I'm looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test

My son is in the 3rd grade and has absolutely no social skills(no REAL friends). I%26#039;ve noticed this for a while(since he started school)but thought he%26#039;s so smart he just couldn%26#039;t relate to his peers. His teacher this year is a mother which I think is helpful. The 2nd week of school she contacted me w/serious concerns about his lack of social interaction w/other kids. He walks alone, mumbles to himself, %26amp; totally fixated on dinosaurs. He%26#039;s been into dinos since the age of 2! He knows every fact you could imagine about dinos. He%26#039;s a fact obsessed kid. What year a book/movie/game/cartoon/TVshow etc. were made, what they%26#039;re rated %26amp; so on. He%26#039;s an A student %26amp; has no problem w/ his schoolwk. @ home %26quot;publishes%26quot; his own nonfiction books about dinos, monsters, animals %26amp; nature in general. I was told I might want to take him to be tested %26amp;the intake specialist said %26quot;sounds like Aspergers%26quot; he hadn%26#039;t seen my son but after some research,it sounds possible. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Sounds just like me at that age. I have aspergers too.

He probably has these symptoms:

1. Does well in school EXCEPT for sports and is always the last kid picked for the team.

2. Does well with computers, but has few friends.

3. Doesn%26#039;t smile much.

4. Has trouble verbally communicating, but communicates well on the computer.

5. Totally freaks out if someone changes something in his room without notice or his permission.

Am I right?

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Wait for test result!

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Asperger%26#039;s falls under the autism umbrella. People with Aspergers are considered to be very high functioning.

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

He certainly has the charactieristics of a typical aspergers child. I guess what you need to think is that regardless of the test results, he is still demonstrating the same characteristics. There are two main schools of thought that I have encountered regarding aspergers... one is that the child has a condition and therefore are the person they are because of that. The other is that the child can be taught to act appropriately in social situations etc... how you approach this is up to you as neither is right nor wrong.

Sue Larkey is an Autism specialist in Australia (aspergers is essentially high functioning autism). You can google her and she has a home page etc. If you email her she will be a wealth of support and information. She is brilliant at looking at the world from the perspective of a child with Aspergers or Autism

Good luck

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Try to find other children who have some of his interest. You can have structured play dates with them and try to help him interact with the other children. There is a child in my son%26#039;s taekwondo class who has aspergers. His therapist recommended taekwondo because he is with other children in a group setting and he interacts with other children in a controlled setting. He is not having to talk to the children but still feels he is bonding with them. He has even started to interact with them outside of class because he has something in common with them. I%26#039;m sure your sons doctor will give you lots of advice on how to help him socialize with other children. Good Luck!

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Hi there,

I work with children with autism. Asperger%26#039;s is on the autism spectrum but is very high functioning. But please know that there is a lot of hope. i work with clients as old as 18 but catching it at his age will improve his chances of gaining the social skills that he lacks. Defiantly take him in and get him tested as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out some of the websites that I am listing for you. If you don%26#039;t mind me asking do you live in California? If you do contact your local Regional Center they can also provide you information and free services if your son qualifies. If not there are other options in your state as well. There are many programs and therapies that will help your son. My personal advice, if he is diagnosed do not ever take no for an answer. Keep going until your son gets the services and treatment he deserves. Also educate yourself as much as you can about the Aspergers and your families right%26#039;s to treatment. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Best of luck.

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

most kids have some symptoms of Aspergers. It is best to wait till he is tested to find out. He just may be a high functioning kid. Not everyone has to fit into the relm of so called %26quot;normal%26quot; just wait as hard as it is .

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

Hi there my son is 10 and has aspergers and adhd. You will get a lot of information from the specialists which will help. The only things that i would say no one told me was to be ready for reactions that are unexpected like haircuts and the start of a new school year can really result in major meltdowns(what class, what teacher, who with etc.) starting from now so we have interviews with the school and his teacher before the next year and he meets them and goes in the day before school to pick his desk, this helps immensely as any little change can be a build up and then comes an explosion.He has to have a lot of structure to his days.This is how our son deals with things.He is learning to play the guitar with 2 other kids at school and this is helping him be a little more social as there would have been no way i could get him to play any kind of sport this was recommended..He was a loner and is finally starting to play with four other friends who also love yu-gi-oh cards they all understand that he has aspergers (when we found out he insisted the teacher read a book to the class about it which surprised us but worked well) and he fills their lives with lots of interesting thoughts!)They also know when to give him space. As long as you stay a few steps in front of him it will make it easier for you eg. class changed around -he needs to know before it happens. Social stories are the best thing and can work wonders . We have always told him %26quot;Every action has a reaction%26quot;.He can still have meltdowns and will not look people in the eye and if his teacher says he is being very quiet in class and good this tells me things are not well quiet means anxious talking a lot is comfortable for him and every day is challenging and different He has a special tree to go to if things get to hard instead of running of and he carries a special card in his pocket so if something happens and he cant talk he shows this to the teacher and she lets him go to visit the first support teacher on the list of four to talk or not.We also started to use post it notes in class (He had a lot of questions constantly(12 a minute) so it was easier for him to write it get it out of his head move on then when teacher had a chance she would go through them with him and most of the time he had fixed it himself this was not about schoolwork most of the time but worked wonders he would write it on them then put them in a tissue box for later.. We did try food diets and adhd medications which actually made him worse. He is now on a muscle relaxant to help him sleep and slow his thinking at night and this is working wonders. Good luck with everything and remember to keep keep your chin up. Babs

I%26#039;m looking for some help with my 9 year old son who may possibly have Aspergers?? Going 4 test next week...

My son was dx with aspergers at 9 as well. A website and chat room that about saved us was

http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/

We started homeschooling when my son was going into grade 5 and it was the best thing we ever did. It allowed ds to mature at his own rate without the pressure of school and he%26#039;s done great. However, I kow it%26#039;s not for everyone.

Good luck. I hope the testing will give you the answer you need and help you out.