CAER
Aspergers Syndrome
Treatment Program

Treatment program limited to children 6 to 18 years old

It is a mistake to think of the High Functioning Aspergers Syndrome (HFA) child as truly not understanding what they need to do in social situations. They understand as well as the  anxious and fumbling public speaker understands what they need to do. And, they are equally unable to actually "do" it for the same reasons.

This creates a feedback loop such that the more upset they are in social situations the less able they are to utilize what social skills they have. And, the worse they do in social situations, the more negative feedback they get.

Even though HFA may act in socially inappropriate “nerd” ways, many can describe correctly, in a cognitive and often formalistic fashion, other people's emotions, expected intentions and social conventions. However, they are unable to act upon this knowledge in an intuitive and spontaneous fashion. That is, they may have cognitive insight into social situations, but they cannot spontaneously behave in accordance with their knowledge. Their emotional arousal is one of the factors that prevent them from using their knowledge.

Like the fumbling public speaker who was articulate during practice, the HFA child also has places in his life where he can perform better socially. This is usually with family and adults. These situational differences in social performance are the hall mark of HFA.

CAER treatment of HFA focuses on extinguishing both the anxiety that directly inhibits social functioning, as well as the more generalized poor self esteem, depression, anger and fear that result from the repeated social rejection these children experience. This often spirals to increasing unhappiness and social isolation.

This is similar to an experience many of us have had. Have you ever been in an argument and not done too well. Half an hour later, you think of all the brilliant things you should have said. So, why didn’t you think of those very things in the heat of the argument? Did you develop a temporary case of Aspergers syndrome? No, you had emotional arousal similar to that experienced by anyone who has been repeatedly rejected in social situations, Aspergers or not. None of us can access all of our skills and knowledge when we are emotionally aroused. However, after you calm down from the intensity of the argument, you can again access your skills. And so it with HFA too

Next - Treatment Program part - 2