The most common form of Autism is Asperger’s syndrome. It is characterized by social communication and social interaction difficulties, problems in the field of the flexibility of thinking, unusual use of language, cumbersome motoric and slower execution tasks that require fine motor skills. Asperger’s Syndrome is often described as a type of Autism without a mental disorder.
Since the effects of early treatment contribute to better outcome and quality of life for the whole family early detection is crucial. On average children with Asperger's Syndrome are diagnosed at the age of six years and two months, although they could have been already at the age of four. The boy whose performance is compared in the thesis has been diagnosed two years ago and is included in a program with adapted implementation and receives additional professional assistance.
The empirical part of the thesis shows the boy's performance as he was compared to 5-6 years old peers in the fields of motoric, mathematics and language skills. Children’s performance was tested through fifteen tasks using a test, designed by the author. All in all the boy’s result was average compared to his peers, his strong areas are in the field of mathematics and language, which significantly contribute to his entire performance and functioning. Comparing to peers he had more problems with motoric, he is facing difficulties in coordination, explosive power and balance, however, he was good in the field of fine motor skills and precision. In the testing process when performing tasks it became evident that the boy’s performance depended on prior knowledge or information of the task meaning he was more successful while performing the task if something in the task was at least a little known to him.
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