Question about available resources...

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I'm in the early stages here with my AS son. I've been reseaching tools like "social stories" for him. I've been told time and time again that visual aids will be a great help with him. Places like www.autismshop.com have lots of tools that could be really great for him.

I have 2 questions:
1) Can anyone recommend anything specific that has worked for you? ie: software, books, etc.
2) Would I be eligible for a tax break or some help from Social Security to purchase this stuff? I'm going to buy a laminating machine, new printer and maybe some software at autismshop for my son. It's not going to be cheap. I'm not looking for a handout. Yes my home is a single-income one, but I'll make it work.

Any advice would be appreciated.

acsdad

I think having lots of brothers and sisters helped me a lot. I remember my mother had some books regarding facial expressions and their meanings, which she had me learn from. It also included body language etc. The only other stuff she did that I can remember was stuff to help me cope with overloading.

I'll start from the bottom up here. Ours is also a single income household at the present, only because my husband hasn't so far found another job with hours that will work for us. I cannot be home alone with our son, because on the fairly rare occassion that he does have a meltdown they are quite violent and I've gotten hurt the last few times. (We have a six year old I need to keep away from the melee as well). Our son I should mention is 11, and is my height, almost 5'6", and weighs 170. He has quite abit more muscle than me.

We applied for, and qualified for, SSI. It has been a great help. You do have to qualify on two fronts - financially, which is fairly straightforward, and medically, which is a bit of a game. We were qualified immediately on both fronts, but I've worked with the SSA in the past.

The money has to be spent directly on the child, but as any of you know that's not a problem. They also qualify then for medicaid, which was a bit of a help since our private insurance did not cover any kind of extenuating therapies, only "quick fixes".

As far as question 1, unfortunately I have no specifics. We only got a dx for him last year, but of course he's been this way his whole life. We've just spent 10 years learning how to live with him. How to not make a change in schedule without plenty of advance warning to him. How not to interrupt him when he starts talking about something out of the blue, because he'll just go right back to 'start' and keep going until he gets to 'end'.

If your child has meltdowns, The Explosive Child has been recommended a lot. I can't recall the author I'm afraid. We've just worked at learning what causes them and do what we can to prevent that. Sometimes tho, you just can't.

I've tried the social stories with my son, but he's not good with hypotheticals. He doesn't like word problems in math because he needs to know why it matters how many more pieces of candy Martha has then John if they both do have candy after all. And he wants to know who Martha and John are. He's actually done better at algebra, with x and y, very impersonal and straightforward.

Sorry so long, but I hope this helps

Acsdad ~

I don't know how old your son is, but you could involve him him a sport he enjoys or cub scouting, if that interests him. My son begged to join cub scouts for a whole year before I could sign him up because he was too young. Scouting teaches good values, plus it helps ds learn how to socialize better, which has always been a struggle for him. It has also built a stronger bond between he and I. We also have ds in soccer, which has helped his coordination tremendously.

There is also social skills counseling, but it's more expensive and perhaps not as fun as cub scouting and sports activities. It might be worth a try though.

My son will be 4 next month. I do hope to involve him in activities. I hope he's interested in soccer but I'm not going to force anything.

thanks,

acsdad

That's great! We started J at the YMCA when he was in first grade. It was very recreational, and he had a lot of fun. He is now playing competitive U10 soccer, and is thriving as our team's best keeper.

My son tried soccer, once. He had a meltdown in five minutes or so, when other kids tried to take away the ball from him, which he couldn't understand. After all, they could play with some other ball, right? After that we decided that team sports aren't his thing.

LOL sounds just like my son's experience with soccer ! the coach kept telling him to run up and down the field ( i guess to get the ball , block other players etc)...at any rate, all my son ever ended up doing was running up and down the field by himself, and the coach did not find this amusing ( this was WAY before we had any notion of aspergers).

Acs dad~
is your son in pre-K ? what about checking out your local school system for resources ? sometimes the library has good resources. also, try looking for teacher supply stores. to stimulate imagination, try the "anti-coloring book series"~it's a series of story starters with a space above for your son to draw a picture...an example might be: you have just arrived on the planet Mars. . Draw a picture of what you see and write a story about it. if you're looking for OT supplies like exercise balls, theraputty, swings etc try S&S catalog...i think their website is ssww.com ~their not too expensive, and the customer service is really good. like everyone else has mentioned, getting your son involved in sports or scouts is a great alternative to social skills groups~yet he's not old enough yet for much of these options....check out your local recreation dept or YMCA~ very often they have classes for preschoolers ( swim, art, computers, soccer). personally, i've found our local recreation dept to be a more economical option.

Because of his age it's tough to guess his reaction to certain things. I know we tried swimming lessons and they were a disaster. This was about a year ago and we had no idea about the AS. He had meltdowns each of the 6 times we went. I gave up on the lessons with another 6 to go. He dipped his toe in the first lesson and then never wanted to go near the pool again. He has the same reaction when we go to a barbershop. I'm thinking something like Social Stories would help.

I think I might have some success with soccer because I've actually taken him to a couple of MLS games. He knows his daddy used to play and so did his grandfather. He'll watch bits of it with me when I'm watching it on tv.

thanks,

acsdad

What we did with our daughter were some of the activities in the Relationship Development Intervention activity book for young children, and she enjoyed them. We tried scripted social skills classes and we were asked by the instructor to give her a break from them because she kept hitting the other children. We tried Brownie Scouts and it was a disaster similar to your experience with swimming lessons for your son. Strangely enough, she actually did pretty well with swimming lessons with much younger children, but either my husband or myself were within arm's reach of her in the water at all times while she was taking the lessons, to insure to the instructor that she would not hit the other children. If she did, she got an immediate time-out of the pool. My husband is an excellent swimmer and she may want to learn to swim well to be more like him. I know being in the warm water is an excellent sensory experience for her and she loves that as well.

Another activity she enjoys very much is therapeutic horseback riding. The program she is in is just for children with "special needs" and her instructor is awesome with her. The horses are carefully chosen and well-trained to be gentle, even if the children do unpredictable things. She helps brush and saddle the horse before she rides him and I think it helps her make a better connection with the horse. I would get her a pet but she has severe allergies to both dogs and cats and her allergist said she would quickly develop an allergy to any animal we adopted.

My daughter would have a similar reaction to a stranger approaching her with scissors or clippers, so I learned how to cut her hair myself while my husband holds her in his lap. My sister-in-law, who lives far away from us, taught me how and every once in a while when we visit my sister-in-law shows me if I have been doing something incorrectly and shows me how to do it better. That works well for us. How verbal is your son? Would he completely understand a social story, or would PECS be better so he can see and understand what will take place? My daughter is very verbal, but she uses a picture schedule at school and it helps her more than social stories did, in my opinion. We figured this out when she set up her own magnetic calendar at home and we got her a magnetic schedule for home.

My wife is allergic to most animals too. As far as how verbal, he started slow and was in EI because of it. Now he's making up for lost time because he's pretty articulate for an almost 4 year old. His preschool teacher uses lots of visuals in the classroom and responds well to them.

RC

My 9yr old son J go's 2 a sports club for disabled & austic peolple, they do varied sports, there r mixed people there , of which alot understand J. J has done really well in badminton & loves this club. J went on a YMCA course last yr & loved it 2 bits, he can'nt wait 2 go again this yr.

J's activities r up 2 him. I find new one's 4 him 2 try, if J dos'nt want 2 do them or get's bored that's fine, i encourage but don't force. At the end of the day i'm not the 1 who is doing these clubs.It's up 2 J.