whatamess wrote:
I hope this is the right place to post this.
I have a 12yr old who still takes speech therapy and is probably at an 8yr old level, however, he is at least verbal. We have been hanging out with other kids with autism in the hopes that he can make some better friends, as he is constantly bullied by the "normal" kids. One particular boy and him are finally playing more together, although his friend is almost non-verbal. I have heard my son a few times ask him "what did you say?" and of course, I do NOT want my son to be rude, because really, there are plenty of people who do the same to him and I know it hurts his feelings. I am trying to help both my son and this boy so that they can be better friends.
What things can I teach my son to do/say, etc. so that he can either communicate better with this other young boy or to ensure that the boy does not feel bad if he is not understood. I would really appreciate the input of those who were non-verbal before or still are as to how my son can have a relationship with this young boy since they do seem to have a great time together and I know they BOTH would benefit greatly from at least having one true friend.
Yes, there is a section for parents of AS kids but going through the different threads in general can help you understand AS better in general. Not everything can be taught from within books.
Being an AS adult, I can reflect both on my own childhood, and a lot from what my sister has been dealing with with my nephew (who has a few problems besides AS)
When it's just you and your son, bring out the kid in you and participate with your son in things he likes to do and play with him. By you playing with him, he will learn the social queues and mimic a lot of what you do in play, and may be more involved with the other kids on what he picks up from you. All the parents should spend time with the kids doing what the kids like to do at play especially those who don't really have a grasp on how to really play yet.
If the group of parents who get together so their ASD children can play together, finding or hiring (depending whats available) a social worker who is experienced with children in the spectrum would be the ideal thing. A good social worker will spend time with each child, observing the little things and even pointing out things a parent may not have noticed. An autism spectrum worker also puts in a lot of effort teaching children how to play together with various games that are geared at keeping their focus. The sessions are also helpful to parents because they also learn new ways to interact with the children in ways to help them socially. Just make sure more than one person knows about any special needs any of the kids have in case the child's parent stepped away for a moment (many children will need social breaks so they aren't burned out or overwhelmed, or have to have access to a toy or item to snap them out of certain behaviors)
When I was young ASD in general was unknown in my area, and there was very little to no real support for ADD/ADHD (I was originally diagnosed with ADD which is no longer even recognized without the "H") other than drugging the kids up on ritalin. My parents back in the day have tried therapists but the most they'd say is to spend more time with me. Believe me, it did not go well when my father tried to push me into baseball which was the furthest thing from what I was interested in.
10 Jul 2014, 4:48 pm
not a single response?should this go somewhere else?
