My ASD Child

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that affects an individual's ability to communicate, interact with others, and understand the world around them. One of the key challenges faced by individuals with autism is the inability to identify and interpret emotional signals in others. Emotional communication is an essential aspect of human interaction, and being able to recognize and understand the emotions of others is crucial for building and maintaining relationships. However, individuals with autism often struggle in this area, which can lead to social isolation and misunderstandings. There are several reasons why people with ASD have difficulty interpreting emotional signals in others. One of the primary factors is impaired social cognition, which refers to the ability to understand and interpret social cues, including facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Studies have shown that individuals on the spectrum may have difficulty rec...

Your child with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) or Asperger’s (AS) seems to have a multitude of behavioral and emotional issues. Which ones should you attempt to address first? With so many problems, where do you start? A careful analysis of the most problematic symptoms is crucial, because the choice of interventions is influenced by symptom traits. Moreover, the wide array of symptoms results in the tendency of those closest to the HFA or AS youngster to lose sight, over time, of the intervention targets. When parents (and teachers) turn their attention to a new troubling cluster of symptoms, an intervention that has been effective may be reinterpreted as ineffective. Being attentive to symptom traits allows the parent to measure effects and introduce helpful responses.    ==> Parenting System that Significantly Reduces Defiant Behavior in Teens High-Functioning Autism The most important traits to consider include the following: Distribution of the behavior prob...

The following is a transcript of the question-and-answer portion of Mark Hutten's seminar on "Aspergers and Anxiety: What Parents and Teachers Need To Know": Question: Both of my boys have Aspergers, but one exhibits a lot of anxiety, whereas the other does not seem anxious at all. Is there a good explanation for that? It’s very normal for different children to have different temperaments. Some children are more outgoing and seem to be impervious to feelings of anxiety, whereas other children may always seem to be anxious. But it’s very possible for the more anxious child to learn skills to help manage his anxiety better so he can participate in activities, do well in school, and not be held back due to anxiety-related issues, and so on. Question: How common is anxiety in children with this syndrome? Anxiety is extremely common. It’s estimated that up to 80% of people with Aspergers experience intense anxiety symptoms. It can take the form of obsessive...

"I need to understand my son better (ASD, age 7) so we can you come up with some consequences that are appropriate and not so punitive as to remove all possibility of improvement. Please help!" If you have a youngster with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) who exhibits problematic behavior, you have probably felt like an investigator, searching for clues and seeking hidden motivations.  You may have come up with some quick and easy explanations for your youngster's behavioral issues (e.g., ones offered by parents at the park, your mother-in-law, and even by behavioral experts), but your youngster often has something completely different up his sleeve. Operating according to the easiest explanation will often make matters worse. Even though there are explanations for your HFA youngster's “bad” behavior that take some of the fault from him, the effects of the behavior are unfortunate and must be addressed. For example, your youngster may push one of his friends or b...

The diagnosis of social phobia in Aspergers and high-functioning autistic (HFA) kids emphasizes the following: A youngster with social phobia must show the capacity for age-appropriate social relationships with familiar people, and his/her anxiety must occur in peer contexts, not just with grown-ups. Due to limitations of cognitive and perceptual skills, Aspergers and HFA kids with social phobia need not recognize that their fear in social situations is excessive or unreasonable. The anxiety brought on by social situations may be evidenced by crying, tantrums, meltdowns, freezing, shutdowns, or shrinking from social situations with unfamiliar people. There must be evidence of the social fears existing for a minimum of six months. Developmental Pathways to Social Phobia— 1. Genetic factors: Taken as a whole, studies using twins to determine whether genetics play a significant part in the development of social phobia are inconclusive. Some twin studies have examined the h...

A large body of research has documented the difficulties associated with being bullied – and with bullying other kids. Young people who are bullied suffer more anxiety, depression, loneliness, post-traumatic stress – and have a heightened risk of suicide. Kids who bully are more likely than other youngsters to experience peer-rejection, conduct problems, anxiety, academic difficulties, and engage in rule-breaking behavior. Recent research has shown that a substantial number of kids with Asperger’s (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) who have been a victim of bullying become bullies themselves at some point. A distinguishing feature of AS and HFA children is that they struggle to control their emotions. For example, they may unintentionally prompt kids to bully them again by reacting very emotionally to teasing, threats or physical aggression, and may have similar problems controlling feelings of anger and frustration, predisposing them to retaliatory aggression. Give...

Even the best-behaved Aspergers children can be difficult and challenging at times. Aspergers adolescents are often moody and argumentative. But if your Aspergers child or adolescent has a persistent pattern of tantrums, arguing, and angry or disruptive behaviors toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). As many as one in 10 Aspergers children may have ODD in a lifetime. Treatment of ODD involves therapy and possibly medications to treat related mental health conditions. As a parent, you don't have to go it alone in trying to manage an Aspergers child with ODD. Doctors, counselors and child development experts can help you learn specific strategies to address ODD. Symptoms— It may be tough at times to recognize the difference between a strong-willed or emotional child and one with ODD. Certainly there's a range between the normal independence-seeking behavior of Aspergers kids and ODD. It's normal to exhi...

Effective behavioral support for a student with special needs requires highly individualized strategies that address the primary areas of difficulty in managing anxiety, communication, preferences for sameness and rules, ritualistic behaviors, social understanding and interactions, and sensory sensitivities. While the specific components of a positive behavioral support plan will vary from child to child, the following tips will assist teachers as they work towards achieving the best outcomes on behalf of their special needs student: 1. Students with special needs experience communication difficulties. While they are able to use language quite effectively to discuss topics of interest, they may have great difficulty expressing sadness, anger, frustration and other important messages. As a result, behavior may be the most effective means to communicate when words fail. 2. Since behaviors are influenced by the quality of relationships with teachers, teachers should monitor the...