It's the old A-equals-B-but-B-does-not-necessarily-equal-A syllogism: Not all kids who exhibit Asperger's symptoms have the condition, but this doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. I teach harp in a one-to-one environment in a music school, and one of my boys, aged 10, has Asperger's, which includes a lot of characteristics and behaviours that can't be lumped together into any single definition. "Nerdy" really isn't an apt description of these kids, who can astonish you with their contradictions. The issue is not dorkiness, it's how information is processed by the brain and how the outside world is perceived.

In doing some research on this subject so I could find guidance with regard to teaching this boy, I came across a publisher who specialises in books on this and related topics: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (www.jkp.com) whose website is a very useful source of information with a lot of helpful links, and I urge anyone who is dealing with an Asperger's child to take a look at it. You might also sniff out Temple Grandin on the Amazon site or in Google: she's an adult high-functioning autistic who has been able to articulate what it's like living on (as I think of it) the wrong side of the mirror.   It seems to be as hard for them to understand us as it is for us to understand them.