What can my wife and I to help out High Functioning Autistic son as he gets older? He is turning 7.?

Question

He is turning 7 soon. His tantrums have decreased in frequency. He has trouble expressing himself in regards to feelings, illness, etc. We want to be the best parents we can be.

Answer 1

Benefits of HFA
Alongside deficiencies they may simultaneously benefit from some of the more positive aspects of autism. For example, they may have the ability to focus intensely and for long periods on a difficult problem. There is often an enhanced learning ability, although this often is not applied to subjects they are uninterested in. They often present no problems in a supportive, well-resourced educational institution and often do well academically if they can be stimulated by good teachers.

People with HFA often have intense and deep knowledge of an obscure or difficult subject and a passion for pursuing it in an organized and scholarly manner.

They are usually intelligent, gifted, honest, hard workers when interested in a task and excellent problem solvers. People with HFA are thought to become excellent scientists and engineers or enter other professions where painstaking, methodical analysis is required. Some believe this particular assertion is a stereotype, as some HFA adults tend to struggle with the traditional work setting and the surrounding societally accepted ways of behaving. However, failure to follow societally accepted ways is simply eccentric behaviour, a behaviour that is often associated with HFA.

Speech and diction can be unusually precise in some individuals with HFA but this may be delayed or awkward in many other individuals.

I hope this helps you understand the opportunities for help, there is also a great book out called High-Functioning Autism: How to Meet the Challenges and Help Your Child Thrive, you can get it through Amazon. Good luck!

Answer 2

I have a son with Asperberger's who has the same type of difficult. Focus on his strengths and do what you can to education the people around him on things that set him off emotionally. Autistic children in general have a social emotional component that they struggle with. For larger events like school trips and our field days I attend and watch for signs. I've been teaching my son to learn to recognize when he's getting upset to say I need a minute to cool down. The more we practice this the easier it is becoming for him to walk away. However it is a challenge with other kids particularly in school. I'm currently in the process of working with our principal so that I can do a presentation for his class and possibly do something for the month of April for Autism awareness. If a child sees someone on crutches they will rally to be supportive. if we can teach the children to rally around children like ours they become more sensitive to everyone. I stay in close contact with school and offer to be there whenever needed. I work with the kids in our neighborhood so they understand if they see him getting upset what they can do. Get him involved with activities where he can be himself. Most autism groups have structured activities planned. Ours does a bi-monthly play group and runs several different kinds of sports as well as a summer camp for the kids. If you ever need to talk contact me here and I'll give you my informaton.

Answer 3

Autists are not social. They aren't particularly self-referential, either. They tend to be either driven or lost.

Find out who he is. Is he prodigious - art, music, mathematics, science? The very best thing you can do - if he burns nova-bright in an endeavor - is to feed his abilities. Everything else can go hang. One idiot-savant is worth more than a city of normals if he thinks and acts upon even one original thought in his life. None of the normals can birth the future.

If he is merely dysfunctional without talent you have the distastefull adn frustrating choice of retraining or pharmaceuticals. One of my programmer friends is kept sedated when not working. He hurts people. The simple solution is to use him as the extraordinary talent he is, not to demand a screwdriver be a hammer in a world of (bent) nails.

Who cares if a 170+ IQ screams a lot? Last year Head Start dropped $6 billion on morons. They are still morons. They will live their entire lives suckling the public exchequer and demanding their rights. Yor son is more noble than that no matter how he turns out.

Answer 4

Cafemom has a group for parents with autistic children,it might help to hear advice from other parents in the same boat.

Answer 5

He should be getting services through the school, and perhaps an outside agency as well depending on where you live. I have worked with children with Autism for 9 years, and without knowing your son it would be hard to give you advice since each child is different.