Living
With Asperger's Syndrome
by Liane Holliday Willey
Asperger's Syndrome is one of the constellation
of conditions known as autism. As both Willey and her young daughter have
AS, her life story provides a startling look at how those with the syndrome
experience the world. Willey grew up knowing only that she was somehow
different, extremely intelligent, and extremely quirkybut accepted and
valuedseems to have been the assessment of her parents, physicians, and
others early in her life. Her peculiaritiesinability to find her way in
unfamiliar places, and extreme aversion to people coming too close to her,
to noise, to confusionbecame a devastating issue when she left home for
the unfamiliar environment of college. From then on, Willey struggled mightily
until she reached the safe haven of marriage to an outstandingly sympathetic
partner, a fulfilling job teaching college, and motherhood. When her own
daughter, one of twins, was diagnosed as an infant with Asperger's Syndrome,
Willey immediately recognized herself: ``social action impairments, narrow
interests, an insistence on repetitive routines, speech and language peculiarities,
non-verbal communication problems and motor clumsiness . . . each of these
symptoms is manifested in a variety of unique and diverse ways.'' Willey
here compares her own experiences with her daughter's, her daughter's with
her twin sister, who doesn't have AS, and the childhood peak in intensity
of her daughter's symptoms with her own waning symptoms in middle age.
In her appendices Willey offers extensive practical help and resources
to AS sufferers. But even those not directly affected by AS will find this
an eye-opening view into a parallel world. -- Copyright, Kirkus Associates,
LP. All rights reserved.
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