Does your child with Asperger Syndrome really want to be alone?
I have Asperger Syndrome, and I enjoyed being alone when I was little, mostly when I was in my own world reading. But I also craved company and wanted to be with people.
There’s a great Gary Larson Far Side cartoon about optimists and pessimists that shows four people, each separately looking at a glass with some water in it.
It can take any teacher a while to figure out the strengths and challenges of children at the beginning of a school year. A child with Asperger Syndrome, or a similar autism spectrum disorder, may not benefit from waiting to be figured out.
I like colorful language. Vivid word images can really help communicate a point. But there’s a down side, and it’s one that those of us with Asperger Syndrome need to take to heart.
I admit it. I’ve played Behavior Whac-A-Mole. It’s a version of the arcade game where mole heads pop out of holes at a faster and faster rate and you try and hit each mole on the head with a mallet before it disappears. Like many parents, I had no idea at the time that I was playing. But if you find yourself constantly responding to your child’s behaviors by criticizing or correcting him, and those behaviors are not improving, you’re playing Behavior Whac-A-Mole.
You have a child with Asperger Syndrome. Where is he? Not geographically. I mean in the larger sense of: where is he or she in preparing for adulthood?
If you’re depending on your observations alone, you may not be getting a complete picture of your child’s capabilities and challenges. How often have you found out your child didn’t understand something that you assumed he knew? How often has she surprised you with knowledge that you had no idea she possessed, or displayed a talent you didn’t know he had?
