Son with Aspergers

[George K.]

Hi, I'm joining on behalf of my 8 yo son, who our school has helped us recognize clearly demonstrates autistic range behaviors, and after delving into the materials and talking with our pediatrician, we've accepted this is most likely the case.

He started showing signs of what a psychologist then thought to be ADHD, but after months of sessions concluded could only be treated medically or possibly with dietary changes. It was about a 18 months ago a school psychologist tested him for autistic range behaviors and concluded that's most likely his scenario. Sensitivity to sound, singular, deep focus and a small number of subjects, wandering eyes during conversation, often lost in his own head, socially behind his peers by intellectually ahead - it's all added up, Aspergers makes the most sense.

My goal is now to figure out how to give him the skills to manage this in adulthood. My wife and I are very optimistic this shouldn't hold him back, so long as he has the tools and skills to work with his nature. That's what draws me here, to learn from others what works and see what we can be doing now. Right now I'm looking at possibly getting some headphones to control his attention while he's on the school bus, though like everything we do as parents, not sure if this is the right approach.

Glad to find an online community for this, and hope to learn from others who's travelled similar paths. Thanks in advance.

 

[tree]

 

[xudo]

Welcome

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Hi.

In order for him to have a good a adulthood life you need to prepare him for living on his own. At his age you could get him to learn to fold his clothes up for example. At older ages like 14-15 teach him the life skills he needs to live independently - managing bills, doing laundry, cooking his own meals. These can be things they also teach in special schools, something worth considering if he doesn't get on with his current or future schools.

 

[George K.]

Hi.

In order for him to have a good a adulthood life you need to prepare him for living on his own. At his age you could get him to learn to fold his clothes up for example. At older ages like 14-15 teach him the life skills he needs to live independently - managing bills, doing laundry, cooking his own meals. These can be things they also teach in special schools, something worth considering if he doesn't get on with his current or future schools.

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Thanks Southern and all. Our school is a public school, but has been awesome so far with Occupational Therapy and Speech classes as they've seen fit for him. I've been disorganized about what to teach him, it always seems like we take so many life skills for granted I don't know where to begin. Fortunately he's highly functioning, enough to largely stay in line in the classroom and perform chores with supervision.

 

[Nitro]

 

[Connor Malone]

What you need to work on is the sensitivity to light/sound etc. and socializing. It doesn't matter if your smarter than everyone because if they all think you're a dick life will get very hard very quickly. Teach him how to approach people, how to listen instead of talk and say that if he uses more than 10 sentences on a subject without giving someone else a chance to speak, he needs to stop and let them talk or change the subject. Practice having conversations with him and if you want to try and improve the resistance to light and sound, have a conversation with him, turn the lights up as bright as you can, turn the TV on and chat with him. The more you do this, the better he will get at talking in loud or busy places and it wont affect him as much. I hope this helps. If you've got any more questions just ask. I am only 19 but I was diagnosed with very high functioning aspergers and these are just things I had to learn the hard way. Hopefully I can make that easier for your son

 

[Danny 74]

Hello george k .......

 

[When In Rome]

Welcome to AspieCentral. After reading your opening intro, I feel that your son is fortunate to have such a loving and caring parent (or parents). I am sure the future will be bright for him with the correct care and support and wish you well for the future.