My ASD Child

Your Aspergers or high-functioning autistic (HFA) youngster is naturally - and very heavily - drawn to very select topics or subject areas. As a mother or father, it will be important for you to recognize your youngster's areas of specialty and understand how to build upon them. Doing so will make your youngster feel tremendously valued, because you are communicating that you “get” the importance of the Special Interests (i.e., areas of passion and intrigue). Special Interests may be used as links to life-defining opportunities in learning, relationships, and employment. One of the diagnostic criteria for the disorder is “unusually intense preoccupation with one or more stereotyped interests.” This sets a negative precedent in how your youngster's interests are perceived. The use of words like “preoccupation,” “fixation,” and “obsession” are not helpful in everyday life. They imply that such special interests are socially inappropriate, inappropriate to one's chronolo

Are you getting complaints from school regarding your Aspergers (high functioning autistic) child's behavior? Do the teachers seem to have a hard time finding ways to cope with him or her? If so, then copy and paste the following letter, then send it in an email to your child's teacher(s): Dear Teacher, I am the parent of _____ (child’s name). As you know, he has Aspergers. Here are some things that will help you to help him in the classroom environment: 1. Please allow him to "move about" periodically …sitting still for long periods of time can be very difficult (even a 2 minute 'walk around' with a friend or aide can help a lot). 2. Allowing our youngster to write down questions or thoughts and providing a response in writing may be very helpful at times. 3. Although his vocabulary and use of language may seem high, Aspergers kids may not know the meaning of what they are saying even though the words sound correct. 4. At times, it

Do you, the teacher, have a clear understanding of what your Aspergers (high functioning autistic) student’s needs will be prior to the start of school (perhaps as dictated by the IEP), and does your student know what to do and say if he gets “stuck”? If you know your Aspergers student to be a strong visual thinker and learner, ensure that any verbally communicated curriculum is reinforced with visuals. Some Aspergers kids cannot process visual and auditory input simultaneously without distraction – they are “mono-channel” so to speak (i.e., they can’t absorb what they are seeing and hearing at the same time and can attend to only one or the other). As many kids with Aspergers are so visual, this means there is potential for them to be distracted by everything in the room, so that they absorb only bits and pieces of the instruction. In one instance, a young "Aspie’s" school team members were frustrated because they thought they were supporting her fully by assign

It's common for Aspergers (high functioning autistic) children of all ages to experience school anxiety and school-related stress. This is often most apparent at the end of summer when school is about to start again, but it can occur year-round. Social, academic and scheduling factors play a major role, as do hidden environmental stressors. CLICK HERE for the full article...