My ASD Child

Aspergers (AS) is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social interaction, and restricted and unusual patterns of interest and behavior.  This post is an attempt to summarize a series of concrete proposals for treatment and intervention, with a view to provide moms and dads and care providers with specific suggestions that may be helpful in devising educational and treatment programs for kids and adolescents affected by this form of social learning disability. Every treatment and intervention program starts with a thorough assessment of the youngster’s deficit and assets in the context of a trans-disciplinary evaluation including assessments of behavioral (or psychiatric) history and current presentation, neuropsychological functioning, communication patterns (particularly the use of language for the purpose of social interaction, or Pragmatics), and adaptive functioning (the person’s ability to translate potential into competence in meeting the demands of

The Aspergers CAST Test for kids is a test that will enable moms and dads to have a better sense of what the criteria for Aspergers looks like. For some of you, it will settle your nerves, for others, you will now have a better sense of what's going on with your youngster, enabling you to make appropriate choices with a better idea of where her/his challenges lay. Read the following questions carefully, and choose the appropriate answer: 1. Does he/she join in playing games with others easily? Y N 2. Does he/she come up to you spontaneously for a chat? Y N 3. Was he/she speaking by 2 years old? Y N 4. Does he/she enjoy sports? Y N 5. Is it important for him/her to fit in with a peer group? Y N 6. Does he/she appear to notice unusual details that others miss? Y N 7. Does he/she tend to take things literally? Y N 8. When he/she was 3 years old, did he/she spend a lot of time pretending (e.g., play-acting being a super

 RE: "What would be a good punishment for an Aspergers child who ignores the house rules?" First of all, let’s think in terms of discipline rather than punishment . Punishment is mostly about parents getting revenge. Discipline, on the other hand, is mostly about mentoring and providing direction. Moms and dads should consider the following steps when attempting to discipline a youngster with Aspergers or High Functioning Autism: 1. Clearly post rules and consequences. Kids with Aspergers thrive on clear rules, and therefore posting a list of unacceptable behaviors and their consequences can be immensely helpful. For younger kids who cannot read yet, the rules should be reviewed periodically, and the list could also have visual illustrations to demonstrate the bad behaviors and punishments associated. 2. Come to an agreement on disciplinary techniques. Moms and dads need to be in agreement when applying discipline to any youngster, but especially for kids w

Aspergers (AS) is a severe developmental disorder characterized by major difficulties in social interaction, and restricted and usual patterns of interest and behavior. There are many similarities with autism without mental retardation (or “Higher Functioning Autism”), and the issue of whether Aspergers and Higher Functioning Autism are different conditions is not resolved. To some extent, the answer to this question depends on the way clinicians and researcher make use of this diagnostic concept since until recently, there was no “official” definition of Aspergers. The lack of a consensual definition led to a great deal of confusion, as researchers could not interpret other researcher’s findings. Clinicians felt free to use the label based on their own interpretations or misinterpretations of what Aspergers “really” meant, and moms and dads were often faced with a diagnosis that nobody appeared to understand very well, and worse still, nobody appeared to know what to do abou