WWII and my 7 year old aspie

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Hello,

My 7 year old son's new thing is WWII. I was wondering if anyone had an aspie so young that was interested in "difficult" topics? I am trying to find him some books that are somewhat age appropriate but its not an easy thing to do. He does want army men for Christmas which is fine with me. I wish my brother lived closer he is a high school history teacher and is very into the Wars. My son is not so good on the phone so they couldnt talk over the phone either. Anyway, If anyone has any ideas how I can help him other than books and army men. I dont mind him learning about War but I sometimes find myself turning off the military channel because of some of the content. Any ideas will be gratefully accepted

thanks

Check out the local library and possibly ILL. You may have to take some of the books out on your card because they are adult books.

I remember doing that to my mother when I was 9 years old and became interested in the Blizzard of '77 (I grew up in Buffalo NY). The only books she could find on that topic in the library was in the adult section.

liloleme, my brother was same way, he had a stage in his interests (I dont think he was aspie) were his interest was WWII and him pretending to fly his model airplanes and watching the shows on tv about them and war (such as the spitfire and Messerschmidt (some german war plane)

anther stage of war that my brother got into was revolutionary and the early american wars, that stage he pretty much in summer would BEG my grandmother to take him to Gettysburg and valley forge, PA.

since some of the stuff that happened in WWII was graphic or violant, im not saying to get rid of the interest, may want to teach him the general stuff first then when he gets more understanding and mature you can mention about hitler and the camps.
(Ipersonally didn't learn about the camps till I was in about 8th grade, and even then, made me soo sad to hear about jews and disabled people being killed, I didn't even feel like eating lunch that day.

maybe you can teach him from some kid friendly history sites, or some that you and him are comfy reading and have him learn from them. (no real need for a library card since many people have the internet now.

I'm just thinking, why not ask your brother? He'd be able to advise, perhaps even give names of books that would be age appropriate for your son.

When you say interested, in what way? I remember that my brother and I loved army men, GI Joes, toy guns, playing "war", etc. from a very early age. I don't have any kids of my own, but I've heard lots of people say this is just how boys are.

Is your son interested in all the details (maybe a dumb question, but I'm new here)? What I mean is, does he like looking at/drawing planes, tanks, dogfights, battle scenes, etc? Or does he want to map out the Battle of the Bulge starting from the Germans' advance through the Ardennes, through the seige of Bastogne, the arrival of Patton's 3rd Army, etc. etc.?

Yeah, I had an interest in WWII topics at that age. Though my interests were more specific; I was fascinated with battleships like the Bismarck; and knew alot about the Battle of Britain. My knowledge wasn't very broad, but i did have a keen interest in WWII at a young age, that I carried on to this day.

This thread hits home for me in a way. When I was about your son's age (2nd grade, 8 years old), my teacher arranged for a guest speaker to teach the class about World War II, someone who was a World War II veteran and could tell stories first-hand. (Perhaps it was someone she knew personally.) He walked into class wearing a suit covered in numerous medals and lapel pins, using a cane for support. He talked about the combat situations he's been in, what the military equipment looked like, and what each of his medals meant. (I'm guessing he chose to leave out most of the darker stuff.) Despite my low level of interest in history at the time, I found his stories very interesting, and it was one of my most memorable days in school. Even the kids who bullied me were listening intently.

Perhaps something similar can be arranged for your son. I'm sure there are a few veterans' organizations in your area that can schedule a brief meeting. This way, in addition to letting your son learn from a real WWII veteran, it will give him an opportunity to see the human side of the war, about the people who fought to make victory possible. You didn't specify if your son had AS or not, but meetings like that may give him extra appreciation for humanity, which is something many aspies struggle with.

Books on armoured vehicles are usually fairly a-political with fairly clean content. Make sure it has plenty of pictures, especially technical diagrams and fairly detailed information to learn. I'd have loved stuff like that as a kid.

And yes, buy endless model soldiers. And tanks. And aircraft. Battleships. Carriers. Armoured cars. Calvary. Field guns. Airbourne divisions. Panzer regiments. And much else besides. You simply can't exhaust WW2, that's the beauty of it.

Ooh, yes - books with pictures and tech specs are awesome. For me, it was the WW II aircraft. I still think they're the most beautiful - jets are so generic.

And once he has the army men, be prepared for huge battle scenes that must not be disturbed.

Agreed with previous posters--can you narrow down his particular interest?

There are many facets to war--political, economic, logistic, technical, etc., and it is possible to find material which addresses these without getting into the gorier aspects. I have known people who are fascinated by the prosecution of war while still abhorring its human toll. It doesn't make much sense to me, but to each his own.

Oh yes, certainly. The battle of Stalingrad lasted six months, so recreating it in less than a month would simply be impossible. And when you've spent an entire week moving your armored reserves forward to outflank the carelessly deployed field guns, eventually leading to a breakout, encirclement and victory, well, disturbing this process will result in THE MOST MASSIVE MELTDOWN IMAGINABLE! Okay, games like that are probably a bit hardcore for a seven year old but if I'm playing one of those hex wargames, the ones four foot across and with 300 counters a side, it'll be set up for at least a month. Something to look forwards to in the teenage years

Another thought, if WW2 is too unpleasant, trying getting him interested in another conflict. Cold war is particularly apt since it never actually happened. Modern armour is fairly interesting, not as much variation as WW2 but still some impressive kit. If he need convincing, there's any number of videos of such matters on Youtube. I wouldn't try WW1 as way too bloody, Napoleonics and America Civil War I've never enjoyed but could be worth a shot. Medievals and Romans worth a shot, less militarily interesting but the history is much less unpleasant, especially since it is much more distant. Of course, if he's really into WW2 then there's nothing you can do.

When I was that age I was devouring maintenance manuals for the F4 Phantom, everything unclassified I could get from my buddy an Air Force Aircraft mechanic that rented an apartment from my parents. I was in aspie heaven.

Maybe get him the DVDs of Baa Baa Black Sheep, or Black Sheep Squadron. Billy, my girlfriend's 10 year old Aspie, and I have had some good times watching the series together.

It's quite violent, but the ten-part miniseries "Band of Brothers" is the best World War II feature ever made in my opinion. Also, there is a sequel miniseries called "The Pacific" that will premiere in March 2010.

I would not consider hiding the horror of the war. It was horrible. I've played games based on this era so I know the majority of the weapons used. From what I have played, it is not very pleasant. It might be ideal to start off with "WHY" World War 2 started. The beginning is always a good idea.

I don't think it's that unusual. I was interested in WW2 when I was quite young.