My ASD Child

Question How can I tell the difference between “aspergers behavior” and pure “disobedience” …I’m not sure what should be punished – and what should not? Answer Many moms and dads have a difficult time distinguishing between “disobedience” and “misunderstanding” in their Aspergers (high functioning autism) youngster. Because he may not interpret social cues correctly, it may be difficult for an Aspergers youngster to understand what is expected of him, and he may not understand the impact his behavior has on other family members. So, how can parents tell the difference between “Aspergers behavior” versus “misbehavior”? Most Aspergers-related behavior (sometimes misinterpreted by parents as “misbehavior”) tends to revolve around the child’s resistance to any kind of change. An Aspergers child is resistant to change for the following reasons: Has anxiety about a current or upcoming event (e.g., the start of school) Does not understanding how the world works Does n

Autism Spectrum Disorder/Asperger Syndrome Information— 1.       Articles on Asperger Syndrome http://www.specialed.us/autism/asper/asper11.html 2.       Asperger Syndrome Information for Teens http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=243&np=293&id=2320 3.       Australian Autism Education & Training Consortium -Provides details about workshops and information sessions for parents/caregivers of school-aged children who have autism). www.autismtraining.com.au 4.       Autism Advisory and Support Service http://www.aass.org.au/ 5.       Autism Awareness http://www.autismawareness.com.au 6.       Autism Help Info -Webpage to help professionals, teachers, to understand and support the inclusion of people with ASD. Website funded by The Department of Human Services in Geelong, Victoria, Australia (Barwon South Western region). http://www.autismhelp.info/main.htm 7.       Autism Help -A wealth of information and on a range of topics relating to  autism and

Question Is there anything I can do to help me remember that my aspergers son’s behaviors are not designed to irritate me and that to him they are needful or make sense? Answer I know! It is so hard to deal with this, especially as people with Aspergers (high functioning autism) get older. We expect them to stop doing things that irritate us as they mature! But, they can't and they won't. Their behaviors make sense to them, even when we explain why they don't make sense "in the real world," as we think of it. Some of this is due to the fact that they "need" the behaviors, for whatever reason. Some of it is due to mindblindness, the lack of ability to understand the emotions, feelings, motivations, and logic of others and not care that they don't understand! Their mindblindness makes us feel as though they don't care about us. Let me describe a perfect example of mindblindness. The mother of someone that I know has Asp