Children with Aspergers and Empathy

Just thought I would pop up a link here about the current discussion and discoveries about children with Aspergers and empathy: http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/633688

It was forwarded to me by a friend and parent/advocate for children with Aspergers. Basically it is about the theory that children with Asperegers do not, as may have been thought previously, have an inability to empathise with others. Instead, it may be that they are so sensitive to the emotions of others that they may not be able to cope with the feeling and thus "shut down".

This could mean that the child withdraws, or avoids eye contact or physical contact, or uses other avoidance behaviour.

So this is an important thing to keep in mind when working with children who have Aspergers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNlqgfSq0U if you want to hear it from someone else.