Anyone with an autism spectrum disorder, mild with attention problems at school?

Bridget - posted on 01/29/2009

Hello Debbie, 

My name is Bridget I have a 16 year old daughter with asperger's she also has ADHD, NLD syndrome with other behavior disorders.  I also have 4 other children age's 13-20.  I work at a grade school.  I would recomend asking your family doctor about testing.  I did this at Childrens Hospital and it was very helpful. 

Shanna - posted on 01/29/2009

debbie hardy my name is shanna and my son was diagnosed with PDD mild , socal and attention . do not let them give him medicine. my son has not had any hes coming along fine , dose his school provide a full time teachers aid? or do some calling around about the school s that have them in your area !!!!! its helping my son hes reading on his own and printing , there is help you just have to bug and bug unitl you get it . Its tireing but its worth it in the longrun ...... Shanna Arbeau (fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada)

Debbie - posted on 01/29/2009

Thanks so much! I agree, I felt alone too and I am so glad I found this group also! All of your ideas will really help me next week when I have a meeting with the special ed. teacher to discuss his IEP goals.

Suzanne - posted on 01/27/2009

My son is 9 1/2, with Asperger, ADHD, Dyspraxia, what we realised over the years, is that his brain doesn't work like ours. He can't process new informations as we do. It is sure that medication isn't the answer to everything, but it helps him to concentrate a little more, and with meds, he is more able to deal with stress, anxiety, and all the stimulation that there is around him. Still, he doesn't react, act nor is like a "normal" child, but he feels that he's more empowered. The thing is, those kids (and later, adults), adults, have problems to adjust to society. We're adjusting "society" (ex: school, family, friends) to his needs and disability.

I'm sooooo happy to have found this group, I always felt alone in my many battles!

Trisha - posted on 01/27/2009

Hi, Debbie. My son is 7 and is also in the first grade (we put him through pre-k twice, because we noticed some developmental "issues" before we got a diagnosis); he has Asperger's.



Here are a few things that I read and that have really worked with my son that may help you out, too. Most of them are geared toward Asperger's, but I have found that many of them apply to other diagnosis on the spectrum. I hope they help!:



* A lot of kids on the spectrum don't concentrate in the "normal" way; this is because of their sensory issues and the fact that they can get overloaded from activities a neurotypical mind goes through with ease. For example, I heard one story about a girl with Asperger's who would knit in class; her brain was very sensitive to visual stimuli, and sitting in class w/out knitting meant she would look from person to person, wall to wall, etc. etc. and wouldn't be able to concentrate on the teacher. When she was knitting, though, she was able to keep her visual stimuli to a minimum, which allowed her to concentrate on the teacher. My son happens to crave tactile stimulation as a way to calm himself (which, in turns, help him focus), so he has a few items in his desk at school that he can take out whenever he feels he needs them. He's getting really great at knowing when that time is, although the teacher may have to suggest to him every now and again that he take out one of his strings or other items. If you can figure out if there's something that's overloading your son's sensory system, maybe you could work to reduce that input, which will help him concentrate. This will probably also help in the perceived lack of motivation; your son may need constant reminders to get to work simply because he's over stimulated and can't concentrate on the task at hand.



* Make sure that your teacher is taking into account that your son is probably VERY literal. If she says "I need you to give me an example of a noun," than your son is probably pondering how he can hand her a noun! She may need to rephrase things like this to "I need you to tell me what a noun is." It's tough to remember this, because there are so many ways you can "trip up," but once you start trying to be more literal, it gets easier.



* Kids with Asperger's are often emotionally and socially younger than their chronilogical (sp?) age. For example, my son was diagnosed at age 6, and at that time his emotional/social age was 3-1/2. There's not a lot you can do about this, since it's just part of the territory. I've found that for us, it's just a lot of repeating to him what's acceptable and what's not. It gets frustrating some times (really frustrating) but I just have to take a minute and remind myself that it's not my son's fault.



I hope some of this will help!

Diane - posted on 01/27/2009

Yes i agree that medicine isn't the answer! Doesn't sound like he needs it at all. He sounds exactly like my son. My son joined a reading group a few months into P1, he is now P2 and doing better but will i believe always struggle with it. I don't believe he hears phonetically which is how they teach them here. He is also a visual learner and not an auditory learner, sounds like your son is also. I have tried telling school i would like him to learn words through visual memory but no luck so far.

With the attention all i can say is it is frustrating and visual cards can help sometimes but in general constant reminders are needed. All his teacher can do is keep bringing his attention back to the job at hand.

Good luck x

Dawn - posted on 01/27/2009

hard to say, every ASD kid seems to be different, but what we do with our son that really helps him (but he is a really really good reader...go figure!).  He has trouble "processing" verbal instructions, so we keep index cards and write down what it is we want him to do.  If he reads it he processes it better than hearing it.  For example, after dinner time, we were having the worst trouble getting him to put his plate in the sink, he would pick up it and then start walking around the house with it, or put it in the garbage can, etc.  If we show him the index card, he does it right every time.  As for school, I  HIGHLY recommend having a daily schedule, either a picture one or written.  My son falls apart if he doesn't have his

Amanda - posted on 01/26/2009

my son i 51/2 and he starts school this year he has speech theropy ant ocupational theropy and will get a teachers aid when he starts school, he is going throw the steps to get tested for autism like your son he has a very short attion span and has to have a different activaty every 10 min but he is on the go all the time, they say his mind go's to fast for him to proses what his doing to stay on task as he is alredy thinking about the next thing his going to do befor his finshed the first one. my partner thinks there is nothing rong with him the first school that i was going to send him to said he wasent ready for school but then i took him to st jo's cathlic school and they are doing more then i ever expected big help

it is a long and hard proses but im shore i like meny will get there

my brother and father has add is there and past history in your family?

they put my brother on meds but made him eaven worse i wont put my sone on them

hope i have been some help or let u know u are not alone

Diana - posted on 01/26/2009

Is your son classified?