate underlying spina bifida. Naevoid hypertrichosis can occur at birth or appear later in life. An example of naevoid circumscribed hypertrichosis is the presence of a solitary and very bushy eyebrow.

What is hypertrichosis?

Hypertrichosis is excessive hair growth over and above the normal for the age, sex and race of an individual, in contrast to hirsutism, which is excess hair growth in women following a male distribution pattern. Hypertrichosis can develop all over the body or can be isolated to small patches.

Hypertrichosis may be congenital (present at birth) or acquired (arises later in life).

Hypertrichosis is really a blanket medical term that refers to excessive body hair. It can actually be generalized, symmetrically affecting most of the torso and limbs, or localized, affecting only a small area or location. The term is, however, usually reserved to refer to very above-average amount of normal body hair that is unwanted.

Nearly all the skin of the human body – with the exception of the palms and soles of the feet – are covered with hairs or hair follicles. The density of the hairs per square centimeter, the thickness of the hairs, color of the hairs, speed of hair growth, and qualities such as kinkiness tend to vary from one part of the body to another and also from one person to another. But in hypertrichosis all of the various controllers for the regulation of that genetic information are these lacking, damaged or none existent. Furthermore, there are a few subcategories of hypertrichosis.

Congenital hypertrichosis terminalis is the variation most people associate with the condition. This version involves all over body hair growth. Interestingly this form of hypertrichosis is almost always associated with gingival hyperplasia – meaning these ‘savage and vicious’ wolf men often posses very few teeth. Furthermore persons afflicted are said to have soft, smooth and gentle voices. Naevoid hypertrichosis is an unusual form of hypertrichosis where a solitary circumscribed area of hair growth occurs. It is not usually associated with any other diseases, except if it arises as a faun-tail on the lower back, then it may indicate underlying spina bifida. Naevoid hypertrichosis can occur at birth or appear later in life and symptoms can range from hairy tufted ears, tails, a heavy unibrow or excessive beard growth in females and males alike. Finally, Congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa is a very rare form of hypertrichosis with only about 50 cases reported worldwide since the Middle Ages.

The condition is characterized by excessive hair growth on a child at birth. Most of the body is covered with lanugo hair, which is a fine, soft and silky hair that covers the fetus and which is usually shed at around 8 months gestation and replaced with fine vellus hair. In this condition the hair continues to grow throughout life. The initial shock of a fur covered infant, however, is luckily a very rare occurrence.

The exact cause of hypertrichosis is unknown. But it is believe to be a genetic disorder that is inherited or occurs as a result of spontaneous mutation.

Types of hair involved:

To understand hypertrichosis, it is necessary to be familiar with the three types of hairs that grow on humans.

Lanugo hairs: These are long, silky and light colored hairs which normally grow on embryos in the womb and are shed anytime from the seventh month of pregnancy to the first several months after birth.

Vellus hairs: These are short non-pigmented hairs, which after birth replace the lanugo hairs on all parts of the body except the scalp and eyebrows of a baby.

Terminal hairs are coarser and thicker hairs and usually pigmented. These hair follicles cover the scalp and eyebrows and, later with the onset of puberty, start to grow in the groin and underarm areas.

Generalized hypertrichosis can involve all three types of hair while localized hypertrichosis usually involves conversion of vellus hairs into terminal hairs.