New here..have some questions

Post Reply New Topic

So we have just started the testing with my 6 year old daughter. At first we were told PDD NOS, but now they are leaning more towards Aspergers. Of course it depends on the day and the doctor/therapists we are talking to at the time. It has been a very stressful time, I just want to know what it is we are dealing with, so we can start to help her. I think because she is a girl she is having a really hard time. Girls are "supposed" to be social and talkative. My heart breaks on a daily basis over the way she is treated by the "mean girls" in our neighborhood. I would appreciate anyones first hand input on what we are dealing with. We are going to stat therapy sessions with a play therapist next week and we have an eligibility meeting next week to decide what to do for her at school. I would love to know what services some of you have received at school to help you through this. TIA for any and all help.

Homeschooling was absolutely the best thing for me at age six. I had friends, but because we played in settings in which parents were naturally involved such as at our homes, it prevented the anarchical power struggle that inevitably happens in places like public school, where there is one adult for 20 kids. In my opinion, there is no need for six year olds to be in school unless employment of both parents necessitates it. There are plenty of opportunities for social interaction that work better than public school for kids with disabilities. Of course, it is a case by case basis, but for me, going to public high school was a good thing. When my parents put me into school during fifth grade, it was a mistake on their part.

I wish I was home schooled.

we have an aspie son, and what we thought was an aspie daughter ( her official dx is ADHD, hyperactive/ impulsive type)...still not convinced that daughter's dx is accurate, but i'm trying to deal with it. duaghter is 8 and has very poor social skills~thinks everyone is her friend & can't understand that some of the things she does are very off-putting. currently, she's in girl scouts . as i'm the troop leader, i can keep an eye on things & help her through alot of the social issues. even with me there to help, she still doesn't seem to get the idea that not everyone is just dying to hear all of the things that come out of her mouth ( daughter talks incessantly~doesn't even seem to notice that others want to speak or that others don't like to be interrupted). it's a long road.

I think play therapy is a great place to start. Any kind of social skills class throughout the coming years will be very beneficial. Also, situations such as girl scouts, where you can be the leader and kind of control the situation a bit, observe your daughter and catch her in situations where she's either not socializing correctly and you can suggest alternative responses, OR catch your daughter in situations where she's socializing really appropriately and compliment her on doing well -- this kind of an experience is really helpful.

In our experience, the school speech therapist was extremely helpful. In the early years of elementary school, she worked on pragmatic language, but as the years passed, she worked more on social language skills. She asked questions and helped our son with appropriate answers, helped him to predict situations, had children come to the speech room with my son to watch him in his play skills, and also allowed him to invite friends up to eat lunch in the speech room to witness how he did in casual conversation. All of this was really wonderful in helping him socialize at school.

Kris

Exactly. Except in our house, swap her 8 year old daughter, for our 8 year old son. My son's dx is Aspergers. He attends a public school but is in an Aspergers class. It's fantastic. He absolutely loves it. There's only 7 students and his teacher as an extensive knowledge of Autism and is very proactive.

For us, what has helped the most is intensive 1:1 support. He has an EA that stays with him for the entire day. He has an OT (Occupational Therapist) who sees him once a week at school and he's on the wait list (currently a year long) for S&L (Speech and Language).

If you're able to also get in to see an Occupational Therapist, I would highly suggest it. An OT was the first person we saw and she helped us a lot when it came to dealing with his anxiety and sensory issues. Both tend to go hand in hand with Autism.

If you have a family doctor that knows your family well and you trust him/her make sure that you involve them in everything that you do with your child. Our family doctor has become our best advocate to get us services and help finding resources.

Seek our a parent/services network in your area. That's how I hear about programs in the community and can find out from other parents of Aspies what they think of it. Networking is key. If there's a support group for parents of Aspies, try it out. Sometimes I find it helps to connect with other families who know what it's like to raise a child that isn't neurotypical because they don't judge you the way other family/friends might.

Best of luck in your journey. I know it's really overwhelming in the beginning.

Speech therapy at school, OT at a specialist, and Speech therapy/play therapy with a speech therapist speciallizing with autistic children.


The combination worked wonders the first 6 months. Now we just do 30 minutes of speech a week at school and an hour of speech/play a week with the specialist.

After roughly 20 months, he has continued to make great progess. We were told 6 months ago we could drop speech to twice a month but it was doing him so much good we have continued the weekly sessions.

Give the play therapy a shot. She will be resistent to it but it really seems to help open up their world and their comprehension of their feelings which allows them to comminucate more effectivly while decreasing their anxiety.

I agree! I forgot to add it in my post. My son has been going to weekly play therapy since June 2005 and he LOVES it. It has made a huge difference for all the reasons that TUWD has stated above.