Asperger’s Syndrome, or Functional Autism, is often characterized by repetitive verbosity, an eccentric sense of humor, an encyclopedic memory, synesthesia, hyperlexia, and a general sense of “marching to the beat of one’s own drum.” Hygiene habits may be slow in forming, and radical disparities usually exist between intellectual achievement and social functionality that persist well into adulthood.
Parents with Asperger’s Syndrome may not have been diagnosed as children, but often find that they have a knack for inspiring excellent behavior in their children on the “higher” end of the Autistic spectrum. Introducing binary logic games at a young age can do much to teach reasoning and social skills in the long term; teachers of autism programs are often willing to experiment with new approaches.
For very young people with Functional Autism, “yes/no” and “on/off” binary pair concepts can be coupled with haptic teaching methods such as smiling/frowning, light switches, and now/later. Once binary logic becomes familiar to young students, more complex logic problems may be introduced in the form of basic riddles and simplified analogies.
Games for children with Autism can start simply; binary learning activities for children with Autism can be essential when teaching a small child to follow directions and to engage in basic social activity. Holding out two fingers, assigning two different sounds and allowing the child to “play” the hand like a piano can allow young children with Functional Autism the delight of discovering their first two numbers in autism school programs or at home.
While every child with Autism is different, people with Asperger’s tend to respond well to complex topics. Behavioral issues can sometimes be mitigated by allowing children to read freely, engage in the pursuit of their chosen hobby, and acquire advanced technical vocabulary at a relatively young age.
At home or at a school autism program, if a person with Autism wants to acquire the words for shapes beyond circles and squares, teachers and parents should encourage them well past oval into diamond, parallelogram, dodecahedron and beyond.