My ASD Child

Numerous case reports suggest that children with Asperger’s (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) think concretely instead of abstractly. For example, when these children hear the word “dog,” they may have a vivid, detailed image of their first pet dog, then the second pet dog, and so on. Conversely, neurotypical children (those not on the spectrum) are more likely to have an image of a generic or conceptual dog without much detailed imagery. Due to their concrete learning style, children on the autism spectrum tend to remember individual examples precisely without noticing common themes among examples. For instance, the child may store the details of specific animals he encounters together with labels (e.g., dogs, cats), but he may be poor at learning features that define dogs and cats (e.g., both dogs and cats are pets, furry, playful, etc.). On the other hand, neurotypical children learn from specific examples, and then “generalize” those examples to other areas (e.g., th

"What exactly is a social story, and how do you write an effective one for children with autism?" A social story is a frequently used method to teach social skills to kids with ASD Level 1, or High-Functioning Autism. A social story is a non-coercive technique that presents social concepts and rules to kids in the form of a brief story. This method can be used to teach a number of social and behavioral concepts (e.g., making transitions, playing a game, going on a field trip, etc.).  There are four major components that are crucial to a successful social story. The story should: be commensurate with the child’s ability and comprehension level be something the youngster wants to read on his or her own  be written in response to the youngster’s personal needs use less directive terms (e.g., “can” or “could”) rather than more directive terms (e.g., “will” or “must”).  Making sure the story has all four components is especially important for kids who tend to be

"How can I help my 5-year-old AS child (high functioning) to have a better understanding of other people’s feelings? He often seems oblivious to some of the hurtful things he says and does, but I don’t think he does this intentionally." Recognizing and understanding the feelings and thoughts of self and others is often an area of weakness for kids with Asperger’s (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) – and is essential to successful social interactions. “Neurotypicals” (i.e., children not on the autism spectrum) continually modify their behavior based on the non-verbal feedback they receive from others. For example, they may elaborate on a story if their friend is smiling, looking on intently, or showing other signs of genuine interest. Conversely, if the other person repeatedly looks at her school book, sighs, or looks otherwise disinterested, most neurotypical children notice this non-verbal cue and stop talking or cut the story short. Kids with AS and HFA

"Why is it that children on the autism spectrum seem to prefer objects (e.g., toys, games, digital devices, machines, etc.) rather than relationships with people?"  To answer this question, we must first look at the concept of "weak predictive ability"... If one has the ability to predict, he or she can come up with an educated guess about what may happen in the near or distant future (i.e., some outcome is expected), but this ability is not necessarily based on experience or knowledge. Prediction is a skill that allows us to “generalize” (i.e., since the occurrence of “situation A” resulted in “outcome B,” then a situation similar to “A” will likely result in an outcome similar to “B”).  For example, after observing enough moving objects, a child can understand momentum and, through generalizing, predict the position of a moving target in the near future. Likewise, after seeing enough human faces, a child can generalize (or predict) that human faces

"What are peer-mediated interventions, and how do they work?" A peer-mediated intervention is a technique that has demonstrated effectiveness in teaching social skills to kids with Asperger's (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA). The use of peer mentors is an example of an effective strategy for kids with AS and HFA. Peer-mediated interventions allow parents and teachers to structure the physical and social environment in a manner to promote successful social interactions.  In this approach, peers are systematically trained to make social initiations or respond promptly and appropriately to the initiations of kids with AS and HFA during the course of their school day. Peer mentors should be classmates of the AS or HFA youngster, have age-appropriate social and play skills, have a record of regular attendance, and have a positive history of interactions with the AS or HFA youngster. The use of peer mentors allows the teachers to act as facilitators, rather than

Since we can not financially go back to the Dr who diagnosed Chance who is 11 with ADD and high functioning autisum we were wondering what natural things a behavioral books we could study until we can go for therapy and maybe medication! The normal person would probably not be able to tell that Chance has a problem but his unruly behavior at home and bad sleeping problems are getting worse ! He loves school and sports and does well in both. He passed into the 6th grade without ever doing his homework or studying at home with a C average. He loves to read and of course loves video games and is very good at them. However his off again on again wild behavior that he can control if he wants to is beyond belief and only a very sturn hand by his father is almost the only thing he respects ! sometimes I think this is food related because of the crazy outbursts ! He bad mouths his Mom and me but never in front of his father. Like I said most of the time you would never know he has a problem un