My ASD Child

"How can I help my very depressed 13 y.o. lad to develop some self-esteem? He feels like nobody NOBODY likes him right now :(  Is this common for children on the autism spectrum? Would it have anything to do with puberty?" Youngsters with ASD can oftentimes FEEL that they are different. This can affect his/her self-esteem. As a parent, this can break your heart.  Here are some ideas to help your youngster to build up his self-esteem again: Kids with ASD have a much harder time with their self-esteem. They often perceive the constant correction of their behaviors and their social interactions as criticism. The frequent visits to doctors, or speech therapists, or OTs, the testing and the stream of interventions that we try with them can easily leave them feeling like they're under the microscope, a specimen that warrants investigation, a person who needs fixing. Expressive and comprehensive communication has a direct impact on a youngster's self-esteem. ...

If you have the perfect situation and your ASD (high functioning autistic) teenager is excited about the opportunity, then go for it. You know your youngster better than anyone, and many ASD teenagers can do very well working for others.    However, if you are uneasy about sending your teenager off to a job, then consider the possibility of starting a home business with him. You and your teenager can work together. You can help him learn about responsibility, customer service, sales, marketing and book keeping. Here are some business ideas to consider: 1. Elderly care. Stop by once a day, to bring in their paper, take out their garbage, and check in. 2. Pet Sitting or Grooming. If your teenager loves animals (and doesn’t have allergies), pet sitting can be the perfect way for your teenager to make money and build self-esteem in the process. The only critical thing here is that you have to make sure they are meeting their appointments. Depending on your teenager...

If your Aspergers (high functioning autistic) youngster is having difficulties socially in school, you may be tempted to sign him up for basketball or soccer with the other youngsters. You know your youngster better than anyone. Just be sure that you’re setting your youngster up for a positive, rather than a negative experience. Make sure you know who will be coaching your youngster, and make sure that he is someone who you want in charge of your youngster’s self-esteem for the next few months. Make sure your coach is a “good guy.” If the coach has any insight into Aspergers, even better! However, if team sports are not your youngster’s strong suit and he or she gets very stressed or has that “lost” look while participating, then here are some alternatives: Bike Riding (go on bike trails if you are concerned about safety) Camping as a family Going on Long Walks with You Going to the Park (just being a kid!) Karate (again, make sure the people in charge of the facility are w...

From birth to 12 years— Raising our wonderful son Kyle wasn't an easy task, especially for a first time mother. We lived on a farm a fair distance from town and I didn't know many people at first. Kyle had a difficult birth; he was eight days late (in summer) and then decided to arrive in a rush. From first contraction to birth was approximately three hours and I was having two minute contractions on the 25km trip to hospital. He voided just before birth and needed his mouth and airways cleared so it was fairly scary waiting for that first cry. As Kyle had low blood sugar he was transferred to a major hospital for more intensive care. His poor tiny feet were pricked every two hours to test his blood sugar and after a while, when they squeezed to get the drop of blood, all the other pricks would ooze too. Horrible for Kyle and terrible thing for me to watch. He walked at 12 months and started talking at about the right time; however we didn't realize that ...

If you choose to home school your youngster with Aspergers, you might run across some extra issues in finding the right curriculum. This article will help you get started. More and more moms and dads are making the choice to home school their kids with Aspergers. There are countless resources available for choosing the curriculum that best meets their needs. If you will be purchasing curriculum, as opposed to creating your own, it is best to consider several packages before making a final decision. There are many wonderful companies which offer special needs curriculum. If you make a purchase before researching thoroughly, you may overlook a program that would have been more suited to your youngster’s needs. Visit your local library or bookstore. Many informative books have been written on this subject. Read the recommendations of other moms and dads. Find out what worked well for them and what didn’t. Join a home school group, either locally or online. Moms and dads are alway...

Like any youngster, kids with Aspergers (high-functioning autism) bring a unique set of problems and benefits to the classroom. Several key characteristics of the Aspergers youngster are presented here as they relate to the classroom setting. Because of their ability to focus in on one area of interest, Aspergers kids can make good students. Their ability to focus, however, can also be their weakness. The Aspergers youngster may, for instance, be expert at history, but will study that subject to the detriment of all other subjects. It is up to the educator to help the Aspergers youngster to broaden his interests. It helps if the educator can find a tie-in from the subject of the youngster’s interest to the subject at hand. For example, if the child is a history buff and you need to get him on board with math, it might help to give him some historical information related to math. Introduce him to some of the greatest mathematical minds of all time like Pythagoras, or Sir Isaac N...

If you know of a youngster who is having a greater degree of language impairment than other kids or has diminished communication skills and also exhibits a restrictive pattern of thought and behavior, he may have Aspergers. This condition is more or less similar to that of classic autism. The main difference between autism and Aspergers is that the youngster suffering from Aspergers retains his early language skills. The peculiar symptom of Aspergers is a youngster’s obsessive interest in a single object or topic to the exclusion of any other. The youngster suffering from Aspergers wants to know all about this one topic. Sometimes their speech patterns and vocabulary may resemble that of a little professor. Other Aspergers symptoms include the inability to interact successfully with peers, clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements, repetitive routines or rituals, socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior, and last, but not least, problems with non-verbal communication. Aspe...