24.10.11

Aspergers Teenagers and Feelings of Low Self-Worth

"My son (high functioning autistic) has been spending his summer vacation pretty much isolating in his bedroom playing computer games.... has no friends... no desire to find a friend... says 'people don't like me anyway, so why try'. How can I help him develop some confidence and self-esteem?"

Click here for the answer...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow ! Thanks for posting this- It always seems as though whatever the content of your email is- that's what we are dealing with at home that week. My 15 yr old son has been going through a rough adjustment to high school- In fact he has not been attending school for going on a month now and was hospitalized for psychiatric reasons earlier this month. He transitioned from a small private special needs school to a very large public high school and it has not gone well. Thanks for all the information and support. Its so helpful to know that we aren't the only ones going through it.

Anonymous said...

For years we have enjoyed the sweetest child you would ever meet. He is academically bright, is about to complete his fourth year of marching band, is in NHS, and has never been in any trouble. He is 17 and a senior. He was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 9.

Over the last few weeks, he has become isolated, keeps saying, "Leave me alone," and has engaged in odd behaviors including removing what he considers extraneous items from his room (clothing, wall pictures, calendar, mementoes, books, video games, new DSi, etc) and claims to have no attachments to those items. He threw away a James Avery ring with a cross on it, removed a cross from his wall, and refuses to wear any t-shirts with pictures or writing on them. He boxed up his class ring and says he doesn't need anything representative of where he is in life. He says symbols are sinful. At a recent marching band contest it was announced his school's band scored 1st place and would move on to state competition, he simply sat with no expression on his face. He says he needs no reward and only needs to know he has done his best. A child who has said, I love you," everyday since he was able to talk, suddenly no longer wants to do this. He says we should know without him having to say the words. He is extremely frustrated with taking his Concerta (has taken since 9 and was most recently at 72 mg). He says he should be able to concentrate on his own and he can never learn how to do this while dependent on medication. He has begun an obsessive reading of the Bible and as you may guess, a very legalistic one. He refuses to listen or take suggestions from anyone including the youth pastor. He refuses to ask for anything in prayer other than forgiveness. Yesterday, he refused to eat for over 24 hours.

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