Looking for Other Moms with a Child Diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome

i don't have a child with the disorder, but my younger sister has asperger's, adhd, and bipolar. i also work at a counseling center. i will be willing to answer any questions if i can.

A.

Hi S.
I want to encourage you and tell you that you are doing a great job as a mom. You are concerned and you are looking for help and that is commendable.

I know this may seem strange but have you looked into chiropractic? Both the conditions that your son has been diagnosed yet have seen tremendous results under upper cervical chiropractic care. There are a number of websites you can check out to get more information, which I will list below. You can also google upper cervical chiropractic and the condition of your choice and come up with some great information. In fact, there was a study with autistic children in which all 7 children improved dramatically under upper cervical care and 2 of them were not even considered autistic anymore!
I am in the Belleville, IL area. I'd love to meet with you to discuss you options...or please email me for any more information you may want or need.

http://www.erinelster.com/Articles/add_articles_main.html
http://www.erinelster.com/add.html
www.upcspine.com
www.nucca.com

Have a tremendous day!
J.

Hi S.,
You are lucky to have gotten an early diagnosis. My son is 16 and was just diagnosed with PDD in February. He has some comorbid diagnosis as well, but it has been a long hard road with many misdiagnoses along the way.
Know that you are not alone. There are many good resources out there. One of the other posts listed alot of good places to start. I would suggest contacting yuor local Regional Center. They have and offer alot of resources and information.
The one book that I consider a "bible" if you will is the OASIS GUIDE TO ASPERGER SYNDROME. It is available on Amazon.com but cannot be found in book stores. I also joined an online forum http://forums.delphiforums.com/AspergerOasis/start
There are alot of great people on this forum who are going through or have experienced alot of the same things. They give some great advice, opinions, and just someone to vent to when need be.
Feel free to contact me anytime for talk, support, or anything.
D.

Hello!!!
There is a product that can be a great help to your child. It is a food, sea weed with the element called Fucoidan in it, found in the brown sea weed. There are over 688 research studies found at www.pubmed.org. This is a liquid 87% sea weed, and 13% fruit juice from mango and pappya and pear.
You can check out their web page at lymphmassage911.originallimu.com
or call me at Pat D.
###-###-####
and I also am a RN and a Lymph Massage therapist
I am qualified to perform a massage on the Brain
I just returned from a Advanced Brain II class last week.
Thanks
Pat DeMoss

Cafemom.com
you will find this very helpful

I am a special ed. teacher who has a student with Aspergers in my home. We have had him for almost 3 years now. He is in third grade. He has made so much progress socially. His academics are pretty good. He was just re-evaluated. His math is on a 2nd grade 5th month. His reading and spelling are 6th grade 8th month. 'Bob' does his best when he knows the scheduled events for the day. As both his special ed. teacher and part-time parent, I am soooo enjoying seeing him grow socially. He has quite a ways to go though. At our house, he has to do 3 things with our other kiddos before he can resort to his 'Asperger's Island'. He is expected to invite/ask another child in our home to do a puzzle with him. He then has to go outside and interact with the boys for at least 30 minutes. Last, he has to ask my husband to shoot baskets with him or play catch. At first he hated it. But once he got the reward for participating and interacting, he has added one more thing to his list. He actually gets a toy and plays with our small dog. He would much rather be alone on the computer, watching Toon Disney, or drawing/writing on his Magna-Doodle.
Children diagnosed with Asperger's are so much fun. Enjoy him!

I work in family law as a paralegal. We have clients whose children have been diagnosed with Aspergers. Some of them go to Dr. Harriett Barrish who deals with kids diagnosed with Asperger's. Her phone # is ###-###-####. Her office is located at College Blvd & Roe.

Good luck to you!

Hi,
I have a 22 yr old son who lives with Asperger's syndrome. I also am mother to a 25 yr old son with ADHD. ( There's an 18 yr old daughter with special circumstances too.)I might know some of your pain. You can get back with me whenever you like.

try getting information on support groups in your area through NAMI the national alliance for the mentall ill www.nami.org

good luck
please let us know how it goes

I would contact a local college or doctors office for a family support group. I live right outside of Springfield, MO and teach in a special education setting. In our area we have a family support group for parents of children with autism, aspergers, or any autism spectrum disorder. The process coordinator at your sons school may also have information.
Good Luck.

My son is now 18 yrs and has always been "different". He was diaagnosed with just about everything from ADD,ADHD.OCD...only to have them say he ded not have whatever it was thought he had. He was finally correctly diaagnosed when he was 14Yrs.It is something people have to accept and learn to live with.Most people don't understand children with Asperger's. They think they are just kids the parents let get out of control and don't have boundries. It will be a hard road for all of you. I fought with schools for years,I finally Kept him home and home schooled him . Good luck to you all and God bless

I have dealt with a 13 year old who was finally diagnosed after years of misdiagnosis. He has Aspergers, OCD, ADHD and PDD. He is now 16 with the intelligence of about 10-11 year old. When we began he only had the intelligence of about a 5-6 year old. Strides have been made and will be for you as well, have hope.

Thank God for the early diagnosis and start researching. This is to let you know that you are not alone. There are many of us and we are coming out of our boxes to let others know. After much hard work I found some areas for help in my area. They are attached and will need you to contact them for help, ideas and support. Many more groups are appearing on the horizon which is a positive sign, (MPACT). These have help, support and some financial assistance. Take the time to do the paperwork, no matter how long or repetitive. Just remember to make copies of everything. Invest in a small home copier if need be.

Please just get on the internet or go to the library and start reading. Anything you read will be a big help in understanding your son. One book is ASPERGER SYNDROME AND SENSORY ISSUES: PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD by Brenda Smith Myles, Katherine Tapscott Cook, Nancy E. Miller, Louann Rinner and Lisa A Robbins. This book helps alot in understanding the sensory issues you may be facing and how your son views the world. Another good article about autism is THE GEEK SYNDROME. It is a cover story of TIME dated May 6, 2002. ASPERGER SYNDROME: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS AND PROFESSIONALS by Tony Attwood. Any of these or others are good.

S.S.I.
(Social Security Administration)
4240 S. Lee’s Summit Road
Independence, MO 64055
###-###-####
1-800-772-1213
www.socialsecurity.gov
(If eligible for S.S.I. request from them information on Food Stamps or Medicaid)

E.F.E.C.T.
(Encouraging Families with Exceptional Children Together)
EFECT
PO Box 2345
Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
###-###-####
www.efect.org
(Good support group, ask to help find Educational Advocate)

MO Dept. of Social Services
6801b E. Longview Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64134 (Longview Shopping Center)
(Food Stamps) ###-###-####
(Medicaid; MC+
First Guard; doctors & eye care
Cenpatico; mental health
Doral; dental) ###-###-####
(Free Legal Services) ###-###-####

K.C.R.C.
(Kansas City Regional Center)
821 E. Admiral Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64106
###-###-####
(Application for therapy, respite care, range of service benefits)

JOSHUA
(Child and Family Development Center)
7611 State Line Road, Suite 142
Kansas City, MO 64114
Voice: ###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####
Email: ____@____.com
or ____@____.com
www.joshuacenter.com

***Important***

· Get current copies of all school records to include any testing, evaluations, grades and IEP’s for each child.

· Get social security cards for everyone in family.

· Get current pay stubs x 6 months and last years tax forms.

· Get copies of all medical records to include any testing, evaluations, diagnosis and recommendations for each child.

· Get current letter from each doctor, therapist, psychiatrist or psychologist. Have letter state who they are, their diagnosis, how long seeing the child, any meds currently taking, what the child experiences, how they cope, and any direction for contact of the doctor for each child.

· Make a list of all difficulties each child has no matter how menial to you.

· Make a list of all medications, dosage amount, frequency of need and reason for each medication for each child.

· Keep records separate and up to date for each child.

· You may want to invest in a small file cabinet to keep these records in. As you start receiving any help you will have to fill out records on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. These things will be needed again from time to time. I keep all pay stubs current and just file them with the tax forms at the years end.

REMEMBER:
* Any waiting list is worth the wait as this is a life long adventure you are on for this child.
* Any amount of help is worth the trouble as it is more than you have now.
* GOD LOVES YOU!!

Hi S., I don't have a child with Asperger Syndrome but my son does have CP. There is a group here in KC called EFECT which stands for Encouraging Families with Exceptional Children Together. They are a group of wonderful parents dealing with the same type of issues. They have a yahoo webgroup called Efect and they also have a website which is www.efect.org. I hope that you are able to find some of the answers you are looking for!

D.

Hi S. R,

My 14 year old son has Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD and Bi-Polar. We currently live in Colorado but will be moving to Broken Arrow as soon as our home sells. We are trying not to trigger an episode with JJ and make this move as easy on him as possible.

Our son was diagnosed with AS about a year ago...after doing some research we could see all of the qualifiers fit him to a T. We aren't quite sure what is JJ's special subject yet. But because he wasn't diagnosed until middle school we feel he was left behind due to being taught using emotional symptoms as a guide instead of physical symptoms.

Do you have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) with the school he attends? We have had one with JJ since 1st grade...he was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5 and they added Bi-Polar when he was 11.

The hardest part of being a parent of a child with AS has been two-fold...watching JJ trying to make a long term friendship with his peers. He can make friends easily but he loses them as easy. And, realizing that our son is at a 4 year old's level emotionally but in a 14 year olds physically.

Does BA have any support groups for special needs chidren? We attend one here in CO and hope to find one when we make our move to BA.

W. Q

Hi,
My just turned 7 year old son has Asperger's, diagnosed last summer but I knew a year before that. He also has Sensory Integration Disorder, Giftedness, Dyspraxia and food allergies. He is very high functioning and attends a private school here in South County and is in the SNAP program for speech. He should be getting a lot more services through SNAP but he was denied b/c he has some intelligence. I actually have posted several places to get a small support group going for ASP kids and moms. Judevine doesn't have one for ASP just for Autism.
We are in St. Louis MO. If you want to get into a little group and maybe let the kids get together and/or moms only please let me know. I am in South County near Telegraph/Reavis Barracks.
L.

My son was very recently diagnosed with Asperger. It has been years of trying to get help and a diagnosis. I am looking for other parents or support group to help educate me on how to deal with it.

I have a 4 yr old son diagnosed with moderate Autism, but the original thought was Asperger as he has a lot of those type mannerisms.

I have another son, who is 18 months old. I work as a Realtor, so have a chaotic and unpredictable schedule. My fiancee works at a local television station so is gone a lot as well.

If you'd like to chat, just let me know. We can commiserate and conjecture together! We just got the diagnosis a few weeks ago so I'm still trying to figure out what it all means.

He starts a special education preschool program in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping that will help him learn to cope with others and how to interact.

- S. in Wichita