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Parenting an Asperger's Child

You have found out that your child is on the autism spectrum--he or she has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Autistic kids can be on the odd side of normal, or they can be pretty seriously impaired. Your child with Asperger's is somewhere in the middle. Now, how can you help your child move toward being more normal? Work to aid his self-confidence, and shield him from those who would discourage him.

How do you increase his self-confidence? You can encourage his musical gifts. He may have exceptional musical talent--people on the autism spectrum often do. He may even have perfect pitch. If your child can enjoy music, or even excel at it, it will give him joy for the rest of his life. Now, how do you find the right teacher? The typical piano teacher may be intimidated by your child. But a music therapist wouldn't be intimidated. Or perhaps you have a family member or family friend who knows the child and has the patience to teach him. You can build a requirement for daily practicing into your system of rewards for your child. You need to create such a system to encourage your child to do chores and homework.

Aspies often are loners. Your child may love to talk on and on about one subject. Developing social skills doesn't come naturally. You will need to teach these skills. When your child is in grade school, he may not be very aware of his need to learn social skills. But in middle school, he may notice that others have friends while he does not. When he reaches this teachable point, it's time for you to step in and show him how to make friends.

Steps you can take are:

* Group sessions with other kids for the purpose of learning social skills. These may be led by a speech therapist, a social worker, or a teacher.

* Working with him yourself. Set aside 15 minutes a day during Homework Time to play conversation games.

* Putting him in a special-needs school that will give him social coaching. Your child needs special help. Placement in a regular mainstream school situation may expose him to bullying. Instead, he needs to be taught how to interact with others.

Speaking of bullying, this is one of the most damaging situations for your child's feelings of self worth.

Mainstreaming may just be exposing your child to negative interactions, not positive ones. If this is necessary for your situation, see if you can volunteer at the school to be nearby, or get the school to hire a shadow for your child. Then talk to that person and tell him exactly what you want them to do: protect the child from negative interactions with peers. Our culture tolerates bullying and negative teasing, but both of those will be damaging to your child.

* Homeschooling may allow you to protect your child from teasing. You can find out all about it on the Internet.

* You may be able to find a school that controls most peer interactions. This might be a private special-needs school.

To summarize, be sure to do all you can to protect your child's feelings of self-worth.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

To learn many strategies for bringing up your Aspergers youngster, be sure to check out Phyllis Wheeler's ebook, Nurturing Your Aspergers Child. In it Ms. Wheeler defines workable strategies, such as a point system. Click here for other unique parenting articles.

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