Nurturing Your Asperger's Child
You want to find out more about Asperger's Syndrome, which is more and more common these days. You are learning about what doctors are calling the autism spectrum, which ranges from odd-normal on the one hand to seriously impaired, especially socially, on the other. You desperately want to help your child move toward normalcy on the spectrum. Do not give up! It is quite possible that he can. You need to provide him with situations that will give him self-confidence. If you don't, the world will deal him the opposite.
Here's one key tip: if at all possible, teach your child music. People on the autism spectrum often have exceptional musical talent, even folks who have trouble speaking and learning. Perfect pitch is not particularly rare for them. This will give you child a skill to excel in, or at least to enjoy, all his life. The problem may be to find a flexible teacher who is not intimidated by your unusual student. Look for a professional music therapist, or someone with experience dealing with special needs folks. Requiring practicing every day can be built into your system of rewards for your child, a system you need to figure out. This reward system will provide an incentive for doing chores and homework. The music lessons have worked well for my brother as well as my children.
Your child probably tends to isolate himself, and may love to talk and talk about one subject. Patience! During the middle school years, your child will probably begin to be more aware that he is being rejected socially. Finally, he may be motivated to try to change his ways! Look for this developmental stage, and when it arrives, do everything you can to teach your child social acceptability.
He may be ready for:
* Therapy groups that teach social skills, led by a social worker, speech therapist, or other professional.
* Guide him in a conversation game every day after school. You, the parent, can become the teacher.
* Enrolling him in a school for kids with special needs. Such a school can teach him social skills in a supportive environment. Your child desperately needs coaching. If he is mainstreamed in a regular school, he may be exposed to bullying and may not get the coaching he needs.
A child who is bullied can feel the damage to his self-worth for the rest of his life.
An Asperger's child in regular school may be the target of teasing and bullying. It is your job to try to make sure that isn't happening. You may want to volunteer at your child's school, to find out what is happening. If your child has an aide assigned to him, you can talk to the aide. You can ask the aide to help protect your child from teasing, as well. Negative teasing often goes unpunished in our culture. But you need to find a way to defend your child from these ill effects.
* You may want to look into homeschooling. For advice, you can search the Internet.
* A private special-needs school may be able to protect your child by controlling most interactions between peers.
So remember, it's your job to protect your child's self-esteem.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
To learn many tools for bringing up your Aspergers youngster, be sure to check out Phyllis Wheeler's ebook, Nurturing Your Aspergers Child. In it Ms. Wheeler defines workable tools, such as a point system.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE links (without "nofollow" tags).
by: PhyllisWheeler
Total views: 17
Word Count: 534
Rating: Not yet rated