We have our Dx of Asperger Syndrome

Julia - posted on 09/11/2011

I have been working with autistic children and since I have been in the States I have learned about a therapy that is so much in tune with AP. It is called DIR-Floortime model and has been developed by Stanley Greenspan.
I am not a big fan of ABA, since it focuses on correcting single behaviors on the basis of conditioning and can cause a lot of stress and anxiety in the children, while floortime is based on play and positive interaction in which the parent (ideally) or a therapist follows the child's lead and gets on their level of development (D), respecting their individual differences and sensory issues (I) and all this in the context of the interaction, play, intimacy, the relationship (R). I highly recommend you to look into it. Here is the link to the the organization founded by Dr. Stanley Greenspan and his colleague Dr. Serena Wieder: http://www.icdl.com/DIRFloortime.shtml
I also just found some videos: http://stanleygreenspan.com/infancy-earl...
I wish you all the best!

Michelle - posted on 08/03/2011

I have a "sort of"diagnosis on my 7 yr old son, but I knew at 2 yrs old. Just spent 5 yrs fighting the system to give it a name. Once I decided that I knew what was going on I tried to find out everything I could and just tried everything I could and went with whatever worked. The hardest thing for me has been other people who look at you and judge you as being the parent of a "bad child" and having to daily deal with the battles of eating, sleeping and toileting with a 7 year old which I thought would be well and truly over with by now. AND that is the tip of the ice berg. Aspergers is a daily challenge but thankfully with information comes power and there is plenty of information out there now with heaps of ideas to try. Thank goodness for him, we love him soooo much.

Jessica - posted on 07/09/2011

I used to nanny two autistic children, just wanting to suggest try eliminating gluten and casein from his diet, it really helps with the meltdowns, I could always tell if one of the kids got ahold of something at school.

Brenda - posted on 07/06/2011

Thinking of ABA, but we haven't gotten there yet. I'm still trying to get an application into regional center. For the DX I had taken him for an ADHD eval and the pediatrician suggested aspergers. I had already scheduled an appointment with a therapist, turns out he specializes in autism spectrum disorders, and we did a lot of neurological testing and questions and came up with aspergers.

Nathan's symptoms were obsessing over things, getting "stuck" on something (think total one track mind), thinking others know what he's thinking (Mom I wanted you to give that back, not put it in the trunk!), but mostly the meltdowns are what concreted it. Every day, at least once a day he'd have a total tantrum over something, screaming and yelling.

Katherine - posted on 06/23/2011

Are you going to do ABA Brenda? Or RDI? What about social stories? Or is that what you were talking about with writing?
What made you take him in to get the DX? Just wondering because my 5yo worries me.

Wolfmama - posted on 06/22/2011

My brother has AS and it wasn't diagnosed until he was 19 (after a heart-wrenching suicidal attempt), and so I ma glad that you are finding some help in living with AS. Now my brother is a happy, well-adjusted 21 year old but had we known more about his unique perspective on life, I think my parents would not have been so hard on him. Now he's attending college for graphic design and sends me humorous emails every week, so the help he has been getting has been beyond awesome. He told me recently that he isn't going to led his 'disability' allow him to make excuses about things but now he can accept himself better now that he knows that he's different and that's okay too. Made me cry. As for schooling: my brother loathed it. He walked out of highschool in grade ten one day and told my parents he was never going back. And he didn't. They allowed him to complete his schooling long-distance and being able to work at his own pace helped a lot.