My ASD Child

"What do you suggest we do when we are out shopping and our Aspie son has a massive temper tantrum right there in the store for all to see?" All moms and dads have experienced the tempter tantrum in the grocery store or restaurant. While kids with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism may have tantrums that seem larger than life at times, they are still tantrums.  Here are some tips: Prior to going on out somewhere, it is important that your Aspie is prepared for what is going to take place. Explain where you are going, what you will be doing, and how long you will be doing it. Use a picture story board that describes the basic steps of a shopping trip (one that you have already created for such an event). You may want to have your child engage in some physical activity and play so that he's calm for the outing. You will want to establish what the expectations are for your child's behavior during the outing. State these expectations immediately before exi

"Does my Aspergers child know what’s right and what’s wrong? It seems that he does not really know the difference." On the surface, the issue of right and wrong appears to be a complicated one for Asperger’s children, but it is not. Children with Asperger’s have very firm ideas of right and wrong, and they can become argumentative with adults and peers over issues of proper or improper behavior. They are typically unable to consider shades of grey and will perceive issues in black or white terms; however, they can discuss those issues with an adult and come to an agreement when solutions are proposed to them. The good news is that Asperger’s children are known for being able to follow clearly explained and set rules that are consistent, and this trait can be used to help them learn right from wrong. As these children mature, they will learn right from wrong in a rote manner at first; but later they will develop a greater understanding of why something is right or wrong.

In this social work report I am going to share with you the 7 most useful tips and techniques that I have picked up when working with families as a social worker over the past 11 years: 1. Coping with the grieving process For all families who have a child with Autism/Aspergers, or any disability come to that, there are always some feelings of grief or loss. This is not because you are rejecting your child or in any way being negative about them. But it’s just that when you plan for a family, spend 9 months in labor and then begin to raise your child you have a certain dream/ideal life planned out. This is just human nature and one of the things that divides us from animals. We have the ability to see our future in our heads and we like to plan it. Particularly these days when there are so many shows, in fact whole TV channels, dedicated to having babies, family planning, pregnancy etc. There are shows on “taming toddlers”, home improvement shows teaching you how to make the “pe

The 5 biggest mistakes that parents of Asperger’s children make: 1. Waiting too long to take action. I have worked with children who were diagnosed very early with ASD’s and looked like severe Autism (banging head into the wall, screaming, and flapping arms all day with no initiation of communication) at ages 2 and 3 but with early intervention and treatment looked like mild Asperger’s or even normally developing by the time they were five. When I first see children who are already early elementary school aged and never had services because people thought they were just late talkers, they have missed the optimal time for intervention and the prognosis for improvement is not as good.  We absolutely must catch them when they are very young and provide treatment. We need to get the message out that it is better to help kids who would have been fine either way than to overlook kids because we think they will “grow out of it”. Time and again I get kids who are 5 years old and the