a syndrome or a learned behaviour

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lots of people love 'labels'

I have "aspergers" one might say - but how much of this is just intense shyness
or learned behaviour

discuss.

I tend to think psychologists are full of s**t

ever met one?

I have Asperger's and I'm not shy.

My son is diagnosed with Asperger's and he's not shy. His particularly AS behaviours have been with him since he was a baby and grew with him, so they're not learned.

I agree with frag. Shyness can be quite easily be overcome with some theory and practice. This is not the case with Asperger.

As for the source of Asperger, there must be more than one parameter in the genes (as there are for the colors of the eyes) and I suppose it emerges during the formation of the brain.

Asperger's is so much more than intense shyness ( as another has posted, many people with AS aren't even shy) and it is not a learned behavior.
Just a few thoughts that come immediately to mind:
How do you "learn" to not understand sarcasm or take things too literally?
How do you "learn" not to be able to feel what other people are feeling?
How do you explain the special interests, extreme attention to detail and incredible memory - who would have taught that behavior - most parents are perplexed by it. My employer and co-workers are in awe of it.
How do you learn to have motor problems with both/either fine and gross motor movements?
The sensory issues that many of the people with AS have are not learned, they are.

I'm sure there's lots more.

What horribly misguided skepticism. You don't know what Asperger's Syndrome is.

And if it was learned how come it is so hard to unlearn????

Current research on Autism/Aspergers/PPD-NOS suggests that it is Neurological/Genetic in origin. As a psychology minor I can most definitely assure you that it is not a learned behavior.

I think labels are just a part of life, like I'm also a 'girl', 'brown eyed'....well you get the point.
I don't think my extremely wickedly keen sense of hearing and smell is necessarily something I would want to have learned! I wish it would go away actually but earplugs and Vicks in the nose (hey don't knock it! it works) help me cope.
I don't think I could learn to hate or that a parent would make me learn to hate seams, tags and tight clothes. Most days I wear clothes that physically hurt me every minute but it's socially acceptable behaviour to wear jeans, sweaters, certain materials. I try to be in style as much as I can without wearing form fitting or immodest clothes.
I was VERY shy when I was in high school but I worked really hard at learning new skills to overcome it. I still have problems with eye contact but can fool most people by looking at their forehead or nose occasionally.

Hmm.. Vicks?
I used to use cloves (the spice you stick in hams)
Tried chicklets once. Didn't work too well

I'm not shy and AS =/= shyness.
I did not learn to have my social wiring missing so that all social situations have to be scripted consciously and with great effort.
I did not learn to be inflexible to such a degree that my brain reacts to minor changes as though they were life-changing events, and to have such trouble with transitions that getting out of the house is stressful.
I did not learn to have such bad planning and sequencing skills that 10-year-old children are more organised than me.
I did not learn to have my body making near-constant, repetitive, semi-voluntary movements.
I did not learn to be obsessional.
I did not learn to have my sensory processing system overreact to normal stimuli to the point of pain.


It's not shyness, it's not learned behaviour, and I find it quite insulting to have my difficulties dismissed as such. And what's wrong with labelling when the label is accurate? It's a convenient way of describing a cluster of symptoms.

oh sorry!
Vick's vaporub is a menthol rub for colds.
sorry for the confusion!

I am relatively quiet, unless with a few friends. Then I do a 180.

However, I really don't know the social cues, would rather not look anyone in the eye, and frankly loathe social rules. Why should I be required to talk in a group of people such as in class or even with strangers when they will just shun me or just ignore any serious opinion I may have.

Actually Phil, I'm not shy, and being shy is not part of the diagnostic criteria for AS, nor do I think it was particularly noted by Hans Asperger. I can also say true AS would not be a learned behavior, because of the impairment of those with AS to learn behaviors....and you might note all the parents in the parents forum having nervous breakdowns because their children are so different from themselves.