Psychological and Neurobehavioral Comparisons of Children with Asperger’s Disorder Versus High-Functioning Autism

Abstract

This study investigated personality and neurobehavioral differences between 16 children with Asperger’s Disorder, 15 children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and 31 controls, all ranging in age from 5–17 years, M age = 10.7 years, SD = 3.0. Parents rated their children’s behaviors on a 44-item autistic symptoms survey and on the 200-item Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory (Coolidge, Thede, Stewart, & Segal (2002a). The Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory for Children (CPNI): Preliminary psychometric characteristics. Behavior Modification, 26, 550–566). The results indicated that the two clinical samples were significantly elevated on the Executive Function Deficits scale and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) scale compared to controls. There were more similarities than differences between the two clinical samples on the personality scales, although the Asperger’s group scored significantly on the two scales with anxiety components.

Appendix

Survey of Autistic Symptoms

Please rate each item on the following scale. Try to answer how your child has behaved for most of his/her life or what appears to be characteristic of how your child acts most of the time.

• 1 = Strongly False

• 2 = More False Than True

• 3 = More True Than False

• 4 = Strongly True

Socialization

1.	My child has no close friends.	_____
2.	My child tends to avoid activities involving other children.	_____
3.	My child is a loner.	_____
4.	My child has trouble developing friendships with other children.	_____
5.	My child is socially clumsy or awkward.	_____
6.	My child has trouble understanding the feelings of others.	_____
7.	My child acts inappropriately with other children.	_____
8.	My child seems emotionally cold or detached.	_____
9.	My child approaches others only when he/she needs something for himself/herself.	_____
10.	My child points out things to me that he/she is interested in.	_____
11.	My child brings me things that he/she is interested in.	_____

Speech & Language

12.	My child’s speech development was delayed (e.g., not using single words by age 2 and unable to use simple phrases by age 3).	_____
13.	My child misinterprets what other people say.	_____
14.	My child has difficulty understanding common expressions such as “If looks could kill,” “I’m history,” or “Has the cat got your tongue?”	_____
15.	My child sounds like a “walking dictionary” or encyclopedia.	_____
16.	My child talks too much.	_____
17.	My child talks too little.	_____
18.	My child has trouble following conversations.	_____
19.	My child has a strange or unusual rhythm or inflection when he/she speaks.	_____
20.	My child repeats over and over exactly what is said to him/her.	_____
21.	My child misuses pronouns like substituting “I” for “you,” “him” for “me,” or “her” for “me.”	_____
22.	My child has trouble starting or maintaining conversations with others.	_____
23.	My child has trouble playing like other children his or her age (for example, pretending or make-believe).	_____

Nonverbal Communication

24.	My child has limited use of gestures compared to other children.	_____
25.	My child has inappropriate or exaggerated facial expressions.	_____
26.	When talking to others, my child comes up too close to other people.	_____
27.	My child has a limited number of facial expressions compared to other children.	_____
28.	My child has large, clumsy or inappropriate body language or gestures.	_____
29.	My child is unable to give messages with his/her eyes.	_____
30.	My child has difficulty making or maintaining eye contact.	_____
31.	My child has a strange or weird handshake (or doesn’t shake hands at all).	_____
32.	My child has trouble using his hands to express himself/herself.	_____
33.	My child has trouble reading other people’s facial expressions.	_____
34.	My child is unaware of what he/she is communicating to others with his/her body language.	_____
35.	My child has trouble hugging or kissing people.	_____

Repetitive/Stereotyped Behavior

36.	My child gets intensely interested or preoccupied with a single subject and doesn’t seem to want to do anything else.	_____
37.	My child has to stick to some useless routine and gets angry if it is changed.	_____
38.	My child uses some hand or body gestures over and over (for example, hand flapping or finger twisting).	_____
39.	My child gets preoccupied or interested with parts of objects or just one aspect of a toy (for example, how it feels or a noise that it might make).	_____
40.	My child doesn’t seem to be as interested in as many different things as other children.	_____
41.	My child is intensely fascinated with items involving transportation such as trains, planes, ships, cars, or roads.	_____
42.	My child has an intense dislike of change.	_____
43.	My child is exceptionally sensitive to lights, sounds, tastes, touch, or smells.	_____
44.	My child is uncoordinated or clumsy.	_____