My Aspergers child ~ The good and the not so good!

Just thought I'd share what i found out about my little fella today when talking to his teacher.

She gave the kids a set of photocopied worksheets all of problems where they have one thing and have to find the one that matches from four others. There was 10 sheets and there was 6 different problems on each sheet.
They were to do the first sheet and then hand them up.
In the time it took for most of the kids in the class to do the one page he finished all 10 pages and got every single one on every sheet right!
He even crossed out the wrong ones while he was at it.

Then later on at play time he really wanted to be first in line to go back inside so he stood there the whole of playtime till the bell went. This has been going on for days apparently. Except for on Mon which was canteen day and I gave him some money so he had a reason to leave his post.

The same drive to come first at doing stuff, therefore excelling at his work, is also being his downfall socially and he is excluding himself from playing and forming relationships with his peers. *sigh*

:hug: he's obviously a really smart little guy.
Is his teacher/school making an effort to help him sort the social stuff?

:hug: Raven. He definitely is a clever cookie! Are the school helping in socialising ie an aid or someone who can help with AS?

Sam, if you don't mind me saying, whilst AS kids do have to work hard on the interactions/social side of life which just doesn't come naturally, they are so attuned to things that so many other kids aren't. They have brilliant personalities and every effort people (other kids, friends etc) make to break through some of the initial barriers are rewarded. And they reckon the social stuff improves over time quite considerably. The thing is, these days AS has a label based upon a range of behaviours some of which may apply and some which may not. We can label people in many different ways, but the point is he is his own person with a very definite skill set.

I really think your little man is going to make you so proud in so many ways as he learns to stand on his own two feet. You don't need me to tell you this, but I just wanted to anyway :)

Yeah they are working on that stuff with him. Hopefully he will improve with the bit of help he is getting.

Thanks guys :) Yesterday even though we were stoked about his academic achievement I'm really worried about him becoming a bit of an outcast socially. I'd prefer the balance to tip more the other way IYKWIM.

I had a little boy in my class last year who was the same, I gave him the academic excelllence award at the end of the year because he was by far the smartest in the class, we worked on a psecial social skills program with him which has helped heaps. Does your son have any specialist people coming into school to help?? We have a specialised Aspergers teacher come in once a week with X so she can go through social stuff.

:hug: Raven. Well done to your little man, he sounds so smart!

My older brother has Aspergers Syndrome. Unfortunately he wasn't diagnosed until much later in life (he's 38) so he didn't get the help and support he needed in school. He has never been too good socially, but he has had some good friends over the years who have made an effort with him and they really bring him out of his shell. He can be so animated and "normal" at times, and other times won't even respond when I say "hello" to him. It's amazing though, get him on the phone or chat to him online and you would never know. He is fantastic at communicating through the written word and he has a heap of pen & phone friends. Thanks to the internet he can email everyone now too.

So I just wanted to say that because your son has the right people working with him while he is so young, he has every chance of becoming more social and making some great friends. :)

Remember Bill Gates is reportedto have it as are a number of famous and successful people.

Sam I totally know what you're saying. It's such a roller coaster, and it's ok to grieve a little bit amidst the cheering, IYKWIM. I think it's a totally natural response :hug: