and Peg

[Guest guest]

Peg,

Send me your e-mail. Maybe there is some way I can find it on this? but I

don't know about it. Where do you live? It is really awful the grief that

the science teacher gave you. I think a lot of people draw conclusions that

our kids are spoiled, etc. Ben is good at giving dirty looks and he even

growls at teachers when he gets mad. You know they have such a lack of

understanding of other's emotions, I don't think they have the foggiest idea

how their behavior affects others. Ben's school psychologist has been so

positive. I don't know how she does it really. Even with that though we

still have challenges daily! How about you? What is your son into? Ben is

into computer games and he loves to read fantasy books--Harry Potter,

Silverwing, Firewing, Jedi Quest series, Deltora Quest, Remnants.

How is the homeschooling going? Maybe you think I am nuts, but I need the

break from my son. I don't think I could handle having him all day, too.

Plus I have an in-home daycare so I don't think I could handle him and the

little ones.

Dawn (dscheppke@...)

-- ( ) Hi everyone! I'm new/sorry, long

I'm Peg, mom to , my 13 yr old with AS. I just had him diagnosed

a year and a half ago. We've been through a lot, but I will try not

to put everyone to sleep!LOL When was in the 3rd grade, his

teacher and the school suggested that I needed to find a different

type of school situation for him, either homeschool or a private

school with small classrooms. He was being suspended on a monthly

basis and his teacher complained that he was too disruptive to stay

in the class. She explained that he would do terrific if he were in

a room all by himself.

I was working out of the home at the time and it was a real

challange. He was having problems with his day care situation also

and I had no idea what was going on with him. I homeschooled for 2

years and decided that I should have him checked out by a

specialist. His pricipal at the charter school we were homeschool

through suggested a doctor who worked with ADHD/ADD children and

told me that he believed that was what was wrong with . By that

time I had done some research on the internet for ADHD and that's

when I first read about Asperger. When the doctor diagnosed him with

ADHD, I mentioned Asperger and was told that he definately didn't

have any kind of autism. We started him on medication for ADHD and I

noticed that some of his symptoms improved, but not all. After

several years and medication changes I took him to a psychologist

for a 2nd opinion. Once again I suggested Aspeger and was told that

he didn't have it. I was given instruction to use time outs for

behavior problems and unusual behavior that wasn't socially

acceptable. It didn't work.

Finally, I took him to a pediatrician who told me that was

eccentric and needed to be seen by a psychologist to rule out

several behavior dissorders including high functioning autism. After

a frustrating search in my area, I finally took him 50 miles away to

a Neuropsychologist at Loma University Hospital. I had just

enrolled him in the middle school and he was doing really good, so I

felt that we were finally getting somewhere. The Neuropsychologist

suggested I find a support group in the area we live in and a doctor

that would work with .

I talked to the school counseler, who assured me that didn't

need an IEP because of his high test scores and we agreed that he

could go to her office if he needed to " escape " to pull himself

together during one of his rough times. The first semester was

academically ahead of his peers and got along really well with his

teachers. The only class I had a problem with was math and that was

because the teacher would yell and the class was loud. After

insisting that he be removed, they finally did it.

The next semester was a disaster. I asked to have a meeting with his

teachers to discuss his Asperger and it took them 2 months to

arrange it. was having problems with organization and relaying

messages between me and the teachers and they weren't answering my

calls. I would get notices that he was way behind on work and was

failing the class as my first indication that there was a problem.

When we finally had the meeting, the science teacher didn't even

show up. None of the teachers had ever heard of Asperger and I had

to go through all the symptoms and what to expect from . The

problems with communication continued and the science teacher was

calling and leaving messages that was giving him evil looks in

class and was disruptive. When I finally talked to him, he told me

that I was using Asperger as an excuse for bad behavior and he had

too many kids in his class to make exceptions for .

I'm now homeschooling again and he has settled down a lot. I am

also trying to start a support group in my area since I was never

able to find one. I hope to find other parents with teenagers here

that I can discuss some of the rough spots with.

Hugs,

Peg