New member, mom of 6 yr old Asperger boy

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Hi, I am 35 and I have a 6 year old son with Aspergers. I am always looking for more info about AS and I love reading about the people who have AS (diagnosed or not) because it gives me some insight on how my son feels and thinks. I love to talk to other parents of Asperger children, it helps me to know that I am not the only one going through all of this! And parents share with me your experiences with the school system!! ! My son also has SPD. He is in Kindergarten this year and we are getting Speech therapy (through the school system) and OT both at school and privately. He is in the Special Education program at school for Developmental Delay--which he most definitely have. We first got our diagnosis this past July. We have always known something was different about him, we just didn't know what it was. I read the book "The Out of Sync Child" (which is a FANTASTIC book about SPD) and there was a small section about Asperger's that just hit me. I went on line and looked it up and it was like pieces of a puzzle falling into place. So now the big question is "Now what??"

Hi Jaleb and welcome to the site.

For people who don't know what SPD is, here is an article on it:

http://www.sinetwork.org/aboutspd/whatisspd.html

Welcome.....what next?Knowledge is very literally "power"....keep reading and learning.Every insight you again could be a stepping stone for your son to be the best he can be...(I hate that the military stole that saying....)

Welcome to WP!

Tim

you are more then welcome to email me or pm any time . i have a 7 year old that has aspie and i know its very had to understand what you and your son is going through.
at lest the school is helping and that is good to .
if you can get him into bowling it willl help him with muscle stength and scoil skills and its all even with people he bowls .

Hi jaleb, and welcome to WP.

I hope you enjoy your time here and find it helpful.

Hi!

Welcome to Wrongplanet!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

I have a 11 year old son with Apsergers. He was diagnosed around 6. Let me tell you, you are in for quite a tough ride in school if your son is like mine. Have you checked in your area for help? My son has a mobile therapist, behavioral specialist and theraputic staff support. They come into my home and teach my son how to interact with children his own age. Also they help him learn how to control melt down, impulsive behavior and such. It took me 3 years to get him help at school. They had him in regular education and he was having problems with the other kids and also with timed tests. Since March I finally had him put in an emotional support group in school and he is improving. We still have some problems at home, mostly with him wondering why he has these problems and his 6 year old sister is "normal". It is a tough battle but I love my son and want him to succeed in all he does. If you ever have any questions or just need to vent please feel free to talk to me.

Thanks! I may take you up on the "venting" We are getting behavior therapy once a week in the home. His teacher at school works with him really well. We are very lucky for that! His biggest problem at school is just not wanting to do any work. He will just refuse. She gives him full credit for it just as long as he is attempting to do it. His fine motor skills are very poor and I know he hates any writing or coloring because it is so hard for him to do. We are in OT for that and other things to. Where we live has some really good resources and we have an autism center here that really does a lot of work with them. He is still too young for that program (it starts at age 7) but next year we are really looking forward to that. Does your son have an IEP?? They should allow for him to either have extra time for test or no timed tests at all??? Just curious. I like to hear about things like your son because it gives me an idea about what to look for in our future!

I can totally relate to what you are saying. I remember two years ago when my son was is regular ed. he had to read 20 minutes a nite. He refused to do it. He would rather take a failing grade than do his assignements. He would get bad grades also because the teachers couldn't read his writing. He had OT for a couple of years. I still have trouble sometimes reading his writing but in his new class he is given morre time to do tests and it is greatly helping. He went from close to failing on his report cards to getting 2 A's, 2 B's, and 2 B+'s on his last report card. I personally think his hardest times was between the ages of 6-9. Now his is maturing and he realizes he needs help and that made the difference. I am always here to listen and try to help and hopefully you can to the same for me.

First off, Welcome! I hope your son soon starts getting closer to his true potential. There ARE some nice benefits!

Anyway, if someone can explain:

OK, I do NOT understand! AS is part of the autistic spectrum. As such, it has AUTISTIC symptoms!

SPD

Respond to being touched with aggression or withdrawal

Fear movement and heights, or get sick from exposure to movement or heights

Be very cautious and unwilling to take risks or try new things

Feel uncomfortable in loud or busy environments, such as sports events, malls

Be very picky eaters and/or overly sensitive to food smells


BTW I have ALL of those, but the fear movement/heights is countered by reason, and created by perception and the cautiousness!

And on wikipedia:

Welcome to the forum!

Hello,
I have experienced the other side of the public school coin. My son got lucky and has had 6 teachers who welcomed him into their classroom with open arms and minds. What I do every year is start "interviewing" potential teachers for the following year. In the elementary school that my kids attend there are usually 3 or 4 teachers per grade. I ask my son's current teacher who they think will be a good match for my son. I then ask that teacher how they feel about having my son in their class. The bottom line is that you do NOT want a teacher that does not want your child. Five out of six of my son's teachers had never even heard of Aspergers but were so willing to learn. One teacher even attended a number of conferences with me so he could help my son in the classroom. The district we live in is a small one so services were limited. He receives OT, speech, resource, and adaptive PE. He has been mainstreamed since 1st grade and has many friends. Your son's success really depends on his teachers and their understanding that not all kids learn the same way. They must be flexible but firm. I was glad that all of his teachers, as well as the school staff, had high expectations.
My son has just used his autism to try to get out of picking up his lunch mess (little stinker). He was informed by his teacher that while his disability is well noted, his arms and legs are not broken and he is expected to follow the rules like the other kids! I was so happy! She was kind but did not allow him to get away with being lazy. He is a SMART kid!

Yes, we are lucky with his teacher this year. She is familiar with Asperger's and had a student the year before with it so she already had some experience with it. She even pointed out symptoms of it that I didn't know he did. (arm flapping). How I missed that I do not know, I suppose I am so used to seeing things in him I don't realize it is out of the ordinary. She has been WONDERFUL about working with him to the limit of his abilities but not letting him get away with things he should and can do! He first learned to read when he was 3 1/2 and she lets him read to the class everyday. Also, we have an accelerated reader program that usually kids can't enter before 1st grade but since he is so advanced in this skill she made arrangements for him to get in the program even though he is not really old enough. Another day she was teaching something about owls (at Halloween I think) and he started talking and telling everything he knows about owls and she just let him "teach" that portion of the class. He was so happy about that! There is very little he does at school that he talks to me about so for him to come home and tell me about that really meant something. I just hope his teacher next year and so on work with him just as well. That is a good idea to ask ahead of time about the teachers for next year. I will definitely look into that! Thanks for the tip!

is just getting him to do what I say! Really, anything I tell him to do he will either refuse or be extremely silly about it and take FOREVER to do it. At least this is our problem at home

It is always little things like "go potty" (we still have to tell him when to go, otherwise he waits too long) getting dressed/undressed, brush teeth, get in the car etc.

hi and welcome to WP