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Anyone out there that has an Asperger son that is obsessed with WWII?

My 8 year old son was diagnosed with autism at age 4. He displayed many of the symptoms of autism, poor social skills, tantrums, sensory problems. Now with early intervention he has blossomed. At the end of Kindergarten he was assessed again by the School Board and he no longer fit the criteria for Autism. He is now in 2nd grade and doing well. He is very smart with an IQ of 132 and a verbal IQ of 148; I got these results when I had him tested to see if he was gifted. The results were yes he is gifted. I did not tell the Dr. of his prior diagnosis of Autism, I guess I wanted to believe that the earlier diagnosis of Autism was a misdiagnosis. Now I had a staffing at school and according to the onsite psychologist he does not qualify to be in the gifted program. I was upset because I think he would fit in much better with the gifted kids. My son sounds like a walking dictionary. After reading about Asperger wow that is my son! Very high IQ, high vocabulary, obsessive interests! He is obsessed with WWII history. It is mostly all he talks about, and his conversations are all fact based about what he knows.

Please is there anyone out there that has an Asperger son that is obsessed with WWII?

I want to make sense of all this and I want to be informed so that if what he has is Asperger I can understand my son better. I also want to find a social skills group for him.

I appreciate any response. Please share your story. I want to be better informed. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

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Re: Obsessions

Obsessions and compulsive behavior are typical problems linked with Asperger Syndrome Behavior. This is often a hallmark sign of Aspergers syndrome. These children may become fixated on a narrow subject, such as the weather, compulsive cleanness, sport statistics or other narrow concern.

Aspergers kids can be explicitly taught better ways of communication with others which will lessen their focus on obsession.

Medications that control obsessive behavior can be tried to see if some of the obsessiveness reduces.

In some cases, it helps to turn your child's obsession into a passion that can be integrated into his or her own extracurricular or school activities. A consuming interest in a given subject can help connect your child to schoolwork or social activities, depending on the obsession and the behavior.

Part of the obsessiveness stems from a conflict between longings for social contact and an inability to be social in ways that attract friendships and relationships.

While it is better to teach communication skills and self esteem to the younger children, communication skills and friendship skills can be taught to teens or even adults that can eliminate some of the social isolation they feel. This can avert or reverse depression and anger symptoms as well as obsessions and compulsive behavior.

Learn as much about your child as you can and learn which things trigger compulsive behavior so they can be avoided. Some compulsive behavior is completely benign and is easily tolerated by everyone involved. As parents, you need to decide which kinds of behaviors should be just tolerated and which need intervention.

My Aspergers Child: Preventing Meltdowns and Tantrums

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Yes, I have a son that is obsessed with WWII. He is 17 now and was assessed in preschool after he built a very close resemblence of the Titanic out of building blocks. Doctors speculated that he had Aspergers, but I did not go through with the testing that they wanted to do on him (brain mapping, etc.) My son started focusing on WWII and started collecting books on the topic and talked all the time. He collected books on everything from the ships, to the airplanes and the battles themselves. The other odd thing he was into was into listening to speeches of important individuals, like the president at a young age. He had some oddities in middle school and had some trouble making friends, but now in High School is blossoming like crazy. He takes accelerated "honor" classes and took college classes as a sophomore in High School. The funny thing was that in middle school, my son was on the talented and gifted program and asked to be taken off of it. When I asked why he said that it bored him.

I guess what I am saying is stay on the school. The worst thing you can do is let your son get bored in school, because it could go the other direction. If he isn't challenged in school he may start daydreaming and focusing on other things and pretty much not care about his classes.

As my son became older he shifted some of his focus to music. He plays many different instruments and even composes some of his own music. He is also now talking about joining the military and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is going to use the WWII focus to help him have a career in the military. My best advise is work with your son - help with the social part of it and direct the obsessive part.

Anonymous said...

My son is, too. I'm in Pensacola. Maybe we can get them to talk on the phone? Send me a message. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

My daughter is the same . except her constant and I mean constant conversation is every fact in the world about Miley Cyrus and it's over and over until I want to scream

Anonymous said...

My son went through that phase. He has a hard time now with elementary level social studies because when it comes to American wars, social studies merely skims the surface. When you ask a child with such in depth understanding a seemingly simple, shallow question, the answer they give is normally wrong according to the teacher's answer key. But the kid isn't giving the wrong answer, they are working on a much higher level, usually a college level... It can be frustrating, especially if the teacher only has a primary education in the subject.

Anonymous said...

My 14-year old Aspie was obsessed with Medieval history a few years ago, which took many forms from reading to archery and is now centered on Dungeons and Dragons playing, as well as reading and writing about it. Amazing stuff!

Cheryl said...

I am raising my 7 yr old grandson who has aspergers. He too became obsessed with WWII history, planes etc around the age of 4. He now has a collection of almost 200 planes and we have recently redone his bedroom to resemble WWII theme including a F4U Corsair ceiling fan. I plan to paint a wall mural for him this winter when life calms down a bit. We travel alot to visit the Wright Patterson AF Base Museum in Dayton, Ohio a lot.

Please feel free to look me up on facebook.http://www.facebook.com/cfilipkowski

Anonymous said...

My son is obsessed with WWll as well. He can tell you anything with a focus on nazis. Disturbing at first, but he loves it. Has dabbled in WWl some, knows way more than I ever learned about in school. Even debated with my father on the Korean war. This conversation ended with my father throwing up his hands saying "son, I was there!!"
When he speaks about a subject of interest, it sounds as if he is reading directly from a textbook. High iq, in gifted classes, amazing vocabulary, but HATES school! He says he is bored out of him mind!

Anonymous said...

my son was first obsessed with WWIthen WWII and anyhting to do with military history since the beginning of time!Empires,Theology you name it!

Anonymous said...

My 12 yr old loves WWII and military history. This has been going on for 5 or 6 years. We have dozens and dozens of books relating to the subject.

Anonymous said...

My 11 yr old son loves planes and esp WWII. I get him books and take him to the plane museum but at least it is interesting! Recently he changed to elevators and it is not as much fun. I do often wonder if there is some reincarnation element but I'm a little kooky like that.

HinkyImport.com said...

My son has not been diagnosed with anything but I found this post because I am concerned about his WW2 obsession. He is 7 and has been into the military for a few years. He is also having some issues with disrespect with us and we are concerned that the love for war could get him in trouble at school. (He has already been in trouble for drawing soldiers and guns, etc.) Hopefully since this is an old post someone could let me know how this obsession turned out.

Unknown said...

Wow..... My son is 8 years old in 2nd grade, has been tested Gifted with high IQ and Asperger's and OBSESSED WITH WWII as well!
Depending on the state you live in, I'd say you need to push for the autism label along side the gifted label. He will be a 2e student and can get speech/social skills accommodations in school....
The best of luck to you and your son.

Unknown said...

Let's discuss the possibility that Asperger's is actually a sign of reincarnation. All of you who speak of your son's and their obsession with WWII are exactly what I experienced with my son. His obsession to learn everything he can about the war, only led me to the thought of someone who died during the war, and came back to discover what the outcome of the war was. The soul had to come back to try and make sense of all the death and misery of himself and his comrades.
Am I way off, or have others thought the same?

Unknown said...

Wow my sons the exact same hes just turned 6 army obsessed and hates nartzis, germans loves England and American hes told me he died by been shot in the leg. Alls he speaks is facts and dates we have hundreds of lil army men all different colours and tanks and planes. Hes teacher said to me joking I think hes been reincarnated.

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