If you have a child who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, you no doubt have started the journey of researching everything you can to learn more about AS and how to teach your child in a way they can understand. It’s been about 2 years since it was first suggested to me to have my son tested. Previously he had been misdiagnosed as ADHD, which I understand is not uncommon. You can read my post on that too.
I have read tons of stuff online, articles, support groups, talked with all sorts of Dr.’s, and read books. There is one book that I found particularly helpful in one area. This book actually broke AS down into sub-categories. It was a real eye-opener for me because what I had read that may have helped other people I knew would not be right for my son. And I had tried to no medication route and that did not help at all but I felt so much angst for putting my son on not one but multiple medications. But he really responded and flourished so I felt I was doing the right thing. In the book, Parenting Your Asperger Child by Alan Sohn, Ed.D and Cathy Grayson, M.A, the authors explain that there are several sub-types of AS and it really helped me to understand my son much better.
The categories they list are The Rule Boy which has two sub-types of innocent/passive and overcontrolled,The Logic Boy, The Emotion Boy (my son), Paranoid Boy, a group that represents ADHD/OCD and Fantasy Children (my son has a lot of these characteristics too), Anxiety Boy, Angry-Resistant Boy, and Negative Boy. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book or even read that section with a latte at your local Barnes&Noble. It has recommendation on how to deal with each of the subtypes and will give you insight to how these children deal with life and how to best approach things with them.
On side note, I did not agree with everything in the book so I cannot really endorse the whole thing but this particular section was invaluable to me.
Check out my post on Can Your ADHD Child Really have Asperger’s Syndrome:
http://www.angmoore.com/aspergers-syndrome/can-your-adhd-child-really-have-aspergers-syndrome/
13. July 2010 at 8:39 am
Sounds like I should check it out – sounds helpful, and yes everyone on the spectrum is so very different – but similar sub types sounds highly likely. Thanks for the book tip, will check it out and see in parenting my two on the spectrum gets any easier.
13. July 2010 at 12:27 pm
Thanks Isobel. It really was a huge help for me and dealing with my son.
19. October 2011 at 5:50 pm
What about aspie girl, like my daughter? By the way, I’m aspie too and if it wasn’t for our style of thinking, there wouldn’t be a computer to type this on…
19. October 2011 at 6:26 pm
Aspie power rules! My son talks about making video games or being a progammer (eventhough he doesn’t realize that is waht he is talking about) for Club Penguin. I love it. Wouldn’t change a thing.