Improvement in some areas/difficulties in others

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Great idea! I will check into it. Yesterday, the school sent home his work, and one of the sheets was titled "Manners" and it addressed "please, thank you, I'm sorry, excuse me, waiting your turn, and raising your hand" So, I think the school is working on basic social skills. And the class he is in has only 4 kids in it, so this may be a good group to begin with since he is with them everyday. I think he will get there, it is just going to take time, and he may never really "play" with other kids, which I am okay with if he is happy! I just don't want him to be mean to them!!

My main concern right now is his taking his aggressions out on me at home! I am just trying to work with it as best I can, but I am going to start researching to find a specialist to work with us, if it comes to that point.

Wow angelbear, your son sounds like a clone of my son (or mine a clone of yours ). My boy is also 5 and diagnosed with Asperger's. He has the same history of hypotonia turned to hyperactivity, speech improvemnts followed by growling, etc. He does very well at school but then often comes home grumpy and exhausted (understandably so), and he too likes to play by himself.

A lot of times I'll find that even if he says he doesn't want to do something, like go to the playground, he usually ends up having a great time and later thanks me for taking him out. I'm also a stay-at-home mom so it's important for both of us to socialize (although I sometimes think I stuggle with it more than he does). I'm also on a super-tight budget so I've had to come up with inexpesive ways of helping my son. If insurance doesn't cover it, we can't afford it so the library has become a wonderfully useful resource for us. When he was younger I took him to storytime and now I just found a weekly Lego club at the library for him to join. Lego really is like crack for my son so while I'm a little hesitant to feed his addiction, I think the social interaction with the same group of kids will be good for him. We'll see how it goes. At least I won't have to drag him there and I can't complain about the price (it's free)!

Basically, I don't push, but I do like to present him with as much opportunity for social interaction with his peers as possible. Most of the time he keeps to himself or stays with his sister, but sometimes I'll catch him introducing himself to another child. It doesn't always turn out the way we'd like, but he learns and he grows and overall, he's pretty happy.

Number5, that is so cool that our boys are so alike! My son was diagnosed at 2.5 with PDD-NOS/possible Aspergers. As time goes on, it really seems that he is an Aspie, but not in all ways. I wish I could get my son interested in something like Legos, but right now his main interests are drawing and listening to music. His main obsession is car makes and models, so he has lots of toy cars, but doesn't really play with them a whole lot. He is more interested in real cars, and talks about wanting to drive a car! LOL! I told him it is going to be awhile before that happens!

Anyway, I am with you on the budget thing. My husband does fairly well, but since I am not working, we really are careful about our spending. We did the library when he was little, but now he has a hard time staying quiet in there, so I have taken him to Barnes and Nobles bookstore when they have story times. Our church does a lot of activities for children, so we do that a lot, and of course the playground, the swimming pool, and any other free things we can find. I understand about the needing to get out, because I am a very social person, and I find myself getting depressed if I don't interact with others. But, since my son was born, I have become a little more of a stay at home person, so we do the best we can. My son is VERY social with adults, it is just kids that he has trouble with. But he usually gets real excited when I tell him we are going somewhere, so I just keep trying new things.

Glad your son is doing so well. Overall, our son is doing very well too, we just have a few rough patches here and there!