Life with Aspergers

One of the more bizarre questions on the Asperger's diagnostic forms concepts whether the person has an “unusual gait”.  I remember reading that and thinking that I certainly didn't fit the profile in that instance. I think that the first image that popped into my head at that point was John Cleese doing the “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch. Of course, the reality of the unusual gait is “completely different”. Then and Now It was only later that I remembered that my wife, whom I met at age 14, used to tell everyone to watch out for my “funny running style”; something that clearly amused my schoolmates. Could this be the famed “unusual gait”. Fast forward about 33 years and I find that my work colleagues pick up on my “unusual gait” as I pass them on the street. Clearly there's something really different about how I walk. Not “wrong”, just different. In fact, it's clearly not wrong because I walk more than most people and done random walks of up to 50km...

Active Imagination Activity Book 50 Sensorimotor Activities to improve focus, attention, strength and co-ordination Kelly Tilley. MCISc. OTR/L Published by Sensory World There are all kinds of different therapies for children on the autism spectrum but in my opinion, two stand out head and shoulders above the rest; Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. Both of these are expensive and even with government support, it's unusual for parents to be able to continue beyond one or two terms at a time. You won't become an occupational therapist simply by using this book but you will learn a lot of fun and simple techniques to achieve many of the same things that occupational therapists work toward. This book is intended for use with children and adults who need help with attention, calming down and energizing but I can see that it will also provide a lot of benefit for people with poor co-ordination and/or low muscle tone - two things which affect many people on the autism sp...

I just want to draw your attention to what is quite simply the best article I've ever read on Low Muscle Tone in Aspergers Children; It's called; Low Muscle Tone and Motor Clumsiness in Aspergers Children http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2010/11/low-muscle-tone-and-motor-clumsiness-in.html The article covers detection of low muscle tone (or hypotonia to give its "proper" name), how it presents, exercises that you can do with babies and age-specific exercises you can do with older children. It covers a wide range of topics from motor clumsiness to handwriting, grasp and balance problems. It even looks at the social implications. It's well worth a read.

School I can remember taking my wife home from the school in tears because one mother had told us that she was in a panic about her son and thinking of pulling him out because he was only a level 12 reader. Our son was in his class too, but at the time, he was only on level 2. It's not that the other parent was insensitive. She probably didn't know what level our son was on. The real issue is that parents of children with academic special needs shouldn't discuss their children's progress with other parents. There really is no comparison and it will only get you upset. Given time and resources your child will flourish. In fact, five years later, our son is just finishing up the diary of a wimpy kid - and he enjoyed it! Unfortunately, academic talk is common at school while waiting to pick your child up. Sometimes it's better to stay in the car. Some parents delight in telling you all about their child's achievements and eagerly ask about your child's wo...

Image by Lorri Lang from Pixabay "Congratulations! Your child has Aspergers!" I'll sometimes say this to parents and the blank/astonished looks that I receive make it clear that they just can't see the good in the label. There are many worse conditions that your child can have. People with autism spectrum disorders can have rich and fulfilling lives. They can get married, they can become successful business people and they can have loving and supporting families. The main keys are; Early Intervention Supportive and Understanding Parents, friends and partners Early Intervention There's a lot more to early intervention than just detection. In fact, if you're going to stick with detection only, then you might as well, not bother getting a diagnosis. For a start, there's information dissemination. You can't keep the diagnosis to yourself. You're going to have to tell people. A lot of parents hide the diagnosis on the grounds that they feel ...

Right at the beginning of this series, I suggested that Asperger's by itself isn't a debilitating condition. I stand by this. It is not simply Asperger's that is the problem but the co-conditions which frequently exist alongside it. Often these co-conditions are called comorbids but it is a word which I have stopped using because there are limitations on what can and cannot be referred to as the a comorbid. I'm not ready to accept those conditions. Co-Conditions It's hard to determine whether or not a co-condition is an entirely separate condition existing at the same time as Asperger's or whether it is simply a facet of the Asperger's itself. Sometimes the conditions seem to start out as part of the aspergers but separate later into fully fledged conditions of their own - sometimes it goes in the opposite direction. I think that it varies from person to person and from condition to condition. When a co-condition exists as a part of aspe...

I joined a newAspergers forum recently and decided to write an introduction - It's rare that I bother introducing myself in forums. Usually, I just jump right in and start asking/answering questions. Since I've not really done a proper introduction here, I figured it's probably a good topic for the next few posts. I grew up in Australia in the seventies when Aspergers wasn't really a well known condition. Fortunately, I also had a hearing problem, I lost most of my hearing in both ears as part of an out of control ear infection aged about two. I say "fortunately" here because it was my hearing loss which enabled me to cope almost invisibly with the, then mostly unknown, symptoms of Aspergers. If any photo screams out "Ear Infection", then I suppose it would be this one. Here, I'm on a tricycle with my older sister in our backyard. Strangely, my next door neighbour was the same age and also deaf, though his deafness was considerably worse tha...

I've noted a link between aspergers and sleep disorders. My son takes hours to go to sleep and is sometimes awake in the middle of the night. I used to think that it was his ritalin (he's on it for his ADHD/ADD) but I noticed that when he has a break from the ritalin, during school holidays for example, his sleeplessness is unchanged. I also remember from my own childhood and most of my adulthood, that I had sleeping problems too. I still do occasionally though these days, the dual stresses of work and family combine to make me tired enough to drop off. I've also learned to cope with sleeplessness better by staying up until I really feel tired then going straight to the bedroom with my eyes partially close and without talking or doing any "thinking" work. In winter, I even go so far as to wrap myself in a doona (blanket) while watching TV and staying "wrapped" all the way to the bedroom. Even so, it's fairly common for me to go to bed at between 1...

How an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is Structured An IEP is designed to be a "flow-on" document where the issues are identified up-front and the remainder of the document covers methods of dealing with them. The IEP will start with a bit of information about the child, the diagnosis, who is present at the meeting, etc. I'm not going to cover this bit as it's simply box-ticking on the form. The first part of the IEP will attempt to ask and answer two questions; 1. What are the child's strengths and interests? 2. What are the perceived weaknesses of the child? It is important to get these questions properly answered as the entire remainder of the IEP will reference them. This post will attempt to provide some background on the sorts of things that should be in these areas with particular emphasis on their relevance to the aspergers condition. Keep in mind though that aspergers manifests itself differently from one individual to another and that all c...

First of all, I'm not intending to cover this from a "medical" perspective. If you want to know this look it up in a medical journal or on wikipedia . Ritalin is a medication which has had 50 years of field testing in children, it's therefore generally considered to be safe and to have minimal side-effects. Of course, being a parent and giving my child a daily drug which is deemed safe isn't quite enough for me. I need to know what's really going on. Since my child doesn't communicate in any detail about the effects of the drug, I decided that I should give it a go myself. Since my genes are closest to his, I expect it's the next best thing to testing it on him (and getting decent reporting). He's currently 7 years of age and is on 1.5 tablets in the morning and 1 at midday of Ritalin 10. I did two tests, which gave me a good indication of the short term effects. I don't intend to do any further testing - not because of any side-effects b...

Although it's not part of the official diagnostic criteria for Aspergers, low muscle tone is nevertheless an condition strongly associated with Aspergers. Why is it so Confusing? When most people hear about "low muscle tone" they assume that it has something to do with bodybuilding - I certainly did at first. This is particularly confusing since many newly diagnosed aspies are children and it's quite uncommon to see any child with a well-developed set of muscles. Most parents will either simply ignore the condition or assume that a bit of outdoor activity, eg: playing soccer, is required. The other confusing thing is that there are adult aspies out there who regularly attend the gym and who have "better" muscles than many NT people. How do they fit the criteria? I saw a great line on a web site discussing Hypotonia . "Your kid seems perfectly good with their muscles - they are strong, they run round with boundless energy, but they have tro...