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Former school official says Lanza had social disorders

Posted at 7:04 PM, Dec 17, 2012
and last updated 2012-12-17 19:04:22-05

As the reality of the attack in Newtown, Connecticut begins to sink it, a picture of the alleged gunman also takes shape.

The former director of Newtown Public Schools and his daughter knew Adam Lanza and say that he had a hard time adjusting socially. 

“He had some social disorders, poor personal skills that we felt strongly that we could develop,” said Richard Novia, former Security Director of  Newtown Public Schools  “He was highly intelligent.”

“But how do you inject him into the system and try to develop him in a sense socially?” 

His daughter, Zoe Novia, added that”You had to be very careful with him as well,” and that one had to keep an eye on him.

“If you needed to get his attention and you were to touch him he wouldn’t have known really,” she said. “You had to verbalize that you were trying to get his attention.” 

A friend of Adama Lanza’s mother tells CNN that he had a form of Asperger’s syndrome and was withdrawn emotionally. 

However, national autism organizations caution against drawing a link between violence and autism and Asperger’s.