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	Dr. Stewart Sykes Biography

SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS-FAQs

Since the launching of my website I have received many questions, queries and requests from parents, teachers and other professionals. Some of the more common inquiries and my responses are presented below.

SCHOOL READINESS

How do I determine if my daughter/son is ready to start school?

In the past, learning readiness tests were a common method of assessing a child’s readiness to commence school. The focus was mainly on the prerequisite skills for reading. Today, very few general learning readiness tests are available and there is not much evidence that they are used.

Parents are usually in the best position to evaluate their child’s social and emotional maturity. They obviously witness behaviour in a wide variety of situations and over extended time periods. Teachers and other professionals do not have such luxuries. Hence, observant, objective parents should be in a position to accurately determine their child’s social and emotional maturity. Valuable insights are gained from a comparison with the early development of any sibling(s), and with similar aged peers. Furthermore, staff at the child’s preschool should provide useful information. Unfortunately, some parents are in denial about their child’s reported immature behaviour.

Readiness in terms of other factors including general ability (thinking and reasoning) language (both receptive and expressive) and important learning requirements such as motivation, task commitment and concentration are clearly important.

Checklists that enable parents and teachers to ascertain readiness in a variety of important areas are available on my website (See Learning Readiness and Early Learning Essentials Sections for details). Generally, these checklists focus on the readiness skills considered necessary for the successful early learning of reading, spelling, handwriting and mathematics. By completing the checklists, a parent can gain some objective, relevant information about their child’s development in a range of learning prerequisites. Such information can be supplemented by direct observations and any reports from the child’s preschool. 

If serious doubts are raised about a child’s readiness for school, I usually recommend that commencement is delayed for 12 months. Remember that the information gained from the checklists and the preschool reports is not wasted-it can provided explicit guidelines about relevant skills needing attention and development. If social and emotional skills are underdeveloped, professional support and guidance are strongly recommended.

EARLY READING AND SPELLING 

How can we as parents help our child learn to read and spell?

Perhaps this is the most frequently asked question. At the preschool stage, I suggest that parents provide a positive reading environment for their son or daughter. This means demonstrating an enthusiasm for reading by valuing books, having trips to the library, visiting bookshops, giving books as presents, lots of reading to their child, indicating that books provide pleasure and importantly, showing that reading is valued by actually participating in silent reading in the presence of their child.

Once their child starts school, these positive activities should continue. In addition, parents need to become familiar with their child’s school method(s) of teaching reading. A healthy climate of co-operation between home and school is very important. Teachers are usually very pleased to inform parents about the learning to read stage and advise them on ways they can support classroom strategies. Often schools run special sessions on how parents can help their child with academic learning.

The following material can be also found on my website-Section-Parenting PDF. pp. 25-33.

Helping Your Child Learn to Read

While there has usually been an interest for some parents to be actively involved in their children’s education, this interest has shown a marked increase over the past few years.

During my case-conferences when I explain their son’s or daughter’s psycho-educational report, parents of young children invariably ask for advice about supporting their child’s learning. I remind parents that providing educational assistance to their children is far from easy. Despite the best of intentions, such efforts too often result in frustration and tears-for both parties! Parents need to be reminded that rarely they are born teachers and hence they are best to see their role as being a partner or mentor in their child’s learning. In this role, their most valuable contributions are to engage in relevant and enjoyable educational activities and to provide a friendly and encouraging atmosphere.

My message to parents is consistent. “Talk to your child’s teacher and see how you can be actively involved in the child’s learning”. In the majority of cases, the teacher knows the child’s learning progress and can give valuable insight into the underdeveloped skills in the struggling student.

For the parents who feel a need to try some special approach, usually offered by private practitioners, be cautious. ALWAYS ask for evidence that the recommended method has been shown to be superior to regular approaches.

So-called “new” or “special” doesn’t necessarily mean better. Be advised that there has been a long list of guaranteed “golden methods” of learning to read since at least the 1930s and 40s. Many of the current “new” methods have their origins at this time. Unfortunately, this is not revealed to teachers or parents. No one method has been shown to have general superiority over other methods for all students.

As the following information is for parents, an attempt has been made to provide a brief and concise explanation of the key aspects involved in learning to read. For those parents who would like more details, please consult the Reading Section in Sharing iDE&S on my website http://docsykes.com

The following activities are based on established research and theory and can be viewed as being supplementary to most approached used currently in schools.

As reading is an important aspect of language, some basic points about language development in children are a useful starting point.

The language continuum starts with the child’s ability to listen and understand spoken language. Hence, oral language (both heard and spoken) is developing well before a child attends school and begins to formally learn to read. Obviously, an understanding and use of spoken language continues to develop throughout life and play a central role in reading.

When the child starts school, often they are introduced to reading. Reading can be seen as the secondary form of language-that is, written language being superimposed on the already established and developing spoken language.

Learning to read involves three fundamental skills

Phonological Skills

These are the skills involved in hearing, identifying and manipulating speech sounds. These skills are being established from a very early stage of the child’s language development. Very natural, informal activities such as listening to spoken language, speaking and hearing and learning nursery rhymes and songs help develop an awareness of speech sounds. While informal, these early, basic skills have been shown to play a very significant role in learning to reading and also to spell. Teachers have been increasingly concerned about the development of phonological skills and most will give special attention to these important skills.

Phonic Skills

During the first year at school, students are introduced to phonic skills. Phonic skills involve the association between the already developing or established awareness of the sounds of spoken language with their written language equivalents. More formally stated, the letter-sound correspondences. Such skills involve the learning of the alphabet and an understanding of the different sounds the letters of the alphabet and other letter combinations can make. These skills form the basis of reading.

Word Recognition Skills

These involve the ability to identify written words, both in isolation and in context. Several cues are used to identify written words- 

1. Word-attack skills-sounding out words using both phonic and phonological skills.

2. Word recognition skills-the instant, visual, whole-word recognition of words.

3. More advanced syntactic (grammar) skills and semantic (understanding) skills to aid the recognition of words in the context of sentences, paragraphs and prose.

Generally speaking, I suggest that parents focus mainly on the Word Recognition Skills through flashcard activities and reading. Teachers are better able to teach the phonological and phonic skills. However, if parents are interested, they may like to help their child develop Phonological Skills which can be established and reinforced through many fun, informal games and activities.

Word Recognition and Early Reading Activities

Word Recognition Activities

For parents, an excellent way to establish and reinforce word recognition skills is through flashcard activities and games. Key words are written on small cards and the child learns these words through their regular exposure. A list of basic words is provided below. For a more extensive range of important basic words, see the Spelling Section on this website.

Activities can include the following-

Flashing (for just a few seconds) the word to the child and having her/him identify the word. This usually is seen as a fun activity as the child tries to read the rapidly flashed word.

Showing (no time limit) the word and having the child identify the word.

Playing cards games such as match, snap, same or different. This requires two or more sets of words and two or more players.

Having a key word placed on the fridge or some other prominent location and treating it as the word for the week.

More elaborate cards can be made having picture cues or other cues to aid recognition of the word on the front of the card.

These activities can be undertaken in very short sessions, say no more than 10 to 15 minutes, several times per week. If the child sees these sessions as being enjoyable they are likely to participate willingly and enthusiastically. It is imperative that the child receives ENCOURAGEMENT and PRAISE for their efforts, not DISCOURAGEMENT and CRITICISM. Hence, negative comments must be avoided.

The Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary of 220 Frequently Used Words                      

There is general agreement that students are normally able to read these words by Grade 2 and spell most of them by Grade 3.

Source:

Dolch, E. W. (1955).   Methods in Reading.  Champaign Illinois: The Garrad Publishing Co., (pp. 373-374).

Reading Activities 

Learning to read by reading is the basic premise of the following activities. The focus is on the child actually reading words in isolation or in context. Obviously, for the non-reader or struggling reader, support is needed to be able to read. There are several ways for parents to provide such support.

Reading Together or Paired Reading Approaches

This approach was the basis of early reading many years ago when grade readers were in vogue. The teacher and children had the same book to read. This enabled the children to read along with the teacher and learn to recognise words by reading. Re-reading and constant practice helped reinforce word recognition. Context was very important both for the use of general language cues including semantic (meaning) and syntactic (grammar) cues but also for establishing and maintaining interest and motivation.

Today, several Reading Together approaches are used with basically the same fundamentals being constant. These approaches are referred to by the following names-

• Choral Reading

• Books on Tape

• The Neurological Impress Method

There are many advantages of these Reading Together approaches. Importantly, it enables children to read before they have mastered the basic phonological and phonic skills: skills, which many young children find very difficult to acquire. Children can also experience successful learning outcomes-they feel that they can read and hence excellent encouragement and positive reinforcement are provided. Because Reading Together approaches do not require a knowledge of the basic reading skills, parents can readily engage in such activities. Furthermore, the material being read can be selected to be high in interest as the words to be read do not have to be controlled in terms of difficulty. The child is not required to recognise words initially but simply to read along or instantly repeat or copy what the teacher or parent is saying. 

In selecting the material to be read by the parent and child, the following are the popular options. It can be something the child has composed and perhaps written down by the parent or teacher- a phrase, a sentence or a short story about a topic of interest, usually to accompany a drawing. Or it can be a selected published book, usually one the child is very keen to read. Some gentle guidance may be needed to ensure that the book is appropriate both in terms of interest and difficulty.

Reading Together Strategies

I recommend that two copies of the chosen book are procured. This makes the process easy if both parent and child have a book each. It also indicates that the book is important-it is a valued possession.

Firstly, the parent reads the whole story to the child. This may be repeated several times. The story can also be retold by the parent with the child adding her/his comments and interpretations. The rationale is for the child to gain a good understanding of the story including key characters, names, plot etc. This will greatly aid word recognition when the child later comes to read along because she/he will know what to expect.

Secondly, the child is encouraged to read along-say, one page at a time. Again, the story can be discussed. This can be repeated several times. Obviously, the parent needs to be cautious not to bore the child with too much repetition. But the more the child is prepared to repeat the activity, the greater is the likelihood of her/him remembering/recognising the words.

Thirdly, the child can be encouraged to recognise certain words. The parent might ask if the child can “read” a particular word. They should try to select a word that the child is highly likely to know. The parent should point to the target word. If the child is correct, PRAISE the effort enthusiastically “WOW, what a great effort, you can read”. If the child is uncertain or incorrect, say “Great try” and quickly give the target word. It is IMPERATIVE that the child is ENCOURAGED and PRAISED not CRITICISED and DISCOURAGED.

This method is very dependent on the child’s willingness to have a go. Unless the child is provided with a caring, encouraging, non-competitive environment and feels capable of achieving successful outcomes, she/he will be a most reluctant, unsuccessful and very unhappy participant. Obviously, such a situation must be avoided at all times.

Helping your child learn to spell

Parents typically get involved in their child’s spelling activities-usually by “testing” the words set by the teacher as homework to be learned each week.

For those parents who wish to become more involved in the early stages of their child’s learning to spell, the following activities are suggested. The words included in the Dolch list above are a most convenient source of basic, commonly used words. Of course, other words can be added to this list if deemed necessary.

A suggested activity to teach basic words

Firstly, it is important to check that the words can be read before expecting them to be spelled.

Mention has been made of a strategy that I have recommended to teachers and parents. As the feedback has been very positive, it would seem worthwhile to provide details on the way basic words and other selected words can be taught.

Once the target word has been identified either through direct assessment or through a search of workbooks to find spelling errors, the word is printed on the front of a flashcard. On the back of the flashcard, the same word is written with the “error”, “tricky bit” or “demon” letter(s) in red. For example, using the target word “any”-

  Front                                                        Back 

When introducing the word to the child, the teacher/parent places the word on the desk/table before the child and says-

“This word is “any”. Look at this word. You found it a “tricky” word to spell. The “tricky” bit is written in red on the back of this card”. Parent/teacher turns the card over and shows the child saying-“See the letter “a” is red”. This can be repeated for two or three other “tricky” words during the session.

When each word is again placed before the child, (front side up), the teacher/parent asks “Which letter is red”? If the child is correct, turn the card over and reinforce the correct choice with praise- saying “Well done”. If the child forgets or chooses the wrong letter, turn the card over and say-“Have a look or check your answer”. “Where is the “tricky” bit?” Have the child say the letter then add “Yes, well done”. “We will try this word again later to see if you can remember the “tricky” bit”.

This activity can be repeated several times during the week. New words can be included while “known” words can be removed from the set. The set of words should not exceed 4 or 5 words at any one time. It is important to reintroduce the “known” words at regular intervals to reinforce correct spelling.

Again it is worth stressing that activities involving parent and child are very dependent on the child’s willingness to have a go. Unless the child is provided with a caring, encouraging, non-competitive environment and feels capable of achieving successful outcomes, she/he will be a most reluctant, unsuccessful and very unhappy participant. Obviously, such a situation must be avoided at all times. 

MATHEMATICS

Does my son need to know his “tables”?

A knowledge of multiplication tables certainly helps with the acquisition and development of early mathematical processes. Fortunately, many students are successful in learning their “tables”. For some, however, the task is formidable-especially those students with a learning disability.

While I suggest that such students should be encouraged to learn their tables, I have found that some students actually seem to benefit from discovering number facts through their own creative strategies. Such strategies, as opposed to rote drill, enable some students to gain valuable insights into number sequences, patterns and processes. Perhaps this preferred approach matches the student's learning style-that is, a discovery, heuristic style of learning. I have been fascinated by the range of creative strategies some students use in solving mathematical problems. The key to identifying such approaches is to have the student solve a problem “aloud” hence identifying their particular method(s). Ultimately, these creative and personal strategies usually lead the student to gaining a broader, deeper and more meaningful understanding of mathematics.

Very interestingly, I have found that some students studying Specialist Mathematics at Year 12 confess that they were very slow to learn their tables using traditional, rote methods. This has been confirmed by their relative difficulties solving basic mental mathematical problems on intelligence tests.

GIFTEDNESS

Can you comment on why many bright students, especially boys, are not enthusiastic readers?

Many bright students report that they find the selection of reading material lacking in interest and relevance and reading instruction boring. Interestingly, this topic was mentioned by Professor Barry McGraw, chairman of the National Curriculum Board and a highly respected educationalist. He raised concerns about the fall in reading standards of Australian students compared to international benchmarks. In interpreting the slide in literacy standard in results published by the Program for International Student Assessment (PSIA), McGraw, expresses concern about the education of our brightest students. McGraw argued that “Australia’s ranking fell mainly because its overall mean score was affected by marked declines in the test scores of its highest-performing students”. He continued that the…“interesting message from these results is that the decline in achievement is at the top end.” He contended that there is a need “to develop higher-order reading skills because learning is so dependent on that.”

Professor Peter Freebody stated that the latest PSIA results suggest that the curriculum might be too easy or too dull for many bright 15-year-olds. He concluded that “We really need to make sure with all of the curriculum areas that there is plenty of extension work for kids who are academically strong”.

Source: (Education Age, September, 15, 2008, p.3).

My experience with gifted students mirrors that of the above experts. Evidence shows that our bright students at both the primary and secondary school levels are not sufficiently engaged in explicit, motivating higher-order reading instruction. Such activities should focus on the following-

• Reading vocabulary-word knowledge-synonyms and antonyms

• Reading comprehension (reading for understanding -sentence, paragraph and story) including the following activities-

• pre-reading strategies

• text preview

• story impressions

• retelling

• literal

• inferential

• cloze

• concept maps

• 5 Ws who, where, why, what, when?

Reading comprehension MUST be explicitly taught-it is not caught through general reading activities. The emphasis should be on reading for thinking, not just reading for information seeking. Reading should involve thinking between and beyond the lines, not just on the lines.

See the Reading Section on my website for more details.

Why do so many bright students underachieve academically?

The objective identification of bright students is usually based on their performance on a standardized measure of general ability or intelligence. Such a test enables the student’s performance to be compared with other students of the same age and provides IQ scores and percentile rankings. It is generally accepted that students with an IQ of 120-129 have “superior” abilities while students with an IQ 130 or beyond have “very superior” abilities. (See Section Giftedness, PDF, pp.29-30 for details about definitions and IQ scores).

Intelligence tests sample a student’s thinking and reasoning abilities. Most assess both verbal and non-verbal problem-solving abilities. Because academic learning involves the ability to reason, think, solve problems and retain information intelligence tests are relevant indicators of learning potential. However, they were not explicitly designs for this purpose. While a high score on an IQ test suggests that the student is capable of advanced thinking ability, it does not guarantee learn success. Many factors other than cognitive abilities determine learning success including enthusiasm for learning and the acquisition of knowledge, achievement motivation, task commitment, a stimulating curriculum, learning opportunities and teacher competence.

Obviously many factors can contribute to academic underachievement in bright students. For boys, two major constitutional, causal factors can result in underachievement and are as follows-

1. early bouts of middle-ear infections with associated intermittent hearing loss,

2. a learning disability

Interestingly, these two “within” causal factors are not so common in girls.

For both boys and girls, many environmental factors can interfere with learning or restrict learning achievements. A conceptual framework in Section-Learning Disability, PDF, p.2, outlines these antecedents.

ASPERGER’S DISORDER

Does my son/daughter have Asperger’s Disorder?

Several terms are used interchangeably including the following-Asperger Syndrome, Asperger’s Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, High Functioning Autism. The DSM-1V term, Asperger’s Disorder will be used here.

The requests for information about Asperger’s Disorder and the referrals to my private practice have increased significantly over the past few years.

During my time at the Krongold Centre at Monash University and since in private practice, I have been referred many children, adolescents and adults who were thought to display behaviours characteristic of Asperger’s Disorder.

Diagnosis is not straight forward. Traditional checklists typically tell only part of the story. I request family input especially from any siblings, to identify important tell-tale signs.

Dr. Asperger (1944) first reported on four children who displayed difficulty integrating socially. Despite apparent normal intelligence they lacked nonverbal communication skills, failed to demonstrate empathy with their peers and were physically clumsy and awkward. He called the condition “autistic psychopathy” and described it as a personality disorder primarily marked by social isolation. Dr Lorna Wing (1981) later called the condition “Asperger Syndrome”. In 1994, Asperger’s Disorder was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-1V), the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic reference book. Interestingly, in the most recent revision (DSM-1V-TR, 2005) some additional points are made about Asperger’s Disorder. These will be highlighted below.

Asperger’s Disorder is classified as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Such PDDs are characterized by severe and pervasive impairment in several areas of development: reciprocal social interaction skills, communication skills, or the presence of stereotyped behaviour, interests and activities.

With Asperger’s Disorder, the essential features are a severe and sustained impairment in social interaction and the development of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities.

The DSM-1V-TR (1995) Diagnostic Criteria for Asperger’s Disorder are as follows-

A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

1. marked impairment in the use of multiple non-verbal behaviours such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction

2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level

3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)

4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity

B. Restrictive, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus

2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals

3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)

4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of aged-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behaviour (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

In the most recent edition of the DSM-1V-TR, 2005 it is stressed that while there are no clinically significant delays in language or cognitive development, this does not imply that there are no problems with communication.

Asperger’s Disorder is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, hence no one single tell-tale feature should be used to make a diagnosis. Too often the condition is applied to children who display only social and/or behavioural problems. Other important qualifiers of the condition are that it must be severe and sustained.

There is substantial individual variation in the presentation of the disorder.

Caution must be taken not to falsely label children who are excessively shy or excessively naughty.

Many people are familiar with the typical triad of impairments-

• Social/behavioural impairments,

• Communication impairments and,

• Restricted repetitive behaviour and interests.

Some commonly reported characteristics are as follows-

Social Impairment

• Social immaturity

• Socially inappropriate behaviour

• Socially confused

• Interpersonal problems

• Limited empathy with peers

• Difficulty interacting with peers

• Social awkwardness-“active but odd”

• Seem insensitive to others’ needs

• Lack of social reciprocity and empathy and severe difficulties in social integration

• Aloofness

• Lack of interactive play

• Follow own desires and beliefs

Emotional/Behavioural Problems

• Emotional immaturity

• Emotionally inappropriate behaviour

• A “difficult” child-tends to be irritable, unhappy, intense, naughty

• Great difficult adjusting to change

• Limited self-control

• Emotional outbursts, aggressive, disruptive

• Confused and bewildered

• Disobedient and defiant

Communication Impairments

• For many, their expertise, high level of vocabulary and formal speech patterns make them seem like “little professors”

• A tendancy to "talk to" rather than "talk with" sombody
  

• Verbosity, use of formal or idiosyncratic speech

• A peculiar, stiff gaze

• Abnormal eye contact

Restricted, stereotyped, repetitive repertoire of interests and activities

• Repetitive routines or rituals

• Strong preference for experiences that are controllable rather than unpredictable

• Obsessive interest in a single object or topic

• Fascinated with machines

Again, it needs to be stressed that individuals with Asperger’s Disorder do not display all the above characteristics. There is considerable variability in the nature, range and severity of symptoms. Remember, each child, adolescent or adult with Asperger’s Disorder displays their own unique profile of characteristics.

Some Additional Points

I find it helpful to see these children as being extremely “egocentric” in the broad Piagetian sense. Jean Piaget (1896-1980), a Swiss developmental theorist is famous for his theory on the intellectual development of children. He used the concept of “egocentrism” to help understand young children’s thinking and behaviour. Piaget and associates applied the term “egocentrism” to thinking and reasoning, object perception and social relations. Typically young children 2-7 years (but also some older children, and even some adolescents and adults) consistently view the world from their own perspective-they are very absorbed in their own world. Such children and individuals are unable to take another person’s point of view. Their thinking and behaviour are centred on self. They have an inability to consider an object/situation from the perspective of another person, lack empathy with other people and have difficulty conducting two-way communication. Rather, they engage in simple monologues, collective monologues or spontaneous talking. This broad concept of “egocentrism” helps to explain the solitary activities, style of thinking, social difficulties, communication problems and lack of reciprocity and empathy that characterise children with Asperger’s Disorder.

While it is obviously essential that parents are involved in the diagnostic process, it is equally important that any siblings are interviewed. Siblings often give very valuable insights into the behaviour of their affected brother or sister. Such commonly reported observations that I have recorded included the following-

• Constant pacing

• Odd, stilted or bouncy gait or posture

• Very clumsy

• Exceedingly apprehensive about change

• Immersed in a world of things rather than people

• Clever-“thinks outside the box”

• A great ability to retain masses of information

• Very humorous

• Concentrates on the minutest of detail

• Many obsessions

• Unusual food selections

• Dislikes being touched

• Thrives on routine-likes to go to the same restaurant, sit in the same seat and order the same meal

Of course, many delightful stories are told by parents about the exceptional gifts, talents and competencies of their “very special” child and the joy that he/she has brought to family life.

Some psychologists consider that poor handwriting (often labeled Dysgraphia) is a common tell-tale sign of Asperger’s Disorder. I have found that there is a wide range of handwriting skills although often their written work does have a most interesting, “gothic” type quality.

Like other disorders that have become “popular” and capture the attention of professionals and parents, (e.g., Dyslexia and ADD/ADHD), there is a high risk of Asperger’s Disorder being overdiagnosed. This is frequently the case with “normal” children who display occasional, often moderate to severe, social and behavioural problems, especially at school.

There is a growing push to have Asperger’s Disorder described in value-free ways. Hence, the preference to use the term “difference” rather than terms such as disability, disorder or syndrome. These writers stress that all the features that characterise Asperger’s Disorder can be found in varying degrees in the normal population.

As mentioned in many places on my website, great caution must be taken about diagnosing clinical conditions including Asperger’s Disorder. Like all clinical disorders, there is considerable variation and important subtleties in the characteristics presented. Clearly, special knowledge, competence and experience are required to perform an accurate differential diagnosis. The APS website, included on my website, provides details of psychologists with special expertise in Asperger’s Disorder.

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This online resource has been prepared by Dr. Stewart C. Sykes - Psychologist. MAPS.
Former Associate Professor of Psychology and Special Education and Director of the Krongold Centre for Exceptional Children.
 Monash University, Australia.

Office: 189-191 Balaclava Road Caulfield North Victoria Australia 3161
Ph:  03 9526 0017
Fax: 03 9526 0099
Email: stewart@docsykes.com

Copyright © 2010 Dr. Stewart C. Sykes. All rights reserved.
Revised: 7-June-2010