The Emerging Challenge to Special Education

ABSTRACT: This article provides a synthesis ofrecent literature on Asperger Syndrome (AS), a condition that has received little attention in American special education. The analysis ad-dresses the syndrome's history, definition, differential diagnosisfrom other Pervasive Develop-mental Disorders (PDDs), screening procedures, and emerging educational interventions. Implications for special education practice, including the need for screening students at risk for AS and informingparents about a potential disability, are discussed. "T he child with low-function-ing autism lives in a world of their own, but the child with Asperger Syndrome lives in our world but in their own way " (Van Krevelen, cited in Williams [1995], p.9). Children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) have been described in the popular press as ''Autism's Shadow " (Hayden, 1998) and as "Little profes-tors who can't understand social cues " (O'Neil, 1999, p. I). For 2 decades, AS has been a popu-lar research topic in Europe and is currently re-ceiving heightened exposure in America