How can I deal with transition between schools for my son with Asperger Syndrome?

Question

How can I deal with transition between schools for my son with Asperger Syndrome?

Answer

For kids with Aspergers (high-functioning autism), transition between schools will evoke a wide range of negative emotions. Change is difficult for these kids, and when a new school year rolls around, everything changes. New classmates, new teachers, and new schedules can cause major anxiety, which can spiral to depression.

Dealing with the Aspergers transition problems can also affect your youngster’s home life. Anxiety brought about at school will carry over at home causing disruption. Anger and frustration can escalate, triggering meltdowns. While the transition at school cannot be avoided, there are things a parent can do to lessen the effects of all the change that comes with moving to a new school. 

 Here are some tips to help you deal with this unstable period in your youngster’s life:

Plan ahead—

Begin planning for the Aspergers transition phase well in advance. Make a checklist of people to speak with and places to visit. Your list may look like this:

• Create a visual calendar that shows when the change will occur.
• Meet with the special education coordinator at the new school to discuss my youngster and ways this person can help with the transition.
• Schedule doctor’s appointments and therapy appointments to discuss counseling, medication, and any other available forms of help for my youngster’s transition.
• Talk to my youngster about the changes that are coming.
• Visit current teachers and therapists and request their help.
• Visit the new school for a tour and then plan a visit with my youngster.

Prepare your youngster—

Moms and dads must prepare their youngster for the Aspergers transition period. Talk with your youngster about the change that is coming long before it actually happens. For example, near the end of this school year you can mention during your drives to school how your morning drive will be different next year. This will most likely bring protests, and this will give you a chance to talk positively about the new school. Keep it light and without pressure.

Prime the school staff—

The teachers and therapists at your youngster’s new school should know all about your youngster with Aspergers. Transition will be less difficult if the new school staff has a plan in place specifically for your youngster.

Put together a support program—

A complete and dedicated team should be in place for your youngster with Aspergers. Transition team members may include the pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, school counselor, teacher, and most importantly, the moms and dads. While the medical community may rely on medical tests, medications, and therapies, the moms and dads can offer support at home. Moms and dads can find resources like books and videos to help them encourage their youngster.

My Aspergers Child: Preventing Meltdowns in Aspergers Children

TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS TO KIDS WITH ASPERGERS

KEY CONCEPTS:

1. Aspergers kids and teens are often described by their parents as being bright but clueless.

2. Kids with Aspergers often score well within the normal range on standardized tests typically used by schools to evaluate students. These tests usually do not test for social skills.

3. It is often helpful for parents to think of themselves as coaches for their kids.

4. Children/teens with Aspergers can have wide ranges of strengths and weaknesses which can puzzle and frustrate parents and educators. For example, since he can program a computer, why can’t he write a book report?

5. Persons with social-cognitive deficits still desire successful social relationships and companionship. Do not assume that they don’t want to have friends.

6. Poor parenting or role modeling does not cause Aspergers.

INTERVENTIONS:

1. An activity notebook: These can be used to document all the activities in a given day. Then parents and youngster together can plan for minor changes in routines to help decrease time spent in repetitive stereotypes movements such as rubbing or twirling, or spending all one’s time on a single interest.

2. Discussions on specific topics such as how to greet others, how to wait your turn, how to ask for something, what to do when you don’t get your own way, and how to tell someone you like them. Use pictures, role model actual situations, or write in a journal.

3. Emotion Flash Cards or vocabulary cards: These are cards that describe in pictures various emotions.

4. How to give and receive compliments. What types of compliments are appropriate in a given situation?

5. How to help others. Teach the youngster or teen specific tools to use to understand situations in which it is or isn’t appropriate to help others.

6. How to understand and use skills such as using a friendly and respectful tone of voice, or waiting for pauses in conversation.

7. Learning to recognize early signs of stress and anxiety, to avoid going into the anxiety-anger cycle.

8. Roll-play various stressful and/or emotional situations.

9. Strategies to teach how to recognize and cope with one’s emotions. These include the use of an anger thermometer, lists of things that might make one horrified, bored, confused, overjoyed, or mad; or emotion scales which assign a number score to the intensity of a given emotion.

10. Teach commonsense rules for starting conversations. For example, one system is the PATHS method. This stands for Prepare ahead, Ask yourself what you are going to talk about, Time it right, say Hello, and watch for nonverbal Signals.

11. Teach how to notice and use nonverbal skills. For example, the SENSE method. This stands for Space (maintain the proper physical space between others), Eye Contact, Nodding (To show agreement or disagreement), Statements of Encouragement (such as uh-uh), and Expressions (face).

12. Teach the difference between public and private. Be very specific. Make lists or draw pictures of private activities and public activities. Make lists of examples of private places and public places.

13. Teach vocal cues. One such cue is proper use of tone of voice. Ask teen or youngster to try to guess what people are thinking based on inflection in speech patterns or tone of voice.

14. The “I Laugh” Approach: These are a series of specific exercises to teach communication skills and problem solving. “I Laugh” stands for: Initiating new activities, Listen effectively, Abstracting and inference, Understanding perspective, Gestalt, the big picture, and Humor.

==> Teaching Social Skills and Emotion Management to Children and Teens with Asperger's and High-Functioning Autism

Online Resources for Parents with Aspergers Children

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·         If you want a list of books and videos about Aspergers, try:
http://www.kandi.org/aspergers/Books_and_Videos/index2.html

·         If you want to buy computer software that helps children with Aspergers, try:
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger

 

·         If you want to find a professional clinician in your area, go to:  
http://www.aspergers.com/asplist.htm
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger

·         If you want to find a summer camp or boarding school program for kids with Aspergers, try:
http://www.talismancamps.com
http://www.newleafacademy.com (middle school females)

Helpful Websites:

·         A Directory for Aspergers: Support Groups and Organizations
http://www.kandi.org/aspergers/index2.html
This website is a great place to start your search for local, national and international organizations and support groups as well as to get more information. There are over 200 websites featured here; however, many are more about autism. You get links to books, videos, news and magazine articles, and supplies for Aspergers children. You can also find chat rooms, personal web pages, message boards, and many other websites. Some are for teachers only.

·         ASPEN (Aspergers Educational Network)
9 Aspen Circle, Edison, NJ 08820
http://www.aspennj.org/
Aspen is a non-profit organization for people and families with Aspergers in the New Jersey area. Yearly dues are $35. It operates many support groups in New Jersey, and sponsors educational conferences for parents. The website has a wealth of good information about Aspergers for everyone.

·         ASPERGER HELP
http://aspergerhelp.net/
This is an online resource with forums, blogs, articles and information about Aspergers. Besides getting plenty of information, you can join an online support group here.

·         Aspergers And High Functioning Autism Association
PO Box 475, Roslyn Heights, New York 11577
http://www.ahany.org/index.htm
AHA is a coalition of parents who support one another as they seek to improve educational resources and increased opportunities for adults and children with high functioning autism and Aspergers. AHA has an impressive advisory board of professors and medical doctors. It offers conferences and support groups in New York for parents, teens and adults with Aspergers or high functioning Autism as well as a quarterly newsletter. The AHA website is a font of information about Aspergers.

·         MAPP Services
Box 524, Crown Point, IN 46308
Website: http://www.asperger.org
MAPP Services is an organization providing information and support for those whose autism does not involve intellectual impairment. MAPP stands for "More advanced individuals with Autism, Aspergers, and Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)." This organization began in 1984 with just 24 families; now its newsletter, The MAPP, reaches over 10,000. Their website gives links to local groups in every state, and contains a lot of up-to-date research on Aspergers.

·         O.A.S.I.S.(Online Aspergers Information and Support)
Patricia Romanowski Bashe and Barbara Kirby
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/
These two authors wrote the Oasis Guide to Aspergers (New York: Crown Publishing) 2005, and now keep parents up-to-date through their award-winning Oasis website. You can find a bookstore, scholarly papers and articles, teachers' tips and resources, and plenty of advice for parents on everything from legal rights in school systems to helping Aspergers individuals get employment. State by state listings of local professionals who can help you in your area, also lists of camps and boarding schools for Aspergers children are included, plus many links to other helpful websites.

Additional resources:

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·         How to Stop Meltdowns and Temper Tantrums in Aspergers Children

·         Parent Coaching for Parents with Aspergers Children/Teens

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