==> Preventing Meltdowns and Tantrums in Asperger's Children

==> Discipline for Defiant Asperger's Teens

==> Teaching Social Skills and Emotion Management

==> Parenting Children and Teens with High-Functioning Autism Overcoming the Challenges of Raising Aspergers Children

If you've recently learned that your youngster has - or might have - Aspergers or HFA, you're probably wondering and worrying about what comes next. No parent is ever prepared to hear that a youngster is anything other than happy and healthy, and a diagnosis of Aspergers can be particularly frightening. You may be unsure about how to best help your youngster, or you may be confused by conflicting treatment advice. Also, you may have been told that Aspergers is an incurable, lifelong condition, leaving you concerned that nothing you do will make a difference.

In this post, we will discuss the following:

Click here for the full article... Strengths-Focused Parenting: Empowering Aspergers Kids

How to employ “strengths-focused” parenting: Teaching Aspergers Children the Social Etiquette of "Play" Young people with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism often have trouble with social interactions. Understanding what someone is saying and being able to react to it quickly and appropriately is critical to being part of a conversation. But some Aspergers kids can’t do that without help.

These kids also tend to have difficulty taking and waiting for turns, playing by the rules, and reacting appropriately if they're not winning. But that doesn't mean that the youngster who is different socially can't be included. Your son or daughter can learn the social etiquette of play, how to avoid and resolve conflicts, and how to show some empathy.

Techniques to help teach your Aspergers child how to get along with peers during "play":

1. Play with your son or daughter in a “peer-like” way. Kids with Aspergers learn crucial skills through play with other kids, but they also learn a great deal through play with their mom or dad. Aspergers kids whose moms and dads frequently play with them have more advanced social skills and get along better with peers. This is especially true, however, when the mother or father plays with their youngster in an effectively positive and peer-like way. Observational studies indicate that the parents of the most socially competent kids laugh and smile often, avoid criticizing their youngster during play, are responsive to the youngster's ideas, and aren't too directive.

2. Provide your son or daughter with opportunities to play with peers. There is no substitute for the experience Aspergers kids get from interacting with peers. Kids who have had many opportunities to play with peers from an early age are clearly at an advantage when they enter a formal group setting (e.g., daycare, public school). Aspies especially benefit when they can develop long- lasting relationships. Kids - even toddlers - who are able to participate in stable peer groups become more competent over time and have fewer difficulties than kids whose peer group membership shifts. In other words, kids develop more sophisticated social strategies when they are able to maintain stable relationships with other kids they like over long periods.

3. Reflect a positive, resilient attitude toward “social setbacks.” Exclusion by peers is a fact of life for the Aspergers child. Aspies have different reactions to these rejections, ranging from anger to acceptance. Some Aspies come to believe that “my friends are out to get me," or that peers are just generally mean, in which case they are likely to react with aggression and hostility to mild slights by peers. Other Aspies may assume that these rejections are caused by an enduring, personal deficiency (e.g., "there’s something wrong with me") and are likely to withdraw from further peer interaction.

Socially competent Aspies, in contrast, tend to explain these rejections as temporary or in ways that recognize that a social situation can be improved by changing their own behavior (e.g., "I'll try to be nice to my friends next time"). Sometimes these kids recognize that the situation itself led to the rejection (e.g., all three kids wanted to ride bikes, but there were only two bikes, so one child was left out).

Moms and dads of these socially competent Aspies endorse interpretations of social events that encourage resilient, constructive attitudes. Rather than making a statement like, "That's a really mean kid!" …they may say something like, "Well, maybe he's having a bad day." They make constructive attributions like, "Sometimes children just want to play by themselves," rather than expressing a sentiment such as, “Those kids are not being very nice if they won't let you play with them." These parents avoid negative statements like, "Maybe they don't like you," and offer instead suggestions like, "Maybe they don't want to play that particular game, but there might be something else they would enjoy." Such positive statements encourage Aspies to take an optimistic view of others and themselves as play partners. They reflect an upbeat, resilient attitude toward social setbacks and the belief that social situations can be improved with effort and positive behavior.

4. Use a problem-solving approach. When problem-solving, moms and dads can help their son or daughter consider various solutions and perspectives. As parents know, there are often no easy answers to most of kid’s problems with peers. Therefore, it is helpful for Aspies to learn how to think about relationships and weigh the consequences of their actions for themselves and others. Kids who are encouraged to think in terms of others' feelings and needs are more positive and prosocial with peers. Also, kids whose moms and dads talk with them more often about emotions are better liked by their peers.

5. Talk with your Aspergers child about social relationships and values. Aspies who have more frequent conversations with a parent about peer relationships are better liked by other kids in their classrooms and are rated by educators as more socially competent. As a part of normal, daily conversation, these parents and kids talk about the everyday events that happen in school, including things that happen with schoolmates. Often these interactions take place on the way home from school or at dinner. These talks are not lectures, but rather conversations enjoyed by both parent and youngster that (a) communicate to the youngster an interest in his/her well-being, and (b) serve as a basis for information exchange and genuine problem solving.

Teaching Social Skills and Emotion Management Teaching the Visually-Oriented Aspergers Student Despite difficulties with eye contact, most children with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) are visual learners. Visual learners need to see the information. The whiteboard, texts for reading, or information on the computer all help these children succeed in the classroom.

It's important to distinguish that some visual learners prefer the written form of the language (e.g., a book that explains grammar or vocabulary). This preference is similar to an “analytical approach.” Other visual learners prefer diagrams or charts that illustrate grammar or vocabulary. This preference is similar to a “global approach.” Both types of visual learners may need to write down information in order to remember it.

Although some teachers believe notes aid memory, visual learners see notes as a prerequisite to memory. In other words, if they don't write down the information and/or draw charts and diagrams, then they won't remember the information.

Information or ideas heard may not be retained as well as if the Aspergers child had been able to take notes. Visual learners should be allowed to write notes or draw charts and diagrams in the class, perhaps with the teacher providing a minute or two after an explanation or presentation to take down the information. Longer recall times to activate the language will prove necessary if visual imagery doesn't accompany explanations.

The 7 learning styles:

Teachers should remember the following when working with Aspergers and HFA students:

1. Flashcards with pictures and/or words are an excellent tool for visual students. If flashcards aren't available, then the child can make his own. Alternatively, when encountering new words, the child can picture the object in his/her head.

2. Listening skills are a primary component of oral communication. Extra opportunities should be given to build listening ability, with many opportunities for visual learners to hear and process the information.

3. Visual students may struggle with pronunciation, intonation, tone, register, and other aural skills.

4. The child with Aspergers or HFA tends to have the following traits:

•    Arrives at correct solutions intuitively
•    Creates unique methods of organization
•    Develops own methods of problem solving
•    Develops quite asynchronously
•    Enjoys geometry and physics
•    Generates unusual solutions to problems
•    Has good long-term visual memory
•    Has visual strengths
•    Is a good synthesizer
•    Is a late bloomer
•    Is a whole-part learner
•    Is better at math reasoning than computation
•    Is creatively, mechanically, emotionally, or technologically gifted
•    Is turned off by drill and repetition
•    Is very sensitive to teachers’ attitudes
•    Learns best by seeing relationships
•    Learns complex concepts easily, but struggles with easy skills
•    Learns concepts all at once
•    Learns concepts permanently
•    Learns whole words easily
•    Masters other languages through immersion
•    May have very uneven grades
•    Must visualize words to spell them
•    Prefers keyboarding to writing
•    Reads maps well
•    Relates well to space
•    Sees the big picture, but may miss details
•    Thinks primarily in pictures

5. The child with Aspergers or HFA tends NOT to have the following traits:

•    Attends well to details
•    Can show steps of work easily
•    Can sound out spelling words
•    Can write quickly and neatly
•    Develops fairly evenly
•    Excels at rote memorization
•    Follows oral directions well
•    Has auditory strengths
•    Has good auditory short-term memory
•    Is a step-by-step learner
•    Is an analytical thinker
•    Is an early bloomer
•    Is comfortable with one right answer
•    Is well-organized
•    Learns by trial and error
•    Learns in spite of emotional reactions
•    Learns languages in class
•    Learns phonics easily
•    Learns well from instruction
•    May need some repetition to reinforce learning
•    Progresses sequentially from easy to difficult material
•    Relates well to time
•    Thinks primarily in words

Teaching Students with Aspergers and HFA The Autistic Brain: Malfunction or Human Evolution? The Aspergers Comprehensive Handbook Making Sense of Sensory Sensitivities in Aspergers Kids 1. Sight—

2. Sound—

3. Touch—

4. Taste—

5. Smell—

6. Balance (vestibular)—

7. Body awareness (proprioception)—

*** How Parents and Teachers Can Help ***

•    Increase the use of visual supports.

•    Use visual supports to back up verbal information.

•    Use weighted blankets or sleeping bags.

Body awareness—

*** How Sensory Sensitivities Affect Behavior ***

Picky eater:

Chews on everything (e.g., clothing, objects):

Refuses to wear certain clothes:

Difficulties getting to sleep:

Finds it difficult to concentrate in the classroom:

*** How Professionals Can Help ***

Sensory rooms might include: Articles in Alphabetical Order: 2011 Click here to read the full article… How to Prevent Meltdowns in Aspergers Children Parenting Defiant Aspergers Teens Aspergers Children “Block-Out” Their Emotions Older Teens and Young Adult Children With Aspergers Still Living At Home Living with an Aspergers Spouse/Partner Online Parent Coaching for Parents of Asperger's Children

Click here to read the full article... Unraveling The Mystery Behind Asperger's and High-Functioning Autism Parenting Children and Teens with High-Functioning Autism My Aspergers Child - Syndicated Content Welcome to MyAspergersChild.com Sign-up For Our Newsletter

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Can't see the video? Click Here Lecture by Mark Hutten Launching Adult Children With Aspergers: How To Promote Self-Reliance
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