Do you need some assistance in parenting your Aspergers or HFA child? Click here to use Mark Hutten, M.A. as your personal parent coach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello,
I recently came across your facebook sight for parenting children with Apergers. My son is almost 8 and was diagnosed with ADHD by a therapist. Although he is not medicated, it doesn't seem to affect his academics. He has behavioral issues that he qualified for the emotional disability section of help from the school. He has had an IEP for 3 years now and we tweak it constantly. I'm stressed because I have been feeling like its not just ADHD. He has most of the symptoms/signs of aspergers to the point where I could name at least 3 situations to back up each sign. The problem I am having is its going to take 3 to 6 months for him to see a developmental pediatrician and with him getting suspended for stupid stuff or for the school not following his IEP, I just cant bare to wait that long. Are there any resources that could expedite him seeing a developmental pediatrician?
Sincerely,
A Concerned Parent
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Mark,
Three years ago I was frantically looking for a safe solution for my then 19 year old daughter. She had become endangered in her new community college setting and as I searched around on the web, I came across an article where you highlighted Ramapo for Children's young adult program in New York. I contacted them and by March, my daughter was in New York where she's been since then.
During the time she has been there, my husband and I began to recover ourselves, our resiliency and our hope. As Kelsey became more settled we realized that we had the business and personal resources that would allow us to create a program here in the Pacific Northwest, where there are none.
Fast forward 2 years later and we have done just that!
www.concertoproject.org
We are very close to achieving the ability to open our doors to 25 young adults. The Concerto Project has learned the best from many programs nationwide, and we have crafted ours specifically for our locale and the population we are most familiar with-- mid to high functioning young adults aged 18-25 years.
I wanted to let you know about this and ask for your help in reaching out to those who will benefit from the program and who have the resources to now make it happen.
Our website with FAQs and history over the past two years, is extensive. I'm also attaching a copy of our brochure and our most recent press release with the exciting news that an 80-acre farm has been offered to us. The owner of the property has asked us to raise $1M of the $2.95M sale cost, to secure the property, then we are off and running towards the goal of opening the doors as soon as possible.
Your consideration and support would be most appreciated. You have already given us much and my family, friends and colleagues are most grateful to you for sending us to Ramapo in the first place. Talk about a ripple effect!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I bought your ebook for my sons 4th grade teacher...he has high functioning autism and is having a very hard time in her class. She is a second year teacher. He is having a hard time paying attention during class discussions. I'm thinking that I'll have to read the book and then give her specific page numbers to reference since she 'doesn't have much time to read books'.
My son tends to read books while the teacher is conducting the discussion and she is disappointed in his class participation. Even though I would love for him to participate in a class discussions - I am just happy that he's not up wandering around the classroom because he's bored.
Thank you for your help!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With me it isn't exactly a romantic relationship although I believe it could develop into that. He's my best friend and I just found out he's autistic or has aspergers (I've heard both from his family). To be honest I don't know much about it at all. I never had a reason to. I could tell there were issues like he's spoiled and I always thought he could be rather self centered but I see there's more to it than that. Could this help me? We are super close and I really want to be the best friend I can be (possibly girlfriend at some point, pretty sure he doesn't know how to have a normal relationship and he's been in some bad ones). Anyway could this help me or is there anything you could tell me to help me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My daughter is out of control lately. As she gets bigger the battles get bigger.Growth spurts are hormonal - tells me her sensory therapist.
I am considering having an ABA therapist come into my home to deal with her daily routines.
Her doctor has yet to diagnose her with Aspergers (autism). I have to confront the doctor next week. She wants another evaluation done by the doctor she trained with. My daughter already got the diagnosis by a psychologist but she wanted an MD that she (knew) to re assess. (in case it was an anxiety disorder). When I first met this doctor and gave my list of problems with my 2 year old she said off the bat this is Aspergers (when I asked her what is THIS). Her initial instinct was right... now that I have researched all this. At first I told the doctor NO WAY my kid is so social and loves other kids.
My daughter has SPD since 18 months. Never looked anyone in the eye as a baby.
And her history is why a psychologist diagnosed it . Unless people are in my home, they often dont see issues with her just a few quirks and a REALLY smart 3 year old.
I have so much frustration with getting an Aspergers diagnosis for my daughter, since she is verbal and not academically behind. I have had her in so many outside therapies and buffered all her issues with the world before I send her out. So she looks great, but I am drained to the MAX.
I love your suggestions about Taking Care of Ourselves.
What can you give me as a way to PUSH this doctor to commit to her first diagnosis ? Because if I get the diagnosis, I can apply for a special Autism Waiver, which would give us 3 years of help in the home.
I am a single mom, low income who left her alcoholic dad before I knew I was pregnant. I have not taken him back and he has taken me through court with all his money. He must have Aspergers himself since nothing he did made social sense and thus I have full custody and responsibilty.
Any tips for communicating to her doctor to get the diagnosis?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I live in chicago so it is cps i am dealing with i have called to get an advocate for to help with my sons IEP but no answer yet how do i go about moving this a little faster as they are not understanding him in school and how to approach him so then when he reacts he gets in trouble, i feel all this pressure for him to perform is on him and nothing on them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mark,
I am a fourth grade teacher who has a highly functioning Aspergers student in both my reading and math class. I am stumped as to how to help my student. He will not write, even when the topic is narrowed down a lot. I've tried sitting by him and talking to him; asking him what I can do to help him and he will not answer me. He has an iPad which he does not like to use.
He does not like to type. We recently spent time researching Greek Gods and the students made posters and shared them. J. wouldn't even start.
He's a very smart, nice young man. I'd appreciate any suggestions that you may have for me to better help him. Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Sue
Fourth grade teacher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
I have an important question about my sons classroom in grade 3.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am looking for a place where my step son can get the help and discipline he needs because he does not want to go to school he disrespects his father me and his brother and is tearing this family apart I have been raising him and his brother since he was 6 and his brother 5 we just do not know what else we can do for him he has been in in home intense therapy and we gone to family counseling to try and find new ways to deal with his out of control behavior do you think that you can help us find some place for him he has been in the mental hospital and that help for a week after he got out we are at the point that we just want to ask the sherriff’s to come and pick he up because he is also hitting on his brother and he has hit me in the past on numerous occasion's please help us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i am a grandparent to a foster grandaughter (A) who came to our family at age 9 and her sister (B) was 4. they are now 14 and 10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello,
I recently came across your facebook sight for parenting children with Apergers. My son is almost 8 and was diagnosed with ADHD by a therapist. Although he is not medicated, it doesn't seem to affect his academics. He has behavioral issues that he qualified for the emotional disability section of help from the school. He has had an IEP for 3 years now and we tweak it constantly. I'm stressed because I have been feeling like its not just ADHD. He has most of the symptoms/signs of aspergers to the point where I could name at least 3 situations to back up each sign. The problem I am having is its going to take 3 to 6 months for him to see a developmental pediatrician and with him getting suspended for stupid stuff or for the school not following his IEP, I just cant bare to wait that long. Are there any resources that could expedite him seeing a developmental pediatrician?
Sincerely,
A Concerned Parent
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Mark,
Three years ago I was frantically looking for a safe solution for my then 19 year old daughter. She had become endangered in her new community college setting and as I searched around on the web, I came across an article where you highlighted Ramapo for Children's young adult program in New York. I contacted them and by March, my daughter was in New York where she's been since then.
During the time she has been there, my husband and I began to recover ourselves, our resiliency and our hope. As Kelsey became more settled we realized that we had the business and personal resources that would allow us to create a program here in the Pacific Northwest, where there are none.
Fast forward 2 years later and we have done just that!
www.concertoproject.org
We are very close to achieving the ability to open our doors to 25 young adults. The Concerto Project has learned the best from many programs nationwide, and we have crafted ours specifically for our locale and the population we are most familiar with-- mid to high functioning young adults aged 18-25 years.
I wanted to let you know about this and ask for your help in reaching out to those who will benefit from the program and who have the resources to now make it happen.
Our website with FAQs and history over the past two years, is extensive. I'm also attaching a copy of our brochure and our most recent press release with the exciting news that an 80-acre farm has been offered to us. The owner of the property has asked us to raise $1M of the $2.95M sale cost, to secure the property, then we are off and running towards the goal of opening the doors as soon as possible.
Your consideration and support would be most appreciated. You have already given us much and my family, friends and colleagues are most grateful to you for sending us to Ramapo in the first place. Talk about a ripple effect!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I bought your ebook for my sons 4th grade teacher...he has high functioning autism and is having a very hard time in her class. She is a second year teacher. He is having a hard time paying attention during class discussions. I'm thinking that I'll have to read the book and then give her specific page numbers to reference since she 'doesn't have much time to read books'.
My son tends to read books while the teacher is conducting the discussion and she is disappointed in his class participation. Even though I would love for him to participate in a class discussions - I am just happy that he's not up wandering around the classroom because he's bored.
Thank you for your help!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With me it isn't exactly a romantic relationship although I believe it could develop into that. He's my best friend and I just found out he's autistic or has aspergers (I've heard both from his family). To be honest I don't know much about it at all. I never had a reason to. I could tell there were issues like he's spoiled and I always thought he could be rather self centered but I see there's more to it than that. Could this help me? We are super close and I really want to be the best friend I can be (possibly girlfriend at some point, pretty sure he doesn't know how to have a normal relationship and he's been in some bad ones). Anyway could this help me or is there anything you could tell me to help me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My daughter is out of control lately. As she gets bigger the battles get bigger.Growth spurts are hormonal - tells me her sensory therapist.
I am considering having an ABA therapist come into my home to deal with her daily routines.
Her doctor has yet to diagnose her with Aspergers (autism). I have to confront the doctor next week. She wants another evaluation done by the doctor she trained with. My daughter already got the diagnosis by a psychologist but she wanted an MD that she (knew) to re assess. (in case it was an anxiety disorder). When I first met this doctor and gave my list of problems with my 2 year old she said off the bat this is Aspergers (when I asked her what is THIS). Her initial instinct was right... now that I have researched all this. At first I told the doctor NO WAY my kid is so social and loves other kids.
My daughter has SPD since 18 months. Never looked anyone in the eye as a baby.
And her history is why a psychologist diagnosed it . Unless people are in my home, they often dont see issues with her just a few quirks and a REALLY smart 3 year old.
I have so much frustration with getting an Aspergers diagnosis for my daughter, since she is verbal and not academically behind. I have had her in so many outside therapies and buffered all her issues with the world before I send her out. So she looks great, but I am drained to the MAX.
I love your suggestions about Taking Care of Ourselves.
What can you give me as a way to PUSH this doctor to commit to her first diagnosis ? Because if I get the diagnosis, I can apply for a special Autism Waiver, which would give us 3 years of help in the home.
I am a single mom, low income who left her alcoholic dad before I knew I was pregnant. I have not taken him back and he has taken me through court with all his money. He must have Aspergers himself since nothing he did made social sense and thus I have full custody and responsibilty.
Any tips for communicating to her doctor to get the diagnosis?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I live in chicago so it is cps i am dealing with i have called to get an advocate for to help with my sons IEP but no answer yet how do i go about moving this a little faster as they are not understanding him in school and how to approach him so then when he reacts he gets in trouble, i feel all this pressure for him to perform is on him and nothing on them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mark,
I am a fourth grade teacher who has a highly functioning Aspergers student in both my reading and math class. I am stumped as to how to help my student. He will not write, even when the topic is narrowed down a lot. I've tried sitting by him and talking to him; asking him what I can do to help him and he will not answer me. He has an iPad which he does not like to use.
He does not like to type. We recently spent time researching Greek Gods and the students made posters and shared them. J. wouldn't even start.
He's a very smart, nice young man. I'd appreciate any suggestions that you may have for me to better help him. Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Sue
Fourth grade teacher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Need some advice as our adopted son has RAD and he is
stealing. He hacked into someone's Amazon account and
changedthe mailing address so that the delivery came to our
house
It was reported to the local police department and
they came and met him at our house. The case will go to the
county but we haven't heard back from them. Meantime another
package comes and it's an Xbox one that he says he won from a
you tubers contest. My wife is good at remaining calm and
communication skills but then it seems to turn into enabling.
We called Microsoft Office to see how he got it but they could
not find the order and told us to keep it. And it seems to
me that my wife was going to accept that. I reminded her of
all that has transpired and that I felt like I had to reach
out to someone. We have not shared with family about his 2
hospitalizations or how bad the stealing and lies are. He wants
to resolve all this with jail time. I'm tired enough to just
let that happen but I know the Lord wants me to intercede. I
think he does accept his wrong doing but doesn't want to turn
from it as it gives him the attention in the way he wants it.
Thank you. Can you please make any suggestions?
Tom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
I
just noticed yesterday that my son Luke, was sitting by himself at a
desk facing the wall away from his classmates. So I asked the teacher,
and he said that "It was Luke's desk from now on... because he talks a
lot and it helps him focus without distractions. I didn't know what to
say to this, except I got a bad feeling in my stomach. Luke hardly
ever gets in trouble so I was surprised to hear this news.
Then today he got in trouble for disrupting the class with shouting
out to get the teacher and the classes attention. He said, I didn't
want to put up my hand because.....no one would see me put it up. So I
stood up and asked for the classes attention" He shouted out, "Now
that I have your attention, I think that trees etc. .......". He
said that he was only trying to help the class learn and he couldn't
help from where he was sitting. This is my concern, that Luke is feeling isolated and not a part of the class.
In your opinion, will this help him? Will this teach him to cooperate with others?
Is this typical of how ASD kids should be taught?
My son, age 8 was diagnosed in July with Moderate ASD high functioning. (resembles Aspergers).
Any advice you can give me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
I'm sorry to report that my 17 year old son is getting more oppositional: abusive(throws things at me,pushes, etc), destructive of my property,irresponsible,failing a class in school, etc. I'll spare you the details, but, suffice to say he is threatening to me on a daily basis.
My problem, and why I'm not able to implement the suggestions is my husband refuses to work the program,won't give consequences, role models poor communication/problem solving. He is very stubborn and gets his way most the time for the last 21 years of our marriage. I have no influence on my son now as he goes to his enabling Dad if I want to hold him accountable. The most he says is "Don't do that Andrew", and of course he does it again, we are talking,vaping,not coming home all night, not at the carpool from school, and never returning phone calls as to his whereabouts(Dad won't let me cancel the service or call the cops)
I know alot of the problems are nurture as my 15 year old son is now uncooperative and disrespectful to me.
Can you suggest a strong influential counselor to talk some sense into my husband. You can see we need outside help and are willing to pay what ever it takes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My son, Brian, is now 11 years old and in middle school. After a good start with a healthy diet as a toddler, he started becoming more and more picky about food from about 3 years old on. At this point in time he is only eating cheese pizza, macaroni and cheese, french fries and chicken nuggets. I can occasionally get him to eat an apple (granny smith only) or a few grapes if I offer a bribe. I will occasionally find another food he'll eat, but after a few weeks he suddenly won't touch it. Even the foods he does like have to be certain brands. If I try to sneak in a different brand he realizes it and won't eat the food. He is gaining weight at an alarming rate and shuns any kind of physical activity, even walking up the stairs to retrieve an item he needs. When he is hungry he becomes absolutely impossible, having horrific meltdowns. There is diabetes on both sides of the family, so if he keeps going at this rate the results are not going to be good. I realize that issues with taste and texture are part of being an Aspie, but I have to find some way to get some healthy food into him. He is also eating huge amounts of food. If we try to restrict him to a single serving, or even two or three, he goes nuts. I don't want him to feel bad about his body, but I'd also like to outlive him. He's already close to 200 pounds at 5"3" and has almost outgrown a man's extra large. Please help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
I'm sorry to report that my 17 year old son is getting more oppositional: abusive(throws things at me,pushes, etc), destructive of my property,irresponsible,failing a class in school, etc. I'll spare you the details, but, suffice to say he is threatening to me on a daily basis.
My problem, and why I'm not able to implement the suggestions is my husband refuses to work the program,won't give consequences, role models poor communication/problem solving. He is very stubborn and gets his way most the time for the last 21 years of our marriage. I have no influence on my son now as he goes to his enabling Dad if I want to hold him accountable. The most he says is "Don't do that Andrew", and of course he does it again, we are talking,vaping,not coming home all night, not at the carpool from school, and never returning phone calls as to his whereabouts(Dad won't let me cancel the service or call the cops)
I know alot of the problems are nurture as my 15 year old son is now uncooperative and disrespectful to me.
Can you suggest a strong influential counselor to talk some sense into my husband. You can see we need outside help and are willing to pay what ever it takes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My son, Brian, is now 11 years old and in middle school. After a good start with a healthy diet as a toddler, he started becoming more and more picky about food from about 3 years old on. At this point in time he is only eating cheese pizza, macaroni and cheese, french fries and chicken nuggets. I can occasionally get him to eat an apple (granny smith only) or a few grapes if I offer a bribe. I will occasionally find another food he'll eat, but after a few weeks he suddenly won't touch it. Even the foods he does like have to be certain brands. If I try to sneak in a different brand he realizes it and won't eat the food. He is gaining weight at an alarming rate and shuns any kind of physical activity, even walking up the stairs to retrieve an item he needs. When he is hungry he becomes absolutely impossible, having horrific meltdowns. There is diabetes on both sides of the family, so if he keeps going at this rate the results are not going to be good. I realize that issues with taste and texture are part of being an Aspie, but I have to find some way to get some healthy food into him. He is also eating huge amounts of food. If we try to restrict him to a single serving, or even two or three, he goes nuts. I don't want him to feel bad about his body, but I'd also like to outlive him. He's already close to 200 pounds at 5"3" and has almost outgrown a man's extra large. Please help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark,
We have been having a pretty rough time with Jake. He became very
angry and violent . He wanted me to kill him (I am his grandmother) He
said if I did not kill him he would kill me. I called 911 they took him
to the ER. He was taken to Laurel Heights Hospital in Atlanta , GA. It
was a rough two weeks. They adjusted his meds ...He is like a different
boy (15 years old) now. We have a homebound teacher for him. After one
week this seems to be going well. This has been the worse time of my
life. I never thought I would call 911 on my grandson. He is with me
most of the time as his parents are divorced.....
Any thoughts or advice.
Thank you and God Bless,
Sandra ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
have an 11 year old with Aspergers, so I thought I was a pro so to
speak. However, I have gone back to work going from being a mobile
therapist to a paraprofessional in the local school district. I have a
student that blows and the antecedent is inconsistent for the most part.
One common factor is not liking what he hears. My question is how to
de-escalate? I have tried ignoring, but the behaviors cannot be
tolerated in Middle School. I am on his side and support to the best of
my ability, but admin is ready to boil over. any help or direction to
help would be appreciated.
I am looking for a place where my step son can get the help and discipline he needs because he does not want to go to school he disrespects his father me and his brother and is tearing this family apart I have been raising him and his brother since he was 6 and his brother 5 we just do not know what else we can do for him he has been in in home intense therapy and we gone to family counseling to try and find new ways to deal with his out of control behavior do you think that you can help us find some place for him he has been in the mental hospital and that help for a week after he got out we are at the point that we just want to ask the sherriff’s to come and pick he up because he is also hitting on his brother and he has hit me in the past on numerous occasion's please help us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saw your site and was impressed. I have a 17 year old boy with Apsergers, bi-polar syndrome and PTSD. He is on Sertraline, llthium
carbonate and Risperdal (risperidone). Under
NY state law (where we live), a potential driver must notify the DMV if
that person is on a drug which could alter awareness while driving.
Sean
now wants to drive, and 1) disagrees that any of his problems could
alter his awareness or ability to drive and: 2) that any of the drugs
causes an awareness problem.
Under
NY law, a potential driver must get a doctor to verify that his illness
or treatment will not effect his ability to drive if under medication
in certain circumstance. One treating doctor has recommended that he
not drive. Sean is very uncoordinated, very easily distracted, talks to
himself constantly and very often thinks in a disjointed way.
The argument from him is that he need not check the box regarding a potential condition (see page 2, question 2: dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv44.pdf).
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
This is a big deal in handling a kid like Sean, so I am assuming you
have crossed that bridge. What my wife and I are worried about are the
legal consequences if we don't have him check the box and the fact that
if he crashes and hurts himself or others, our insurance will decline
coverage. Sean also wanders off sometimes and gets lost while walking,
and we are worried that he might just take off on a trip and not be
able to find his way home. His time management is zero.
i am a grandparent to a foster grandaughter (A) who came to our family at age 9 and her sister (B) was 4. they are now 14 and 10.
the
oldest girl (A) has been problimatic always and has the 20 symptoms of
RAD but not officially diagnosed by anybody. she is very manipulative
and very voilent in recent times when she doesnt get her own way. she is
a compulsive liar and reported abuse by her foster father but retracted
it as it was a lie .
her birth mother does not like her
because she talked too much about the family life but the mother adores
the younger child.(B). (A) hates her sister (B).
they have
little supervised contact with their mother but she would be appear at
birthday times. this year she did not appear for the 14 yr old in june
but the little ones bthday is this friday10yrs and the mother wants to meet her.
now to me this was like a 2 sided jagged edged sword been put through the older girls heart.
She
went on the rampage . she refused to do what was asked of her and threw
a chair at her father thenwas sent to her room and she continued to
chant the gibrish nent morning she went to school and made same
aligation to school and said she was sick so her dad took her home.
next
day back to school and said she was with a councellor all day but the
school had told her mom that she ever went to the councellor. next
morning her hatred of her was evident in that sh took a big bag of golf
clubs and hurled at her sister.
my daughter her mom just packed a bag and took her to the social workers to get respite.
she
is now in respite care for a week but it is a big holiday for her . she
asked to meet her sister after 2 days just to show her the fullmanicure
and pedicure an nail painting plud new hairstyle. she gets 20 euro each
day and does not have to do any chores at all, and IF she comes back
she has a list of demandsincluding a TV in her bedroom , not have to do
any chores etc.
this is rewarding her for bad behaviour and the social workers seem to think its ok
QUESTION? Am i wrong in thinking this and what do you think the outcome of this should be.
Thank
you for reading this. Ihave spent over 50 years working with childrenm,
my own family of 5 . Short term fostering of children for 30 years.
Over 40 years Teaching in all areas from Pre school with Ethnic
community 2 -12 year olds. Secondary school. College lecturer to adults
in Early Childhood Care and Education 0to 12 years
this is the most challenging i have come accross.
There are 2 Natural brother ans sister adopted in my daughters family and I collect the children and do the homework with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello,
My 18 year old son was recently diagnosed with ASD and has
started counseling with one of the social workers at Aspire located in Melville, NY. This is his second week.. he has one appt a
week for 45 minutes.
Unfortunately AJ was not diagnosed earlier, and has become
addicted to marijuana. His high school
years were horrible and he is not a very happy person.
It has been the most difficult 4 years of my life trying to
get him help with the marijuana addiction, something that he absolutely refuses
to give up.. no matter what. There is
nothing more I want than to see him happy..
He has one friend, that he sees maybe a few times a week,
and of course it is a smoking buddy. He
is a nice boy, 2 years younger than AJ, and I am somewhat happy that he has
someone he can call a friend.
He wants so desperately to be able to make new friends, but
struggles a lot with social anxiety due to the Aspergers.
I have such a difficult time trying to help and it seems
like I never have the right thing to do or say.
I would literally cut off my right arm for him, but I just don’t know
what to do or how to help.
He is in his first year at community college and again, he
wants to make friends, but struggles. I
try to get him to join some of the clubs up at school, but I believe his
anxiety wins over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good Morning Mark,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Mark I wanted to ask you if you have published any information concerning aspergers and identical twins. I have identical 14 year old twin girls and one has been identified with aspergers and OCB and the other not yet. My problem is the non asp twin is starting to act out negatively towards her sister, I believe because of the added attention the other requires from us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr Hutten,
How easy is for an ASPERGERS diagnose to be missed in young girls?
Also, can lack of self confidence and underlying anxiety in a child mimic some of the common signs
of Aspergers? Eg., inappropriate eye contact, easily frustrated, poor social skills, dislike of new situation, etc.
Would be most grateful for any feedback you may want to give.
Kind regards,
ROY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
Good Morning Mark,
My name is Rebecca. My
husband Mark and I have 1 child, Brandon Schaeffer who is now 24 years
old with Diagnosis of Aspergers and ADHD.
With
many bumps in the road, Brandon has completed college with a Bachelors
Degree in Applied Mathematics Minoring in Statistics with close to a 3.5
GPA. Since he graduated in May 2014, he has been searching for
employment. While he has gone on probably 10 face to face interviews and
numerous phone screenings, he is about 0 for 50. He does not drive (and
needs to..we approached this years ago and were told he needed to
'wait' for what I'm not sure). WIthin the last 1 1/2 years my husband
and I have spent close to $12,000 in non-profit agencies who claimed
they knew exactly how to help Brandon, yet I ended up giving these
agencies more leads to jobs than they had and they were charging us up
to $55 an hour.
I am concerned for his mental
state of being because my husband and I work fulltime, and Brandon sits
at home searching through leads and applying through on line job boards.
His resume has gotten him numerous calls of interest and he has been
invited to face to face interviews. I am guessing you know the rest of
the script. Brandon prepares and prepares to learn about the position
and the company and when it comes time for phone interview or face to
face interview I am 100% certain that his anxiety and or physical
mannerisms in the face to face interviews shine through. His interviews
for the most part are 30 minutes or less, even interviews Brandon has
had out of state (we live in Bucks County PA (near Trenton NJ) and he
has had interviews in New York and Connecticut. Brandon thinks he does
well on interviews, but has NEVER gotten past phone screen or been
invited to 2nd interview. The answer is pretty predictable.
We
are currently using another agency ARC of Philadelphia whose mission is
to support individuals on the Autism Spectrum. However, 3 or 4 of the
last interviews Brandon had the coordinator of the program says he tries
to reach out to the HR person to advocate for him, but cannot seem to
get through to them..he does not leave a message so therefore Brandon
who thought he was going to be supported has gone on the interviews but
have not heard back from last 3 interviews as to status of decision.
We
are so frustrated from lack of positive results. As I said, I fear for
Brandon's current situation (he lives at home with us). We need a
separation from him and likewise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Mark I wanted to ask you if you have published any information concerning aspergers and identical twins. I have identical 14 year old twin girls and one has been identified with aspergers and OCB and the other not yet. My problem is the non asp twin is starting to act out negatively towards her sister, I believe because of the added attention the other requires from us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr Hutten,
How easy is for an ASPERGERS diagnose to be missed in young girls?
Also, can lack of self confidence and underlying anxiety in a child mimic some of the common signs
of Aspergers? Eg., inappropriate eye contact, easily frustrated, poor social skills, dislike of new situation, etc.
Would be most grateful for any feedback you may want to give.
Kind regards,
ROY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. Hutten,
After much internet research I came upon your books and name via a Google search. I am contacting from out of your state (I am in Michigan) regarding my son who was recently diagnosed with Asperger's and is prone to extreme violence (mainly directed at me, his mom).
My son has gotten into SO much trouble despite my best efforts and despite the incredible damage and devastation to our entire family and despite that his father is disabled with brain damage. It almost seemed like when he turned 14 he became a monster.
He is now just 16 and recently released from an inpatient program. He does well in structured environments but the minute he returns home, he reverts right back to negative behaviors like: stealing prescription medication, being abusive and aggressive, verbally and physically attacking, --- he refuses to cooperate even though somewhere inside he KNOWS this is wrong.
I am killing myself to keep my family together but he just won't cooperate. When I ask him why he can do so well in a facility but then come home and pick right up again with these destructive behaviors, his only response is: "Because I CAN. And: I don't care. I did what I had to do in those programs to get out of them. I was forced to comply. But here you can't stop me."
We are all killing ourselves to help him find a better way to cope. I have lost my home, car, even my spouse essentially with his medical condition is a huge loss. And I have managed to keep it together with no sleep, driving at least 2,000 medical miles EVERY 20 days, getting my son into programs, outpatient therapy, new classes -- the works.
Last night he again stole prescription drugs -- lied about it -- assaulted me and damaged the entire house breaking glass and every other thing. We have no bathroom door as he broke that too -- and the refridgerator. He was supposed to be discharged from court and be released as "dismissed" today. But instead, he dragged me outside, strangled me, tore my clothes off to try and get a cell phone to call his drug addict girlfriend.
I had no choice but to call the police. Again. They are now not dismissing anything -- he is in juvenile detention in holding and I need to go to court first thing in the morning.
My son was a brilliant, beautiful and gentle Soul. I don't know what happened to him other than getting into drugs. But he is not the same person. And he doesn't seem to want the help. He wants "mom" to "shut the fuck up" -- let him take any number of drugs (he says he needs it to feel "normal") -- and if I ask anything at all, I get kicked or told to "fuck off".
This is no way to live and now the court is again involved as I had no other choice. I am traumatized and terrorized. And the worst part is, he has no idea what financial ruin he has caused. Not only are we close to being homeless, but now we face upward of a $100,000 bill from the state for "treating" him in the Juvenile Justice system here. I have no way to pay that. I have no more assets to give.
I am writing to seek a counseling session with you, even if by phone, to help me figure out what is the next best step. Please let me know as soon as you can. I do have court at 9AM Saturday 10/16.
Thank you for your work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our 5 year old son (he'll be 6 in November) was just diagnosed with Asperger's/Autism Spectrum Disorder and we've been working with a child psychologist who practices the floortime method. She's recommends Occupational Therapy and we'll be starting that in two weeks. I've also been reading about the ABA method. How do I know what's the right course of action for my son?
I feel like I've been thrust into a whole new world and don't quite know how to navigate it.
Thanks ,
Megan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So you see I am at a cross roads and I need guidance I would like to begin with a book and then move forward from there. I will never give up but I don;t want to fail him and right now I am feeling over whelmed Sebastian is 12 going on 20, I look forward to your response
Good Morning Mark,
I look forward to receiving your newsletter. As I have reviewed your site I would like to ask you to guide me to the first eBook to purchase.
- My son is diagnosed with high functioning autism
- second diagnosis emotional disturbance
- He is addicted to video games
- I took him out of public school
- he was bullied
- he wasn't educated reason from the staff was his inability to focus and would become disrupted in class
- result he wasn't educated
- he was placed in special ed
- he is brilliant
- I home school
- he has no friends
- I have entered him in a co-op
- anxiety result children go away from him
- he questioned God existence
- Needs confidence
- Rebels against technique I provide
- Mother and Father remarried
- Father and step mother do not recognize the diagnosis
- blames mother
- No real support
So you see I am at a cross roads and I need guidance I would like to begin with a book and then move forward from there. I will never give up but I don;t want to fail him and right now I am feeling over whelmed Sebastian is 12 going on 20, I look forward to your response
In Gratitude,
Christina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mark,
Hello... My name is JoAnne Cascia and I am an assistant professor and researcher in the field of speech, language pathology at Kean University in New Jersey. I am currently involved in a research study that is examining the correlation between language, vocabulary, and executive function skills with empathy skills in individuals with autism. As I was researching articles and literature, I came across your website.
I was writing to ask if your site, My Aspergers Child, allows researchers to extend invitations to participate in research to your members? Participation would include completing anonymous questionnaires and scales online. I would provide an invitation to participate, along with a link to the questionnaires/scales. Anyone who was interested could click on the link and complete them at their own convenience.
If this is something that you would be interested in, I would certainly provide you with documentation of the IRB approval as well as the questionnaires and scales for you to review. I would be happy to discuss this opportunity with you if you are interested. I look forward to hearing back from you, and hopefully working with you in the future. Thank you, and have a great week,
JoAnneHello... My name is JoAnne Cascia and I am an assistant professor and researcher in the field of speech, language pathology at Kean University in New Jersey. I am currently involved in a research study that is examining the correlation between language, vocabulary, and executive function skills with empathy skills in individuals with autism. As I was researching articles and literature, I came across your website.
I was writing to ask if your site, My Aspergers Child, allows researchers to extend invitations to participate in research to your members? Participation would include completing anonymous questionnaires and scales online. I would provide an invitation to participate, along with a link to the questionnaires/scales. Anyone who was interested could click on the link and complete them at their own convenience.
If this is something that you would be interested in, I would certainly provide you with documentation of the IRB approval as well as the questionnaires and scales for you to review. I would be happy to discuss this opportunity with you if you are interested. I look forward to hearing back from you, and hopefully working with you in the future. Thank you, and have a great week,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Mark,
I am married for almost 11 years now, 11 bewildered years to my husband who I believe has AS. He doesn’t believe so, as he doesn’t fit the typical “ angry, outwardly mean” type AS – as he read about them on line- at my persistent prompting. I approached his parents and they don’t support the diagnosis either- as their AS diagnosed teen grandson ( from daughter) is a very angry and rude and hard to handle AS.
My husband is intelligent, quiet, agreeable, polite and “shy”. He has the Pollyanna type affect.. not grasping the sacrifices I make to keep our marriage intact.
I have dragged him to counseling for most of the past 11 years to no avail. He came along, not working on anything, believing/reasoning during some sessions only to have it all erased by the time we got out of the building.
I spent thousands of dollars that way.
Last counseling sessions I managed to have him undergo testing- not for AS -per say.. just neurocognitive testing. He came out from it with accepting the diagnosis of “slow processing” only. As the counselor mentioned AS at my request, he didn’t accept it.
I needed to know , and I need him to know: so that I can feed my fainting courage to go on- as it is hard to keep it all together- financial support, emotional support, and now as our little boy turns 7, the parenting support.
I am not home 4 of 7 days a week- and he is not 100% reliable- he lacks insight.
He is good to my son, shows affection- at this level they get along well and he is caring to him- but as he grows our son will want more- and he won’t be able to give him of himself..
Last few months – he seems a little more communicative and intermittently puts in small efforts that resemble connecting with me- maybe because we started praying together in the morning.. but it is a far cry from normal.
He is still polite and closes up like a clam- the moment I initiate any type of conversation that has any depth.. past the mundane surface conversation.
He does not appear to be a mean man:
He either has AS
Or he is a selfish man who lives off his woman’s back since day one.. not giving much in return, and looking down on my survival ever adjusting emotions.
He has a BS in GIS- yet no job in the field, and actually- no job at all since almost a year ago- when he was kindly given the choice to be fired or resign.
If you read the carefully descriptive final evaluation and comments.. you can see it.. Yet, he cannot.
He is passionate and has an unusual depth of knowledge when it comes to classical music, or anything related to that field- yet he plays no instrument, nor does he use that knowledge towards a lucrative occupation.
If you ever Google AS the silent type on you tube (even if it is not a reliable source), the description fits him like a glove- as far as I am concerned.
I would like to skype counseling with you.
I would like to know what is your fee?
And do you think you can get through him even though he
-has minimal to 0 ability to self evaluate or introspect,
-his words don’t “hold watter”- and have no central meaning..
Ie: his yes or aha doesn’t really mean yes- it could mean anything from “I am thinking about it ( to no end)”, or “I hear you (literally)”, I think hear (get)what you are saying but I don’t agree with it”..
-is highly sensitive to any negativism or criticism ( even if it is not a criticism- just a remark about his ways)- and his way of dealing with it is closing in, disappearing ( except he is physically there).
- and the physical and emotional connect- has been as it is described in most internet info- from after we said “I do”.
I believe/hope that if he truly is AS and he owns it, he can learn the skills and fill out his "gaps"- and be able to be gainfully employed. I may be able to deal with the rest, but having the burden of providing for us for the rest of our married life, feeling like I live one life and present the other to the outsiders in order to save face and maintain some dignity - missing out on home and motherly things... is hard to settle for...
I know it is a long e-mail- even though there is so much more to say...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi,
I am writing to ask for help , my marriage of almost 8 years is almost done .
I have been reading and researching for months since I found out my husband Asperger condition .
We live in NYC and we are looking for help , a therapy ? A couching ?
We have Aetna insurance.
We have been spending thousand of dollars for almost 6 years of therapy .
Trying to figure out what was going on .
We do not have any dollar left .
I wanted to have a child , he didn't know what to said or to do .
I insisted and finally after 5 years of trying to get him to want also I was able to convince him ( but deep he didn't know still ) so we did and took a credit for proceed with IVF .
We are completely los .... I don't know what else to do .
My brain is exploding in confusion and my heart hurts a lot .
Please if you have any idea what I could do I will be so grateful from the bottom of my heart .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Mark,
Hello,
My 12 year old son is really struggling this year. It seems the older he gets the wider the gap with his peers gets. He was not diagnosed until he was 10. Until then we’d thought ADHD but something still did not seem right. We finally scheduled an evaluation at Children’s and got the diagnosis.
The end of last school year 6th grade and beginning of this year 7th grade has been crushing. He has been largely ostracized and is bullied. It has become this viscous self-fulfilling prophecy. He is anxious, feeling bad about himself and very isolated. We have in social group and weekly therapy. But meeting friends – which he desperately needs – is hard because he struggles so much with social interaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello
My name is Jenn, I live in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. I am currently taking social work courses and am doing a group presentation on Aspergers. My portion is the training life skills/ social skills to someone with Aspergers. Just wondering if you could help me out by explaining the funnel a little more clearer.. As in which step to do first and how. Make sense?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi,
I am writing to ask for help , my marriage of almost 8 years is almost done .
I have been reading and researching for months since I found out my husband Asperger condition .
We live in NYC and we are looking for help , a therapy ? A couching ?
We have Aetna insurance.
We have been spending thousand of dollars for almost 6 years of therapy .
Trying to figure out what was going on .
We do not have any dollar left .
I wanted to have a child , he didn't know what to said or to do .
I insisted and finally after 5 years of trying to get him to want also I was able to convince him ( but deep he didn't know still ) so we did and took a credit for proceed with IVF .
We are completely los .... I don't know what else to do .
My brain is exploding in confusion and my heart hurts a lot .
Please if you have any idea what I could do I will be so grateful from the bottom of my heart .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good morning Mr. Hutten,
I am wondering if
you have any suggestions for reasonable consequences for my 14 year old
granddaughter with Asbergers. She has been hanging with the "wrong"
crowd and I am worried about her! Apparently a friend's mother called
my daugther and said my granddaughter sent a text message talking about
smoking weed. My daughter is going to have a talk with her tonight
and is trying to figure out consequences. She had mentioned taking
away her cell phone, which seems kind of harsh to me, but wanted to look
into some other consequences and thought I would ask an expert, such as
yourself! I would appreciate any ideas you may have for this. Her
grades have been getting worse and she is not willing to stay after
school to get extra help, etc.... Naturally, I am very worried about
her. She doesn't do well with consequences (positive reinforcement has
always worked better with her!), so not sure what to do. Any help would
be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Mark,
Thank
you for all the great information. I
do not have a child with HFA Asbergers, it is my boyfriend. After a year
and a half, I want to call it quits. I cannot get him to talk about our
relationship. I can't get him to buy me flowers or say or do nice
things for me. I feel neglected, ignored, and completely shut out of his
life. He can go weeks without seeing or talking to me and we live close
to each other. He will even ignore my texts for days, especially when I
am upset and I need relief by discussing matters the most. I am not
allowed to stop by to see him, he becomes angry and verbally abusive
towards me. It doesn't seem he has the capacity to love me. I feel like
my love is a one-way street. I have tried being clear and spelling out
my needs, I've been nice, too nice, gotten angry, too angry, and I've
backed off. But all he does is ignore me when I need him the most. I am
out of ideas.
He
seems happy enough to work his IT job and tech support 7 days a week
and never see or talk to me. I am at the point where I want to see other
men because I am so lonely and lacking the love, affection, and care
that I need from an intimate partner.
He
says he wants me in his life, but I just don't see it. Our connection
is totally lost on me. He seems perfectly satisfied to see me for sex
every other week, and that's it. He has been unhappy and constantly
overwhelmed and stressed since I met him and he can't block out time
even on the weekends to be with me. I'm afraid I've lost my patience
with his beautiful, albeit tortured soul.
Any advice? Or have I held on too long and need to just walk away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good Morning Mark,
We are in desperate need of some help. About a month ago, our son started to question EVERYTHING about how fresh our food is here in our house, asking what the expiration date is on EVERYTHING and basically began to stop eating anything except Buttered Noodles. He has it in his head that ALL food is bad and not fresh. Our food is always kept fresh and for the most part very healthy! We took him to his regular Pediatrician and he had lost 3 pounds and looks somewhat thinner. We started giving him the Carnation Breakfast each morning at the suggestion of his Pediatrician and he will drink that. Dinner is a nightmare as he will not eat much of anything. He isn't even eating all of his lunch at school!!!
On top of it all, he is constantly washing his hands and using excessive amounts of Hand Sanitizer which is not good :(
My fear is that he is exhibiting symptoms of OCD but I am not sure. I have seen documentaries on people who have OCD and it scares me to death that he may have this, not to mention what to do about it and how to help him! He does have a Developmental Pediatrician at CHOP Philadelphia and we see her in December.
Please help as I am afraid this is going to continue to get worse if we don't get some help...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, I m Yen from Vancouver, Washington. Actually I m just moved from Malaysia to Vancouver in this June. I have found a public elementary school for my six years old son. He has been diagnosis mild Asperger since he is 4 years old.
Recently, my lovely son hav some trouble in the school. He is playing bardchip in the school playground and there is one time hav accidentally throw to his friend. And, his teacher is complaining that he don't know how to partner with his friend when doing some work given by teacher. We hav told to school his
condition with a summary letter written by a OT therapist in our country before we register him in this school. This all happened after he changed to a new class due to hav one additional teacher in this school. We hav find a time to talk with this new teacher but the teacher still not happy.
This week, this teacher hav contact the psychology in the school without our acknowledged. The teacher said she need some support in class. The psychology is required us to fill some survey form for evaluation. There are some question I would like to seek your opinion :
1) Can I reject for the evaluation?
2) can I insists my kids stay in the mainstream class? Cos I want him mix with other kids to improve his social skill.
My son feel hurt cos he told me that teacher don like him. He would like to be helper in class and he is requested but the teacher ignored him. We hav talk about this and the teacher explained is she has 24 student in the class and everyone has to take turn. But so disappointed, my son with her about one month, but never get the change. What should I do to get her support?
Waiting for your advised...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My daughter was misdiagnosed with not having aspergers! She has all the signs and i have seen them since she was 2! The first big event was when we moved the change distroyed her and it took alot of energy to make her feel safe again. i took her to a school phycologist and she tested her and spoke to me about aspergers. I took her to a clinic when she was about 7 and i was told she had aspergers and then i was told no! it was ocd! i have lived with this as a single parent for 17 years and i am afraid now because she will be leaving to college! i am worried! She has been bullied most her life and now finding boys to talk to on facebook! I can't get her to understand the dangers! i am worried about the change and her being safe! Not sure what to do! Can you help?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello
I'm contacting because I have a dilemma and was impressed by the level of information on your website. I was a gifted child who was utterly bored at school but did not have social problems made friends easily but preferred not to be around people because I was a gifted reader and would absorb myself in literature which obviously gave me a lot of knowledge very early on and that created a problem because I knew more than was acceptably normal for my age group.
My dilemma is this.
I'm 35 now and I'm seeing a marriage counsellor sexologist for my husbands intimacy disorder.
Upon recieving my life history she immediately said I'm looking at this Jo and I'm seeing Aspergers.
I had two things written down to indicate this.
At 8 I had the reading IQ of an eighteen year old. Same age I gave a class talk on Van Gogh. High school I was bored to death, however upon reading three thick textbooks on chemistry In one night I attempted an GCSE exam to prove a point. I came top out if the entire county.
However being a sponge for complex details I looked into Aspergers and I do not have problems in other areas. I was good at sports, computing, I'm a well known artist and I'm very creative, I don't suffer bouts of depression and I love to laugh. I can focus well and succeed in almost anything I put my mind to.
Immiedietly the sexologist said, you are midrange high functioning autism. Aspergers. My immediate reaction was, this may appear as Aspergers but I think it's more likely gifted..and natural love of learning.
She kept saying that we would look at other aspects I'm not so good at in life and I said politely there aren't any that I can identify. I'm a neat and tidy person. I work with people teaching empowerment and gnostic insight especially wisdom teaching from ancient texts. I'm not in co ordinated and read emotional signals in people very well. I'm very resilient in stressful situations.
I did a speed reading test last night online. I'm reading at my very fastest with effort at 634 words per minute. Normally probably around 390 to 480 at a guess. Upon hearing this she said that is not gifted, that is Aspergers. Lack of knowledge is my out hate and I feel very frustrated by rapid labelling. It seems unreasonable to me. If I have Aspergers I would have no problem excepting it.
I understand why she may presume this however I read your website and I was impressed by the intelligence and good reasoning at not lumping it all together under one label.
Please can you help in diagnosis?
I currently have Skype sessions with our psychologist face to face for an hour at a time.
Do you do Skype sessions? if so I am very interested because I feel this is not Aspergers but giftedness, I may be wrong.
Another thing. My three year old us just like me, he's sociable, loves expressing love however, he is a sponge who happens to like Henry the vacuum cleaner. He likes machinery, understand how it works. This may look like acquisition of items however Henry the Hoover has a massive following amongst toddlers, I didn't Aquire anything as a child in physical form, I acquired knowledge.
This is very important to me that this is seen through an intelligent lens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi,
I am writing to you out of desperation for my 19 year old son who has not been officially diagnosed with very high functioning autism/Aspergers. He said if he had this,he would want to end his life as he sees people that have it are mentally handicapped and that would not be acceptable to him. He has had every trait since birth. Speaking in full sentences at 10 months, high IQ, but stunted emotional and executive function growth,along with everything else.
My husband and I need help so that he can progress in life and be happy. He is anxious,depressed,self-
Sits in his room all day with his computer. No friends or social interaction.
This is breaking my heart and our family is broken.
No drugs or alcohol...yet.
Blames us for everything that went wrong in his life,then feels bad,and the self loathing appears.
Sleeps weird hours, has no schedule and dropped out of college because he could not handle it.
He is like a fragile egg, and his soul and heart are broken.
We live in Naples, Florida and not a ton of resources here.
He is currently doing neurofeedback..does this help?
He needs to accept himself....but he can't. That's the problem.
How can we help him?
He is going to therapy 2x a week not helping.
It's been like this for years.
Good Morning Mark,
We are in desperate need of some help. About a month ago, our son started to question EVERYTHING about how fresh our food is here in our house, asking what the expiration date is on EVERYTHING and basically began to stop eating anything except Buttered Noodles. He has it in his head that ALL food is bad and not fresh. Our food is always kept fresh and for the most part very healthy! We took him to his regular Pediatrician and he had lost 3 pounds and looks somewhat thinner. We started giving him the Carnation Breakfast each morning at the suggestion of his Pediatrician and he will drink that. Dinner is a nightmare as he will not eat much of anything. He isn't even eating all of his lunch at school!!!
On top of it all, he is constantly washing his hands and using excessive amounts of Hand Sanitizer which is not good :(
My fear is that he is exhibiting symptoms of OCD but I am not sure. I have seen documentaries on people who have OCD and it scares me to death that he may have this, not to mention what to do about it and how to help him! He does have a Developmental Pediatrician at CHOP Philadelphia and we see her in December.
Please help as I am afraid this is going to continue to get worse if we don't get some help...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, I m Yen from Vancouver, Washington. Actually I m just moved from Malaysia to Vancouver in this June. I have found a public elementary school for my six years old son. He has been diagnosis mild Asperger since he is 4 years old.
Recently, my lovely son hav some trouble in the school. He is playing bardchip in the school playground and there is one time hav accidentally throw to his friend. And, his teacher is complaining that he don't know how to partner with his friend when doing some work given by teacher. We hav told to school his
condition with a summary letter written by a OT therapist in our country before we register him in this school. This all happened after he changed to a new class due to hav one additional teacher in this school. We hav find a time to talk with this new teacher but the teacher still not happy.
This week, this teacher hav contact the psychology in the school without our acknowledged. The teacher said she need some support in class. The psychology is required us to fill some survey form for evaluation. There are some question I would like to seek your opinion :
1) Can I reject for the evaluation?
2) can I insists my kids stay in the mainstream class? Cos I want him mix with other kids to improve his social skill.
My son feel hurt cos he told me that teacher don like him. He would like to be helper in class and he is requested but the teacher ignored him. We hav talk about this and the teacher explained is she has 24 student in the class and everyone has to take turn. But so disappointed, my son with her about one month, but never get the change. What should I do to get her support?
Waiting for your advised...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My daughter was misdiagnosed with not having aspergers! She has all the signs and i have seen them since she was 2! The first big event was when we moved the change distroyed her and it took alot of energy to make her feel safe again. i took her to a school phycologist and she tested her and spoke to me about aspergers. I took her to a clinic when she was about 7 and i was told she had aspergers and then i was told no! it was ocd! i have lived with this as a single parent for 17 years and i am afraid now because she will be leaving to college! i am worried! She has been bullied most her life and now finding boys to talk to on facebook! I can't get her to understand the dangers! i am worried about the change and her being safe! Not sure what to do! Can you help?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Mark,
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly!
Ok,
I have been searching for something like what you are teaching, and am
willing to try everything! I thought I was mistaken because as I red, my
child is not so angry, yet, she doesn't want to run away or get mixed
up where we need police etc...so then I thought it was pertaining to
teenagers.
My girl is quite mild in the
spectrum, and she's very smart. Her issues mostly lye within some
misunderstanding of emotions and some conversations. She has all the
words in the world, too many for her to fully understand. So she can
misuse them at times.
I purchased your course,
because the issues I'm having as a parent are when there needs to be a
discipline action, such as, telling her not to do something, or asking
her to do a chore, or catching her with her flashlight reading at 10 at
night. She's only in grade one. Lol, she needs her sleep. But telling
her those things, just makes her mad. And then she might rant about how
we shouldn't say those things, and she might not always make sense.
Then She'll go to sleep but continue to try to talk about her being mad
that I took her flashlight the next morning even.
And she
didn't act these ways for the most part all summer, but of course,
change is tough, the pressure of grade one and longer days is tough, so
this is how she'll react to those stresses.
I
can't figure out how to help her understand these things, or that we're
not 'mad' at her when we have to be 'parents' and that we still love her
no matter what etc...and calm her better. Because I have no clue, and
so I'll keep your purchase thanks, and I would very much like your
Comprehensive book.
Thanks for your time!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HI Mark, I need to ask you something. My teen daughter and I are very close. She turned 18 in Feb, All summer she only went out once with me. Before that we did thing daily enjoying our time together.She started staying up all night on the computer,yelling at the pets, taunting me and I lets just say it was not pleasant. We have a limit that the computers need to be turned off at 10pm.Well it was 1 am and she was on the computer.I had asked her earlier to draw me a pic of a wig she wanted for Halloween and at this point she was very mean to me and did not draw it.So Idid a goOgle image SEARCH ON THE character she wanted to be for Halloween to see what kind of wig she needed for her costume and I saw several of her drawings show up, They were disturbing,,a lot of sex and violence. I freaked out and told her they were unhealthy and I was turning off our wifi for the night,
Then she freaked out not wanting the wifi off and grabbed me to stop me. I asked her to let go of me
She persisted to go after me so I called the cops. She is much more bigger than me. I managed to break free and shut down the internet. We had this type of incident 1week eariler and she was totally out of control, The poliece came due to her aggression ~~she said she was out of control wanted help so she went to the hospital and she was set up within home counseling services.
The following day she was to tour a Monossori school where it would comply with her IEP and sensory issues.Her new therapist came over prior to the school tour. My daughter and her ended up dropping her out of school and moving her to live with our neighbors. She is disabled and removed my guardianship and becaome a ward of the state. She told social services that I was over reacting by calling the cops to get her off the internet.Now she blocked all communications with me.
My heart is broken. We went in on this house together and just recently moved.Now I am here alone and she is telling everyone I am nuts for calling the poliece
DHS told the neighbors all about my finances. I am unable to pay the mortage now and feel I lost her.We had a vacation all planned but she refuses to amend things and just gives me this evil smirck.
She plans on being gone for good and moved out, The neighbors said she wrote me off and they were getting a restraining order,,I am absolutely devastated. Do you have any suggestions for me? Thank you, Aspie MOM ps She goes everywhere with this neighbor.Does their chores Gets offline at 10pm cleans her room…She left me with her dying cat and a horrible mess at this house I will take all month cleaning up.
Why does she resent me and is doing for the neighbor everything she was going to do here. I am devastated. I was a good mom and went thru a lot raising her alone.I feel all is lost.
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Hi, my name is Logan and I'm looking for a therapist. I have been diagnosed with ASD back in January and need help being more social and also with relationship issues. My meltdowns seem to be getting worse and worse and I'm getting triggered to anger very quickly now and I don't know what to do and I am losing everything I have. I don't want to lose my relationship. If you could help, that would be great.
HI Mark, I need to ask you something. My teen daughter and I are very close. She turned 18 in Feb, All summer she only went out once with me. Before that we did thing daily enjoying our time together.She started staying up all night on the computer,yelling at the pets, taunting me and I lets just say it was not pleasant. We have a limit that the computers need to be turned off at 10pm.Well it was 1 am and she was on the computer.I had asked her earlier to draw me a pic of a wig she wanted for Halloween and at this point she was very mean to me and did not draw it.So Idid a goOgle image SEARCH ON THE character she wanted to be for Halloween to see what kind of wig she needed for her costume and I saw several of her drawings show up, They were disturbing,,a lot of sex and violence. I freaked out and told her they were unhealthy and I was turning off our wifi for the night,
Then she freaked out not wanting the wifi off and grabbed me to stop me. I asked her to let go of me
She persisted to go after me so I called the cops. She is much more bigger than me. I managed to break free and shut down the internet. We had this type of incident 1week eariler and she was totally out of control, The poliece came due to her aggression ~~she said she was out of control wanted help so she went to the hospital and she was set up within home counseling services.
The following day she was to tour a Monossori school where it would comply with her IEP and sensory issues.Her new therapist came over prior to the school tour. My daughter and her ended up dropping her out of school and moving her to live with our neighbors. She is disabled and removed my guardianship and becaome a ward of the state. She told social services that I was over reacting by calling the cops to get her off the internet.Now she blocked all communications with me.
My heart is broken. We went in on this house together and just recently moved.Now I am here alone and she is telling everyone I am nuts for calling the poliece
DHS told the neighbors all about my finances. I am unable to pay the mortage now and feel I lost her.We had a vacation all planned but she refuses to amend things and just gives me this evil smirck.
She plans on being gone for good and moved out, The neighbors said she wrote me off and they were getting a restraining order,,I am absolutely devastated. Do you have any suggestions for me? Thank you, Aspie MOM ps She goes everywhere with this neighbor.Does their chores Gets offline at 10pm cleans her room…She left me with her dying cat and a horrible mess at this house I will take all month cleaning up.
Why does she resent me and is doing for the neighbor everything she was going to do here. I am devastated. I was a good mom and went thru a lot raising her alone.I feel all is lost.
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Hi, my name is Logan and I'm looking for a therapist. I have been diagnosed with ASD back in January and need help being more social and also with relationship issues. My meltdowns seem to be getting worse and worse and I'm getting triggered to anger very quickly now and I don't know what to do and I am losing everything I have. I don't want to lose my relationship. If you could help, that would be great.
SIncerely,
Logan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello
I'm contacting because I have a dilemma and was impressed by the level of information on your website. I was a gifted child who was utterly bored at school but did not have social problems made friends easily but preferred not to be around people because I was a gifted reader and would absorb myself in literature which obviously gave me a lot of knowledge very early on and that created a problem because I knew more than was acceptably normal for my age group.
My dilemma is this.
I'm 35 now and I'm seeing a marriage counsellor sexologist for my husbands intimacy disorder.
Upon recieving my life history she immediately said I'm looking at this Jo and I'm seeing Aspergers.
I had two things written down to indicate this.
At 8 I had the reading IQ of an eighteen year old. Same age I gave a class talk on Van Gogh. High school I was bored to death, however upon reading three thick textbooks on chemistry In one night I attempted an GCSE exam to prove a point. I came top out if the entire county.
However being a sponge for complex details I looked into Aspergers and I do not have problems in other areas. I was good at sports, computing, I'm a well known artist and I'm very creative, I don't suffer bouts of depression and I love to laugh. I can focus well and succeed in almost anything I put my mind to.
Immiedietly the sexologist said, you are midrange high functioning autism. Aspergers. My immediate reaction was, this may appear as Aspergers but I think it's more likely gifted..and natural love of learning.
She kept saying that we would look at other aspects I'm not so good at in life and I said politely there aren't any that I can identify. I'm a neat and tidy person. I work with people teaching empowerment and gnostic insight especially wisdom teaching from ancient texts. I'm not in co ordinated and read emotional signals in people very well. I'm very resilient in stressful situations.
I did a speed reading test last night online. I'm reading at my very fastest with effort at 634 words per minute. Normally probably around 390 to 480 at a guess. Upon hearing this she said that is not gifted, that is Aspergers. Lack of knowledge is my out hate and I feel very frustrated by rapid labelling. It seems unreasonable to me. If I have Aspergers I would have no problem excepting it.
I understand why she may presume this however I read your website and I was impressed by the intelligence and good reasoning at not lumping it all together under one label.
Please can you help in diagnosis?
I currently have Skype sessions with our psychologist face to face for an hour at a time.
Do you do Skype sessions? if so I am very interested because I feel this is not Aspergers but giftedness, I may be wrong.
Another thing. My three year old us just like me, he's sociable, loves expressing love however, he is a sponge who happens to like Henry the vacuum cleaner. He likes machinery, understand how it works. This may look like acquisition of items however Henry the Hoover has a massive following amongst toddlers, I didn't Aquire anything as a child in physical form, I acquired knowledge.
This is very important to me that this is seen through an intelligent lens.
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Hi,
I am writing to you out of desperation for my 19 year old son who has not been officially diagnosed with very high functioning autism/Aspergers. He said if he had this,he would want to end his life as he sees people that have it are mentally handicapped and that would not be acceptable to him. He has had every trait since birth. Speaking in full sentences at 10 months, high IQ, but stunted emotional and executive function growth,along with everything else.
My husband and I need help so that he can progress in life and be happy. He is anxious,depressed,self-
Sits in his room all day with his computer. No friends or social interaction.
This is breaking my heart and our family is broken.
No drugs or alcohol...yet.
Blames us for everything that went wrong in his life,then feels bad,and the self loathing appears.
Sleeps weird hours, has no schedule and dropped out of college because he could not handle it.
He is like a fragile egg, and his soul and heart are broken.
We live in Naples, Florida and not a ton of resources here.
He is currently doing neurofeedback..does this help?
He needs to accept himself....but he can't. That's the problem.
How can we help him?
He is going to therapy 2x a week not helping.
It's been like this for years.
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