Insect Fear restriciting activities :(

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My son is 9 years old, and has been evaluated over the last year. Looks 99% certain his diagnosis (process of which begins next week) will be Aspergers Syndrome.
Anyway, he has developed a strong fear of Flying Insects. I call it a 'phobia', yet he's not really scared of the insects themselves (as a family we're very interested in, and respectful to all creatures). It's the specific fear of the insects flying near him, and the unpredictability of their actions that causes my son concern .
This means that we can only have days out when it's not too sunny/hot, and we can't have picnics or play in the garden together .
I'm such an outdoors person, and my son was, too, when he was younger...........he was stung in the ear by a Wasp a couple of summers ago, and I believe that is when this fear really took a grip .
He spends a lot of time during school playtimes crying and begging to be let back inside . They have arranged auxilliary help for him after the summer, I do hope that means he can stay inside.
At the moment, I am dealing with this fear by playing it down, praising my son when he does choose to go outdoors, and keeping the windows/doors closed in his bedroom so that he feels safe.
Anyone else got this problem, and any advice??? .
I've tried relaxation/hypnotherapy CDs but my son pointed out that he is not scared of the actual insects so he wouldn't listen to them more than once .

I think it is a "normal" part of anxiety or OCD like behaviors if your son has those types of issues. My son is also afraid of hornets because they are "mean" but LOVES bumblebees. He even has one that he names and looks for the first bees to come to our lavender plants. I also have OCD so I understand that what outwardly appears ot be no real difference can be a huge difference in terms of anxiety reactions. In an anxiety type situation - when a "warning" signal is sent it can cause an amplified reaction (like a tornado warning siren verses a tiny blip that would be for other people). Since your son was stung before his concerns are quite legitamate. So, I think you are doing what is right that reassurance and education about what is happening can help. And that focusing too much attention on the "phobia" can cause it to be something bigger even in the eyes of the child - that they somehow are having a serious issue - not something that happens to alot of people.

Ironically, my daughter who has a diagnosis of mild MR and not autism had a terrible fear of leaves blowing around when she was little and we could not go to the park for about a year because she would become hysterical if any dry leaves on the ground started moving around her. We can laugh about it now but it wasn't funny for her at the time.

My three y.o. has the same fear. The other day he was saying that the bee (which was no where near him) was going to kill him. His anxiety level increases tremendously not knowing where the insect is going to fly.

I have the exact same thing. Not scared of the insects just the unpredictability of them. Luckily for me there aren't enough of them around here for it to prevent me from doing things. I've improved a lot though, I used to panic when one came near me but now I just sit really still until they go away.