Have you seen this article?

Avatar for goldeneyez
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2005
Have you seen this article?
17
Tue, 06-27-2006 - 9:36pm

I was emailed this article from Parenting Magazine online. I haven't been able to read the whole thing and being new to this whole diagnosis, I thought I'd ask the 'experts'

http://www.parenting.com/parenting/child/article/0,19840,1207253,00.html

Anyone have any comments?

Stacy

Pages

Avatar for insideout418
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 06-27-2006 - 11:37pm

Well, I have to say I enjoyed the first portion of the article where it describes the basics of AS.

Follow me
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-1998
Wed, 06-28-2006 - 8:34am

I love Dr. Sears, so I was interested to read this article. I love how positive he was about Asperger's Syndrome. My son, diagnosed at 6 and now 13, is a delight--although it's taken a lot to get to the point where other people can see his positive traits.

That said, I would disagree with Dr. Sears' suggestion about team sports. There is no way that my DS would EVER be able to handle team sports. He did great, though, in a YMCA program where he could do activities by himself under supervision--whether that was swimming, walking the track, riding the exercise bike, or walking the treadmill or the stair machine. When he was younger, he also loved bouncing on our mini-trampoline.

He will never be a kid who enjoys parties, but he has one close friend that he gets together with every few weeks (that's enough closeness for him). He knows the "rules" of social engagement, but doesn't always apply them very well. We've come up with our own levels of expectation for him that work for us--he has to acknowledge other people, but beyond that, if he doesn't want to engage in conversation or activities with them, he doesn't have to.

I think for the amount of space that Dr. Sears has to work with as a magazine columnist, he did pretty well. Best of all, he was positive about people with Asperger's Syndrome, which is always a benefit to our kids.

Elizabeth
mom to Chris, 13, AS

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 06-28-2006 - 11:05am

It's kind of "light" but pretty good. I guess in the modeling department I'd rather he had explained how specific and literal an Aspie's udnerstanding is because simply "modeling" something is too general for them to grasp. It has to be broken down into carefully thought-out literal explanations.

Also, about sports. OK well, that's kind of wrong! 1st of all, many AS kids have motor skill and muscle tone problems and avoid physical activities, second of all a team sport requires interactive cooperation in constantly varying situations. Can you say "high stress"? I don't think team sports are fair to subject an AS to. But, our 14 year old has done GREAT at Karate. He's just in the mandatory waiting period for his black belt. He's not aggressive, but he follows the "rules" to the T - and always scores very very well on his "forms." Plus, I think many of the motions he's doing are similar to the stims he did when younger. He clearly gets something very positive out of it - although it didn't help at all with having him feel he can stand up to a bully. :-( Come to think of it, I recently was reading a description of AS and there was a line in there about frequent subjects of bullying. I wish Dr. Sears had included that aspect as well. I think it's one of the big things parents do need to watch out for to support their child.

Jackie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-28-2006 - 11:18am

I agree on the team sports and karate. Karate this time around has been great for Mike however, we did have to wait until he was mature enough and had enough skills to function in the class as well as finding a sensei who jelled a little better with Mike.

Team sports have been horrible for both of them. Even the special needs team sports. So loud, crowded, so many skills to try to focus on aside from the sport that are very hard.

I thought it was pretty good. A bit light too. And though I do like positive light of stuff once again another article makes AS look like some mild little quirk of really smart children and the mild step sister of autism. He even says he doesn't like to use the term autistic but that is what it is in many cases. It is a significant developmental disability which takes alot of work to be able to get the child to the point of living independently.

My inlaws read that and what they think is that I am nuts, there is nothing really wrong with them that putting them in team sports and modelling appropriate behavior won't fix and all the fall out that comes from that.

Renee

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2005
Wed, 06-28-2006 - 6:19pm

Well, there's nothing I can really add that hasn't already been said. It was good but light, but then, it was just a culumn. Kinda hard to get all the information in there without writing a book (and even then it's pretty tough).

My kids and team sports is a huge joke! They do martial arts with a sensai but that's as far as it goes. And modeling behavior/skills is just not enough, not by a long shot. Modeling is important, but way not enough, at least not for my kids.

I will say that other team/group type things have worked for them, like doing Olympics Of The Mind. But when it comes to sports they get frustrated really fast and shut down. PE is a nightmare for them if they're studying a team sport.

My 2 Cents,
~SG_1Niner

APOV on Autism

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-29-2006 - 5:28am

Whoa Nellie, here I go...

My thoughts are I take some offense to the fact that Asperger's are always referred to as the barely autistic. At this point, I have seen some aspie's who are more involved than some autie's and some autie's less involved then aspie's. In the grand scheme does it matter?--no. I'll stop here before I offend someone. Renee and I have had this conversation before though Why can't we just accept where our kids are at instead of trying to convince ourselves that they aren't as severe as the next? It's not a race to the finish. Valerie--who is probably just in a mood because the kids have been awful this week off of school and is ready to up and leave!

~Valerie
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-29-2006 - 10:33am

I do agree with you val on that part. Think I mentioned that part bothering me earlier.

Again, this is why I would like to get rid of the different labels of AS/HFA/ASD. It brings up too much comparison of who is "worse off" or "better off". That is a discussion I was having with someone else. Rather than worse off or better off it would be nice to just accept that we all have struggles to deal with. Personally I am tired of having our struggles down played as some mild quirk by the media who insist AS is some romanticized mild quirk that was shared by einstein.

But I was wondering your oppinion on my idea of splitting the spectrum into 2 parts in OLDER kids and adults since it does seem there are 2 very different camps with different sets of needs. I don't think we should split in younger children because when kids are young you still really don't know what they will be like older. I still think your boys would be in the the same camp as my guys, btw. On the one hand I think parents of the very small group with kids who are very severely affected, nonverbal (past the age of 7), etc have different needs and need more support. I don't mean these children are low functioning because if you find a way to communicate with them they are often amazing. I feel the vast majority of the people with autism I think should all fall into the same category with only one label and require similar supports, not all this splitting of hairs.

The only reason I see a possible split is because of the different types of supports and services that would be required. The kids I am thinking of are more like the kids with childhood degenerative disorder or Retts. I have only met a few. In all my work last year (probably met over 150 kids, many with ASD) only a few fit in this category.

I would definitely insist on NOT using terms like lower functioning because these children I mentioned were not. They were severely impacted but they all were quite able IF you knew how to communicate with them and reach them. ONe was amazing with rapid prompting, another I could tell had lots to say but was in the wrong placement, had no means of communication they bothered to use with him, and was very frustrated but when you could connect with him he was amazing, and a 3rd was still to young to say for sure. There was also a 4th girl and again she was still fairly young and she also had limited communication that she was exposed to but she could do activities brilliantly and you just know she was smart when someone found a way to communicate.

Renee

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-29-2006 - 1:33pm

DISCLAIMER: what i have written below may not be suitable to some readers and i am in a major mood so please do not continue reading if you are particularly sensitive at this moment. V

I think your idea is a very good one. But it probably isn't feasible because it seems that certain areas need this distinguishment for services even though it shouldn't matter. And then, how many parents would refuse to accept or get a diagnosis if they couldn't get a candy coated one of PDD or asperger's instead of just ASD. (please keep in mind that i have a child diagnosed as PDD. so with that in mind, i feel justified to make this comment.) so many parent's can't handle it, and somewhat understandably. but without the diagnosis variability--many would simply avoid getting it done. Valerie

~Valerie
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Thu, 06-29-2006 - 3:35pm

True true, Valerie... But at the same time, here I am fighting with the CPSE to get some autistic-specific support for my daughter written into her IEP, and the chair has to call and speak to the developmental pediatrician on the phone to clarify Sylvia's dx, because she's not sure if PDD-NOS actually qualifies as autism...

Just as an aside, at this point, I just refer to Sylvia as being autistic (when it's necessary that I bring it up). Explaining PDD is just too difficult. So I'd definitely be all for a change in the diagnostic terminology...

P.S. -- In terms of the kids being horrible this week since they're home from school -- I'm right there with ya, babe!!! Sending a cyber-margarita your way...

Jennifer :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 06-30-2006 - 7:42am

Not a fan of Dr. Sears, and this clumsy response has not changed my mind. Very nice for a ped to reinforce the "stigma" of autism. Lovely to have a preofessional who cares for kids explain that Aspies are not like those "other" children, whom he implies to be close to useless. Also, the good doctor does not seem to be up on the latest developments in autism research/knowldge (cf the excellent NPR article). Lastly, he seems to downplay irresponsibly the very real disability experienced by someone with Asperger's. I give him a D.

Edit: PS, sorry for crashing the board with such a cranky response, but I have been dealing with my un-dx'ed Aspie dad for a few weeks. Dad would be considered very "high-functioning," but, boy! he can be rather trying. Having read the other responses, I also have to agree whole-heartedly about the team sports. I chuckled when I read that.




Edited 6/30/2006 8:23 am ET by sild

Pages