You are forgetting the other problems he has along with it. He IS worth mentioning. Asperger's is a high form of Autism. But, it affects others differently. Because you are doing great, doesn't mean everyone with it is, as the Autism scale is vast... even with just the high end of Asperger's.

i disagree that he deserves no special coverage. it's not all about raiders all the time. sorry to burst your bubble. my five-year-old plays (with me right next to him the whole time) and i think it's great to watch him learn things that relate to both in-game and real life. i too have had people whisper him to question what he's doing and i respond that he's five, that he means no offense, and to please leave him be, only to have people ask me what's the point of letting him play when he can't yet talk (type) to people in a social game. not everyone plays the game the same way though. just because some younger kids get something different out of wow doesn't make their gaming experience any less valid than anyone else's.

No offense intended, but autism is a medical term that describes a group of conditions. The only labeling going on are people who label it as one of the low-functioning forms. Be angry at them, not at the people who actually know what autism is.

(current medical student)

He also does deserve special coverage because, unlike most patients of Asperger's, his mother is writing a blog about it. That's the special part right there.

Don't be so eager to take offense.

@ Doctor Adorah:

Asperger syndrome may not be nearly as crippling to one's ability to function in society as some of the more serious diagnoses in the autism spectrum, but I do think what merits "special coverage" here is the way in which the game is played. Clearly the mother believes her child's condition to be in need of treatment, and to use WoW to assist the child's development is something unconventional and worthy of 15 minutes of fame.

It's certainly no fun for anyone to be defined by their condition, and I understand where you're coming from here. But there's a point when brushing things off as normal, or not in need of special attention, isn't a very good plan for securing someone's ability to participate in society in the long run.

Students with Asperger's can have as many problems with life as children who are autistic. As it says in the article he also "has ADHD and a receptive learning disorder," which coupled with Asperger's can make many things hard.

For one, children with Asperger's already have trouble with communication. Among other things they cannot comprehend normal conversation cues most other children can. Couple this with a receptive learning disorder (causes MORE communication comprehension problems) and you often have a child you has trouble connecting with their peers and teacher.

Also, this failure to comprehend language and greatly reduce how well children can learn. And ADHD causes compulsiveness and obsessiveness that causes even more problems in school.

You of all people, (you say you have Asperger's) should not label others. Just because it affects YOU mildly means nothing.

Coming from a Special Education Major (third year working in schools) and an Aunt to my niece with Autism who also plays on my WoW account. :)

No offense intended by any of this, but Aspergers Syndrome is a form of Austism by definition. This child clearly has troubles with communication, focus, and hoarding in a way that the average child doesn't. He is not a completely normal kid.

You don't have to be ashamed of receiving a label, and neither does Thomas. It means exactly what it means, and nothing more. No one is defined completely by their autism, race, religion, or whatever Syndrome/disease/condition they have.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you Doc.
My family had a feeling with my youngest sister that something was just a little…off when she was younger. It wasn’t until we saw a newspaper article featured on Aspergers that we went and got her tested and what do you know – she had it. It explained a lot – the hoarding, the odd hobbies, the communication skills, the lack of knowledge for social practices that seemed second nature to us. So, we put her on a gluten free, casein (milk protein) free diet, had her go to speech therapy and encouraged her hobbies while making gentle reminders every now and then that sometimes, it wasn’t okay to remark on the marks on the lady’s face in front of her, much less stare, etc.
Is she mentally retarded, as you have implied Asperger’s kids are?
Hell no.
She brings home A’s and B’s in her classes, has dozens of friends and makes really interesting duct tape dresses and art. She’s a great kid that is blooming now that she is getting the help she needs.
Aspergers in itself is not an implication of mental retardation but an autism spectrum disorder where the person has trouble with socially interacting and has repetitive behavior/patterns. The things that occur to us, like knowing not to ask how much a woman weighs or what’s wrong with that man’s clothes/whatever or that person was making a joke, ha ha? Doesn’t happen for them and that is a very difficult thing to teach and understand. The kid in this article isn’t normal, but he and his clever mother are trying their best to adjust to a completely different mind frame than the rest of the world and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
Also,if you are experiencing people labeling you as mentally challenged just for having some problems understanding some things socially- well, I would seek a new group of people to interact with.

Tl;Dr (god I hate doing this)
This kid isn't normal, he isn't retarded- just different and he deserves coverage. Deal.

Speaking as a kid with Autism and Asperger's myself and having a severely autistic brother, I have to disagree (To put it mildly) with your assumption that kids with autism are retarded. I'll have you know I'm in all AP classes, and have never ended a grading period with under a 90. While I don't like being defined by my mental difference either, is that really an excuse to say, "This kid obviously doesn't have Autism, and he doesn't deserve this article?"
And no, he is not normal. (I say that in a good way, because I think that Autism is an advantage once you learn to deal with it) He is different, and has some disadvantages from his peers, and is working on overcoming them. Saying he doesn't deserve this article is like saying Helen Keller doesn't deserve all her fame.

Another aspie, and I agree with Doctor Adorah. We're perfectly capable of functioning normally in society. We're as smart and as capable as any other individual. Sometimes people like the kid in the article have additional complications. But having Asperger alone is not a reason for singling someone out as different or abnormal. So please stop labelling us already. Asperger only *barely* belongs in the autism spectrum, and aside from the purely diagnostic reasons it goes there, the differences are a lot more important than the similarities.

I sympathise with anyone who knows someone or is someone who has difficulties with being an aspie, but being an aspie is in and of itself NOT synonymous with having difficulties.

As you look at how many people reply to this with a certain awareness of autism, you notice how frequent it actually is present in families and whatnot.

You also notice that it's very important that people know about autism, just for the sake of knowing what it's all about, so that there's no drive to judge people with autism as 'mentally disabled.'