Explaining To Your Child That He Has AS

My son is 17 and a senior in high school. He has been on the Honor Roll since 6th grade, but that has not always been the case. It’s been a long and hard battle through the school system, but we persevered. Next year is college.

He was dx with Asperger Syndrome when he was in third grade and sometime during elementary school I introduce him to his autism spectrum disorder. Back then there wasn’t much out there for this purpose, but I finally found the book (click on the following to read some of the book): I am Special by Peter Vermeulen.




The book is pretty well thought out because explaining autism to a person with autism is not an easy task. Autism is a highly complex matter and people with autism have a different way of understanding things from us. The book starts out with an Introduction then

Introducing People with Autism to their Disability:
Explaining autism to a person with autism
When?
At what age?
Who?
The various stages of the process
Special attention to self-esteem
An adapted communication style
Reactions to the diagnosis

The next section deals with Getting started with I am Special:
Target group, Conditions and indications, Collaboration with parents, Frequency and duration of the sessions, and more on how to conduct the manual.

The following section is Guidelines to the Worksheets:
It has objectives of the sessions, procedure, points of interests, materials, variations and suggestions for additional activities, etc.

Last, but not least: The Worksheets:
This consists of a series of worksheets which the child works through with an adult to create a unique and personal book about him or herself. It includes a series of exercises that present autism positively. The book also strikes a balance between general facts, information about autism and personal information, covering the strengths an autistic person may have as well as the difficulties they may face.

My son and I did this together because there were no counselors trained or willing to conduct such an undertaking at his school. There were also no professional persons living in our area with the knowledge of ASD and/or qualified training in dealing with people with ASD (this was 7 years ago). I found that I am Special was an excellent source of information for the ASD child and that my son could relate to the activities and understand what Asperger Syndrome was all about.

I know there are new books out on this subject, but since I have not used them I can only tell you about I am Special and that I highly recommend it.