Finally Diagnosed, Now What?

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Hello, I have already posted in the newcomers forum, and most of our story is there, but a quick overview:

My son was originally diagnosed with ADHD in Kindergarten. After a long, and tiring 2 years, we've come to to find out it's Aspergers. Neither of the local therapists who deal with children have appointments until Sept, so I guess what I am looking for is some way to help him at ho.e until then. Summers are easier on him because he stays with my mom while I am at work and doesn't really have to "deal" with much. However, school is fast approaching and he'll have to go for at least 5 weeks before we can see a therapist and look into our options for his anxiety. I am luck to have a great teacher lined up for him. She's been the head of his SST for the last 2 years and I emailed her as soon as we received the diagnosis. She's currently doing the same thing I am looking for info and ways she can help him in the classroom. Last year she came up with the idea of having a puzzle set up for him in the corner of his classroom so he could get up and go "chill out" with his back to the class if it got to be too much for him. (Puzzles are part of his obsession)

I try to take him out to the store and to my work to help him with his social skills, but when his anxiety starts getting bad I feel completely helpless. Any advice would be appreciated, there's a lot of info out there on symptoms and how it affects people's lives, but I've been at a loss for therapies and skills I can work on with him to help him lead a more rewarding life.

Does he have an IEP (I am assuming you are in the US based on info in your post)? If not, that would be my first recommendation that you get an IEP meeting set up as soon as possible. If you already have an IEP you may want to revisit it in light of the new diagnosis. It would probably be appropriate to add goals to the IEP related to social skills. Will he be getting OT or ST at school? It sounds like you have a good teacher so that should be a big help. Having a place for him to go to chillout is a good start. Many ASD kids also benefit greatly from having a visual schedule that they can go over each day. We have one where the various activities can be velcroed on to the the chart and removed as they are completed. If transitions are difficult, the teacher needs to be aware that he may need plenty of warning before a change in activity. A timer can be a good investment for a kiddo with transition difficulties (I like the Time-Timer). At summer camp, DS has been using a "break-card" that he hands to one of the teachers when he needs a break from the classroom beyond going to the "space place" that they have in the room. There is a stickie at the top of this forum which contains a good list of reading materials and a parenting index stickie that covers a lot of topical discussions.