The concept of death and Asperger Syndrome

Abstract

The concept of death is acquired in parallel with cognitive and affective development of children. The objective of this work was it verify if the concept of death in people with Asperger syndrome is similar to that observed in people without psychopathology, or whether it is related to that observed in people with mild mental retardation. For this purpose, individuals with Asperger syndrome, mild mental retardation and healthy individuals without mental and/or neurological diseases were evaluated using the Instrument of Investigation of the Concept of Death developed by Wilma Torres. The results indicated impairment in acquisition of the concept of death in Asperger syndrome cases, possibly related to deficits in the theory of mind, executive function, and weak central coherence.

Autism; Death; Asperger's disorder; Pervasive developmental disorder; death