Asperger Syndrome - Fremont,CA

i work at Regional Center of the East Bay and my one suggestion is to have your godson's mom call us and speak to the eligibility counselors. because if he DOES have aspergers then we have tons of resources for the family. give us a call, ###-###-####. i am assuming they live in the bay area, if not there are other regional centers throughout california. just a bit of advice. they can answer alot of questions the family has, as well.

Hi M. -

As usual, the Moms here have great advice -- Joanna knows about PHP because she works there (hi Joanna!) and it is the very best resource to start with here in the Bay Area.

Misdiagnosis is fairly common, but usually the 'other way around' -- meaning, that kids are frequently diagnosed with ODD or AD/HD and then later get a correct diagnosis of AS.

I work with neurodiverse kids (those with AS, AD/HD, bi-polar, learning differences) ages 14+, and have a 15-year-old with Asperger's, so know how scary this can be -- however, with early (and GOOD) intervention, most of our kids go on to have wonderful lives.

Hook up with PHP, and (not to toot my own horn) check out The Mom's Guide to Asperger's Syndrome -- it was published last year, and is FILLED with information on how to work with elementary school Aspies, how to advocate for them, where to find help, etc. I'm working on the second one now for high school students, and hope to have it to press in a couple of months.

Feel free to contact me if you need more info -- you're a great Godmother for helping out!

J. J-T
EvoLibri Consulting

My oldest daughter was diagnosed at age 9... She is on the mild side and only exhibits signs in terms of social settings. She is extremely bright (a college junior double majoring in Chemistry and Physics). We have had to work with her on proper acceptable social responses~~she shys away from groups and does much better with one-on-one or small group settings. She went through private elementary, middle and high school (small classes) due to OUR wishes of private, Christian schooling for our children. Never had "special" care or intervention in classes, except for the teacher's awareness of her issues.
Our diagnosis came afer many hours of psychological testing and interviews. We have also considered the diagnosis to possibly be incorrect as she never needed the "help" our parents group told us their kids with the diagnosis needed :)

Hope this helps!

Hi M. - As usual the moms on here have great advice. I have a 4 1/2 year old son who was diagnosed with Aspergers about a year ago. The thing about Autism Spectrum Disorders (of which Aspergers is one) is that it is a spectrum and your child may fall anywhere on that spectrum (and may move around on the spectrum from age to age). Also, Aspergers seems to rarely come alone. It often comes with other diagnoses as well. Unfortunately it's not like chicken pox where you get the diagnosis and there is a clear cut path ahead of you for 'recovery' or 'cure'. With Aspergers it's all about finding what therapies will help your child to best cope in the world. You're not going to change your child and you're not going to change the world that he/she needs to live in. So you have to find ways to help them cope. I've found the whole process fascinating. I feel lucky to have an extremely bright, happy, low key son who happens to have a few challenges that we need to work on.

Just as an FYI (because every child is different), we got a diagnosis through Children's Hospital in Oakland. He's been in speech therapy with a specialist in pragmatic speech disorders which has really helped. He's also taking a social interaction type class from Communication Works in Oakland (great place!) and we've had him evaluated through our local school district and he has an IEP (individual education program) and will be in an integrated preschool classroom starting in the fall.

Feel free to email me with any questions about all of this. The process and who to go to and where to go for information and help can be very confusing. Hang in there and just know that you're not alone.

-J.

Parents Helping Parents (PHP)in Santa Clara, www.php.com has an Aspergers Support group that meets monthly. It is attended by a number of parents and is supported by some very talented professionals in the area. Beginning to understand this diagnosis and wht it means and what can be done and how we can support our children so that they can be successful in school and life is a big process. Some of the experts in the field are Dr. Tony Atwood, Michelle Garcia-Winner.

It is the social and behavioral side of Asperger's that can be the most challenging. there are lots of books out there with great ideas. Check out the library at PHP before you commit to buying a lot of books.