Hi everyone! My 7 year old son was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder or 'high functioning autism'. This certainly explains a lot of his ways and why he fails to interact socially with other kids his age. His passion is Hotwheel cars and he loves Ford vehicles especially. He has a routine he follows about everything he does and if we vary from that routine....he gets upset.
In so many words, all I have read on the OASIS site, the symptoms and such, pertain to him.
I was wondering if any of you fine folks on here are familair with this and maybe can share some thoughts or ideas that would help me deal with him.

Anyone know of someone that has been diagnosed with this.....be it you, a child, other loved one or friend? Please share your thoughts.
Richard

 

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift...just knowing is going to help.

 

I sympathize with you. My youngest has a processing disorder that causes him to sometimes become very frustrated and act out. Not really on the same level as autism, but sometimes does require a lot of patience.

You might want to check into support groups for parents of children with fragile-X syndrome. I think it is related and they have a lot of information and resources to help. I don't have a web address but if you google fragile-X it should come up with some results.

 

ddrumman2004- was the testing done by the school district or your physician? This is the first concern. If it was done by the district, have your family doctor refer the boy for independent testing (covered by your health insurance)- very important, and that needs to be done ASAP. You will find, over the years to come, that there will be a lot of documentation that needs to be kept so an appropriate IEP can be planned out in the schools. With most school districts facing budget issues, they tend to structure IEP's to what they want to do, not always what the child needs. You will be developing a very close relationship with your school district for the next decade.

Asperger kids tend to be brilliant students- don't be surprised if he's doing college-level work in High School. The challenge is to keep them challenged so they don't get bored. They also need special help with socialization skills (you knew this already, I'm sure). As we've found out, patience and a good sense of humor will get you through almost anything.

Our oldest daughter has high-functioning autism, and Mrs. Bear is a Special Ed teacher- ask away or pm me if you have any questions. Our daughter is now an honors student in High School- there are many challenges, but also many special rewards for the parents of these "special" kids.

 

He was diagnosed by an independent physciatrist(SP?) through the school system. She has been observing him throughout the school year and she has reccomended what she wants the school to do for him. I have to admit that the special ed teachers in this school are very good and they really show concern about him. They are researching now for a reacher for him next year(2nd grade) and have his IEP planned out. He currently receives speech therapy and spends 2 days a week with a special ed teacher. She tells me that in one-on-one testing, that he shows to be above average IQ. In a group setting, in class, he tends to do other things besides his test. His regular teacher began testing him one-on-one at the middle of the school year and his grades shot way up.
The physciatrist wants him tested that way from now on until he 'learns' to adapt to a group setting.
He amazes me at his computer skills and his knowledge of auto's and trucks. I rode him on my atv through a junkyard across the road from our house and he named every last vehicle over there by brand name! He knows them better than me! But put him in a social setting with other kids, or change his everyday routine....then watch out!

Thanks for the info and offer polarbear. I will need all the advice I can get.

 

My oldest, now 13 was "diagnosed" with it around 2nd or 3rd grade. He had extreme reactions to some stimuli like sirens and loud noises. He was often socially clueless(how many of us aren't), and had a few other odd quirks. He relates far better to adults than most kids his age. It is often quite entertaining to listen to my boy discuss the nature of the universe with some old fart and then switch tracks to some D&D topic. He was a perfectionist to the point where if he didn't think he could do something perfectly he wouldn't try. He panics on timed tests yet excels on the same test if there is no time limit and still finishes in less time that would have been if it was timed.

The local school psych insisted he was Aspergers when he was young and had us go to the Portland Childrens Hospital and have him examined by the proclaimed specialist. After his examination he said my kid was borderline at worst and he would only diagnose the kid as Aspergers if pushed to. The school psych wasn't happy to hear that and marked him as Aspergers anyway. You got to remember, the school gets big bucks for having a child diagnosed with special needs so I suspect there is a bit of overdiagnosis in some cases just so the school can get the money. But on the positive side, you can get something like a $1K to $2K tax break if you provide school papers saying the kid is on a special program.

My son is generally considered the smartest kid in school regardless of grade. On subjects which he has an interest, he is insatiable and remembers details to an unusual degree. When he was 9 years old we started buying him Audobon Field Guides, kind of like bibles with lots of technical jargon and details about all sorts of flora and fauna and minerals. He read them for fun and memorized almost everything in them. He habitually carries about 10 fiction or science books with him reading them all at the same time, jumping from book to book. He had gotten so bad about reading too much that we had to discipline him to stop reading all the time, how strange to stop a kid from reading. He has won his school spelling bee 3 years in a row and came in first for the county 2 out of those three years, 2nd the other year and is headed to state again this year. He has all A's in academics and now he is becoming more like the norm as an early teen. He runs with a crowd of kids that would be considered to be the nerd pack, but that is not a bad thing in my mind.

So being labled as Aspergers is not necessarily a negative lable, it could mean you have a child who is extremely intelligent but not socially adept. Our son appears to have outgrown his issues and or learned how to work with them. The two or three other Aspergers kids I have met had a few more quirks than ours but in many ways had unusual talents that put them way ahead of the pack in some ways. It will be interesting to see how my son puts his talents to use as an adult. He is extremely intelligent but has no common sense, but then what teen does. If he can use his talents he would probably make a great researcher.

There are many good books, my wife reads them all and they seem to help prepare you for some of the oddities you may experience and some other trials. Having an Aspergers kid is not necessarily bad, it is just challenging because at least mine is so smart it is hard to keep him from losing interest in everyday school things. Fortunately for him his dad was also tops in school and is a trained engineer so at least for now I can keep ahead of him on his studies ;^)

At least with my kid the one thing I try to encourage him to do is go ahead and fail once in awhile, my kid hates to fail or make mistakes. "If you don't screw up every now and then, you aren't trying hard enough".

Yes, boredom is the enemy, your kid in a class room full of "normal" kids will be bored. Try to get him in TAG programs or at least in a room where he is pusehd.

I find that my kid really loves complex word problems that I make up on every day life situations. The old "farmer has a field" question is boring, make it "the farmer has 3,000 acres in Idaho some of it good for this some for that and he is preparing for the day when he retires and needs to divide it up for his 3 kids or decide to sell it and make condos, or should he switch crops, so what is the best use of his land and how much could he make?" kind of problem.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

DDruymman: You are not alone buddy. What Ernie said about the independent testing is oh so true. My youngest was tested for ADHD around 3rd grade (he is now 20). The meds slowed him down some. We had some more testing done in the early High School years by an independent specialist and found that he is BiPolar - not ADHD. The specialist stated quite clearly that at young ages it is very difficult to determine one from the other with absolute certainty.

This last test that was administered to my son was on a computer. He took the test with no meds. Took some meds and took the test about two hours later and repeated the process again. I believe the test was called "TOVA".

Meds were totally realigned and he does just fine.

A close friends youngest son has been diagnosed with Aspergers. Routine seems to be a key issue. He too does not like change. The boy is now 16. He became shall we say disenchanted with school and absolutely refused to go - he was in a special ed program at a different campus than the local High School. Anyway, the School District and County Mental Health moved him (with M/D permission_ to residential care. The 24/7 routine has made a difference in him. Still "acts out" when everything does not go as planned but that is part of the disease.

If you like, I can put you in touch with my friend directly. Send a PM and I'll pass the information along.

Russ

 

ddrumman2004-He was diagnosed by an independent physciatrist(SP?) through the school system. She has been observing him throughout the school year and she has reccomended what she wants the school to do for him. I have to admit that the special ed teachers in this school are very good and they really show concern about him. They are researching now for a reacher for him next year(2nd grade) and have his IEP planned out. He currently receives speech therapy and spends 2 days a week with a special ed teacher. She tells me that in one-on-one testing, that he shows to be above average IQ. In a group setting, in class, he tends to do other things besides his test. His regular teacher began testing him one-on-one at the middle of the school year and his grades shot way up.

Our daughter has a full-time one-on-one to keep her on task. Lordy did we have to fight to get that handled (there's the documentation thing). When she was younger, schedule changes generated some extreme reactions. Things like fire drills or aides that called in sick were incredibly stressful. Loud or sudden noises were a real problem too- that's one of the physical side-effects of autism (it's actually painful for those kids- the brain hasn't learned to modulate sound yet).Over time, these have subsided. Now, we just have to make sure she's aware a little ahead of time that the routine's going to be different, and she's fine.

The physciatrist wants him tested that way from now on until he 'learns' to adapt to a group setting.
He amazes me at his computer skills and his knowledge of auto's and trucks. I rode him on my atv through a junkyard across the road from our house and he named every last vehicle over there by brand name! He knows them better than me! But put him in a social setting with other kids, or change his everyday routine....then watch out!

By the second grade, my daughter could tell you the species, habitat, and migrating habits of just about every whale species on the planet. By middle school, she'd added the entire mammal kindom to her field of knowledge. She's in FFA now, and just having a great time.

Thanks for the info and offer polarbear. I will need all the advice I can get.

Ask away- as I mentioned, my wife actually started a career out of this. Sometimes things that start out as a negative can turn into a gift. We had a minister friend of ours tell us, years ago, "there a reason you have this child. You may not understand why, but someone does."

Jim Henderson- your son sounds like classic Asbergers. You're right- it's not completely negative. Einstein was probably an Aspergers kid.

 

> can share some thoughts or ideas that would help me deal with him.

Buy a trampoline or a horse. The up and down motions actually change the pathways in the brain over time and help the kids cope with things better. Same with teaching them to play a musical instrument, piano is ideal. Same with teaching them a second language while young. It has to be done while the children are young though.

I have taught all my children how to count to twenty five in English and Spanish and do +/- before they were even in kindergarden. I let them jump on the beds and furniture (within limits) too.

 

When I retired, I spent about 6 months helping out on a school bus for special needs kids. The kids with autism were among the sweetest I have ever known and were very compassionate with the more challenged kids. One especially stole my heart. He was a little Mexican 7-year old boy who would get silently on the bus and sit quietly, occasionally saying something in Spanish. One day while I was sitting with him, he looked at me and said something in Spanish. I recognized the word "caballo" and I answered, "Horse?". His eyes lit up as he thought I understood him and he talked to me (in Spanish) all the way to his stop. Every day after that we had our "conversation" with him talking, me nodding and laughing when he did. This went on until the term ended and I said goodbye to my little amigo.
Dono

 

dono- the world needs more folks like you.

 

My friend I think had aspergers disorder, he met most of the diagnosis from what I can tell. He's 30 now which is before Aspergers was accepted as a disorder. Good news is he is he will soon have his masters in engineering. He had serious issues with social interaction and had really strange physical habits as a child which continued in smaller ways as an adult. I worked at Oregon State Hospital where we had a guy with Aspergers and all I can say is wow those two had lots in common. Just out of curiosity, does you child have thick fingers? I noticed this about the these guys. One thing I think you need to do with your child is to help them find friends who will be nice to your child, I think it really helped with my friend. The other thing is thing I noticed with these two guys is they take well to training so if you teach your child what is required or expected in social interaction they can overcome lots of the symptoms of Aspergers. Some of the strange physical behaviors such as swinging their arms or strange behavior with their fingers can be modified into more innocuous physical behaviors. My friend used to look really uncomfortable through body language, no woman would ever approach him, but once I explained to him how to look approachable he found himself a girlfriend. All I can say is be patient and help raise your child to live as normal a life as possible.

 

my mom suspected for a long time that i was autistic, but i was never tested til i was a junior in HS, and they did diagnose me with Aspergers, from what ive read on this post so far, lots of those things match the way i am, and im not sure what advice to give, but i am 23 now, have graduated HS, i just got married a year ago. i guess the best thing i can say would be a word of encouragement, if u raise us right, make sure we have good special ed teachers to help us get thru school, we will turn out to be as normal adults as possible, if thats possible LOL (for any body out there).

Thats all i can think to tell y'all, so God Bless
-Nick

 

Thanks for all your input guys...it really helps.
Colt....my son does not have thick fingers. His head is larger than most kids but the doctor said that because it stayed within the ranges during his first 2 years of life, that his head was not growing at a rate to cause concern. A CT scan when he was 2 days old showed "dead or missing brain cells" in the top part of his brain. The doctor told us that their maybe could be problems as he got older.

The school said he has above average IQ and with one-on-one testing....he flies right through the tests. But put him in a group, he constantly messe with other kids and does not complete the test.

I know it will be a long struggle but at least now I know what his problems are and what causes them.
Thanks for all your concern and thoughts. You guys are the best!
Richard

He doesn't understand simple body gestures, he loves trains but is scared to go anywhere near a railroad track, he plays racing games on a pc really good and his hand/eye cordination using the mouse and screen is really something...and has been for 3 years. He can install computer software but can't tie his shoes. He refuses to learn to ride a bike I got him for his birthday but yet plays with the wheelbarrow.

Loud noises scare him, as does toys that make any kind of music or sounds, although he is somewhat better on that. The vacuum cleaner used to scare him up until the past year. He gets along well with grown-ups....never meets a stranger, yet kids his own age or younger....he shuns away from.

 

Richard: There are what seem to be unlimited resources available to help us work with our children. Type in Aspbergers Disease in a search engine on the internet and stand back. Whoa. When my youngest was finally diagnosed bi-polar, we joined an on-line support group and did a lot of reading. As I mentioned before, he functions very well now - has held a job for almost 2 years, goes to community college full time and I have not had the sheriff call me to come fetch him.
These diseases effect the entire family and circle of friends. The more we know with regard to how they think and how best to work with them, they can turn out to be contributing citizens that we can and should be proud of.

My $.02

Russ