I met Tony Attwood today!!

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The prefered method is therapy without letting on it's really therapy. That way there's no stigma involved. We shouldn't use labels to harm youth. It happens a lot. It happened to both of us so we know what it's like.

The most important thing one learns when young is how to get along with other people.

Hmmm... I don't know.
Taking me out of the room for no apparent reason did irk and confuse me.
It made me suspicious as if they knew something I did not and my life was out of control.

As for telling the kid exactly what's going on and what the therapy sets out to achieve in a positive way, I'm in favour of that. If the kid's scientifically minded, a full comprehensive scientific explanation is in order. I'm the sort of person that gets really suspicious if I'm not told exactly what's going on. It's like people are plotting my demise behind my back.

I say this because one family member said that they were bullying and trying to make money out of me. So I'd include the parents in that one as well.

Maybe keeping this information from other less sympathetic kids would be a good idea though.


Advice on disclosure, opportunities, future education and employment is absolute must.

If no one knows what's going on in a positive way, then no-one can help.

And by "help", I don't mean excluding the kid from every activity and supervising him/her every minute of the day just because s/he is "special". That's great if you want the other kids to ostracise you though.



Agreed, but teachers still label negatively.
Maybe if they labeled positively, the kids would be more motivated.



I agree.

In a stress free situation I can do that and I can read tone of voice.
It's reading the non-verbal signals, initiating conversation and getting into groups that I have severe difficulties with.
Negotiating skills and learning how not to inadvertently offend people would be helpful too: my family are abysmal at these lol .

All this said, I don't really reckon much on this mandatory assessed group work thing: people should have a choice.

That's the oldskool way but nowadays they try to be more subtle about it and make everyday events into positive, supportive ones so the personality develops along these lines instead of emphasizing negative reinforcement. They emphasize good things, de-emphasize negative things, try not to dramatize events, promote togetherness instead of seperation, look for opportunities to include instead of exclude. There are so many different things that can be done to influence the coping mechanisms that exist when one is grown. For this to work people have to be devoted to this philosophy and have faith that it will make a difference. Some people might think it's not harsh enought but I think if this philosophy were commonplace the results would be discernable and appreciated. It needs to exist in schools since that's where most socialization occurs.


Instead of talking to them you have to teach them how they can get along with each other and give them a support system, if they are unhappy about something they can talk to someone and not be accused of whining or whatever.

I think I was part of a doctor's resume at some point or a case study.

You have to ask why are some kids less sympathetic? It has to be a team effort involving everyone.

They should be more positive and encourage others to befriend kids who do not have any friends.

I´m glad you wrote about this, and the answer is no, you are NOT the only one who finds things like this ironic! I have often thought about this sort of thing. In terms of diagnosing, or even labeling autistic traits, the "powers at be" seem to be awfully inflexible and pedantic at times. But I think this is because they are studying it form the outside, they don´t really have an intuitive grasp about what they are studying. I think this is the main problem in diagnosing women; I agree that the core traits are the same in both genders- (what´s going on inside), but looking at it from an outside, NT perspective, some AS women may "look" different from the stereotypical AS man that they are used to diagnosing.

Lucky!