COUNSELING ADULTS WITH ASPERGER‟S - School of Health ...

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Counseling Asperger‟s 14 Executive function is an umbrella term for abilities such as problem and goal identification, organization and planning, insight and awareness, initiation and modulation, and dexterity, flexibility, and speed. While there is mixed evidence as to the presence of executive dysfunction in individuals with Asperger‟s, Hill and Bird (2006) conducted an interesting study in which they compared a group of 22 adults with Asperger‟s to a well-matched control group of 22 neuro-typical adults on a range of tests of executive functions. The executive function tests were: Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexcecutive Syndrom (BADS), Hayling test, Modified Cared Sorting test (MCST), Stroop test, and Trail-making test. Overall, once difficulties in psychomotor processing and visual search were accounted for, there were no significant differences between those with and without Asperger‟s. However, there were significant differences on two tests, the Six Elements task of the BADS and the Hayling test. The Six Elements task consists of giving participants six tasks to work on in ten minutes: two dictation, two arithmetic, and two picture-naming tasks. Participants are told they are not expected to complete each task, but they must work on each task, and they cannot work on two tasks in the same category in a row. This is a test of planning, organization, and monitoring of behavior. The Hayling test is comprised of two parts. In the first part, participants must complete a sentence with a word that makes sense, which fits into the context. In the second part, participants must complete sentence with a word that does not make sense. This is a test of response initiation and suppression. From these results, the researchers concluded that individuals with Asperger‟s may have especial deficits in areas of planning, organization, action monitoring, initiation, intentionality, and goal/sub-goal coordination (Hill & Bird, 2006), all of which could clearly have dramatic impacts on an individual in a higher education or work setting.
Co-Morbid Diagnoses Counseling Asperger‟s 15 Individuals with Asperger‟s exhibit a high rate of co-morbid diagnoses (Sverd, 2003). Co-morbid, or overlapping/associated conditions, are defined as either (a) coincidental, (b) causally directly related (i.e., one condition leads to the other), or (c) causally indirectly related (i.e., another underlying condition led to both the Asperger‟s and the overlapping condition) (Gillberg & Billstedt, 2000). Mood Disorders Both major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder have been associated with Asperger‟s (Ghaziuddin, 2002). Most individuals with Asperger‟s present with depression once they reach puberty (Ghaziuddin, Weidmer-Mikhail, & Ghaziuddin, 1998). For individuals who want to be social but lack the necessary tools, and are becoming more aware of their isolation, the development of depression is unsurprising. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Because restricted and repetitive interests are diagnostic criteria for Asperger‟s, it is often difficult to determine where to draw the line between Asperger‟s and OCD. However, with Asperger‟s, the obsessions are pleasurable and desirable, whereas with OCD, the thoughts and compulsions are unwanted. Occasionally, Asperger‟s and OCD do occur together. It is important to recognize the addition of OCD because of its implications for treatment (Ghaziuddin, 2002). Anxiety Disorder All PDD disorders experience a higher level of anxiety than the neuro-typical population (Matson & Love, 1990). In a 2006 study, Farrugia and Hudson found that adolescents with Asperger‟s experienced comparable amounts of anxiety with a group of adolescents diagnosed
Page 1 and 2: Running Head: COUNSELING ADULTS WIT
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS Counseling Asperg
Page 5 and 6: LIST OF FIGURES Counseling Asperger
Page 7 and 8: METHODOLOGY Electronic Search Couns
Page 9 and 10: LITERATURE REVIEW Psychological and
Page 11 and 12: Counseling Asperger‟s 11 When com
Page 13: Counseling Asperger‟s 13 Of parti
Page 17 and 18: DAMP Counseling Asperger‟s 17 DAM
Page 19 and 20: Counseling Asperger‟s 19 with Asp
Page 21 and 22: Counseling Asperger‟s 21 when ple
Page 23 and 24: Counseling Asperger‟s 23 person.
Page 25 and 26: Counseling Asperger‟s 25 ability,
Page 27 and 28: 4: Interpersonal problem-solving Di
Page 29 and 30: Counseling Asperger‟s 29 Informat
Page 31 and 32: Counseling Asperger‟s 31 characte
Page 33 and 34: Counseling Asperger‟s 33 Sims, in
Page 35 and 36: Counseling Asperger‟s 35 2. Worki
Page 37 and 38: Counseling Asperger‟s 37 working
Page 39 and 40: Counseling Asperger‟s 39 Results
Page 41 and 42: Counseling Asperger‟s 41 often at
Page 43 and 44: Counseling Asperger‟s 43 An effec
Page 45 and 46: Counseling Asperger‟s 45 The use
Page 47 and 48: Counseling Asperger‟s 47 American
Page 49 and 50: Counseling Asperger‟s 49 are held
Page 51 and 52: Counseling Asperger‟s 51 being re
Page 53 and 54: Counseling Asperger‟s 53 Before r
Page 55 and 56: Counseling Asperger‟s 55 expresse
Page 57 and 58: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Counseling
Page 59 and 60: REFERENCES Counseling Asperger‟s
Page 61 and 62: Counseling Asperger‟s 61 Dunn, W.
Page 63 and 64: Counseling Asperger‟s 63 Hillier,
Page 65 and 66:
Counseling Asperger‟s 65 Mesibov,
Page 67 and 68:
Counseling Asperger‟s 67 Stoddart
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