AS & DRIVING

I am asking all ones with Asperger's to respond & all parents who have had AS drivers in their families to respond.

Does AS affect attention span during driving?

We can all be distracted while driving, that is a given... but what about stimming while driving?

What if we start getting deep into our thoughts & cannot remember how we arrived at our destination or missed a turn & never arrived?

That is when it becomes a problem.

I have a teen son who is taking Driver's Ed & frankly, I am worried about it. He has AS... he claims, when practicing driving that he "did not know" that law, or did not "see" that curb.

He passed the intial permit test, obviously, because he can drive with an adult in the car.

Any advice? Any lessons learned? Care to share?

Milk & Hyperactivity

Today I am thinking of Milk Sensitivities & their relation to hyperactivity. My soon-to-be 6 yo son is very active. HYPER-active, that is. Last week, I took the dive & cut down his milk intake by half. Wonders of wonders! His activity level just about halved, too! We had already taken him off of artificial food colorings a year ago, which helped tremendously with tantrums & meltdowns. But, the milk thing, I had put off, after he realized I had switched his ever-loving WHOLE MILK for SOY! Horrors! He banned all milk intake for 4 days when he realized he had been tricked... so, I was turned off by the idea last year. So, we tried again & seeing as he is more reasonable this go-around, it is working. He is not screaming for his milk, he says he understands that the milk makes him feel bad. Last week, in the middle of a tantrum, he declared that he did not like the way he was feeling. He has been on half of what he consumed for over a week & things are looking up. :) Not drinking cow’s milk is certainly a simple and safe intervention to try. And, as we like to say, if what you are doing works, don’t mess with it. But if it doesn’t work, try something else.

Pondering New Obsessions

Today I am thinking about my sons' obsessions.

• the soon-to-be 6 yo is now obsessed with Spore game & the new puppies outside.



• The teenage Aspie is obsessed with weight-lifting... gaining muscle weight, etc.

What causes this?

Some obsessing is natural, huh?

When does it become unnatural? When it starts interfering with necessary actions in life, then it is considered unnatural, right?

Just wondering in general about this... nothing important.

Staying at Home all the time

I try to be compassionate & understand... my 5 year old wants to stay home all the time. Did you hear me?? ALL THE TIME! It is not an exagerration. What do I do? What do I push him to do?

When I have talked to him about it, he says he "just wants to stay at home." Simple as that. Input welcome!

Wordless Wednesday

Asperger's: My life as an Earthbound alien

..."tend to have specialized interests, and we will talk about them, ad infinitum, whether you are interested or not. Recognizing my tendency to soliloquize, I often choose silence, although perhaps not often enough. Due to our extensive vocabularies and uninflected manner of speaking, we are called "little professors," or arrogant." quote from an article on CNN I found.

Asperger's & Rx Meds

One adult described his reaction to medication as this: "It was like I was locked out of my own home." -Tony Attwood's Complete Guide to AS My dh, on Rx meds for a "mood disorder", says precisely the same thing. He says he still has the experience on the inside, but just does not have the energy to express the feeling.

Which is good for us, but very bad for him. We don't have to experience any "blow-ups" but he has the same feelings, jitteriness, wooziness,anger, frustration- but is too doped up to care. Now, that is not to say he cannot function. He goes to work everday & works a little after work... he says he just feels like he is in a fog all day.

I feel rueful for him... no one knows the "real" him like I do. But, he probably likes it better that way anyhow. AS men tend to be mysterious like that.

Teaching An Asperger's Child At Home & Its Challenges

AS Homeschooling Challenges I have an AS child. We teach at home. We have challenges, just like any other home with AS' children or just like any home with a child, for that matter~!

We are happy with our set-up. We have fun. *(sometimes)* When I had a trip planned to the Fire Station today, J. did not want to go. He seen the fire trucks "last time", he says. He said he has "already been''. Why go again!!?? Did I "make" him go? NO! Is he being a bratty-turd? NO! Why make all parties involved miserable, that is starting to be my philosophy.