Guest guest Posted May 21, 2010 Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 My son is 9 years old, and was dx with mild Asperger's when he was between K and 1st grade. He's grown by leaps and bounds because before we moved to Washington he was in a wonderful public school in NJ that gave him the social and speech services he needed. With his family, he is very empathetic, can take our perspective most times, looks us in the eye, etc, but not so with strangers. When he was diagnosed and I did research, I realized that my sister, father and grandfather all had undiagnosed Aspergers. Of course, everyone chalked it up to them being shy, different, and odd duck, a loner, etc. I think he's turning into my dad, who is an old curmudgeon (love him dearly, but still...) Jack is very negative, just like my dad. They both always see the glass as half empty, and Jack complains that he has a " bad life " , nothing ever goes his way, he always focuses on negative things that happen in his day, and never the positive. It's like they never happen. He takes things very literally, and you can't joke with him. It breaks my heart to see him so unhappy, even though he finally made a nice friend and plays football with his pals at recess. I guess this hurts doubly for me because I see him going through the exact same thing as my sister did. She needed a formal engraved written invitation to play with other kids, and so does my son. This is but one example. It was so hard to see it the first time around, and now I get to witness it all over again. Seems like nothing I say or do cheers him up. He is seeing a psychologist to help him deal with the " death spiral " of negativity he gets sucked into, but it doesn't seem to kick in when it needs to. It's only been 2 months so we'll see. It's hard to be the parent of a special needs child. Yes, I can give the 5 minute warning before a transition, approach him differently than I do my other son (age 11), but overall I struggle with feelings of powerlessness over a neurological condition. I look forward to hearing about you and your family! Laurel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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