This is more really a vent - I don't really have anyone to talk to about this stuff
Background - my son is highly functioning autistic. He's verbal - way verbal. He is academically close to grade level, maybe a bit lower. He stims sometimes, has a terrible attention span and has little interest in his peers.
Today my son had a HORRIBLE social flub. I am used to him not talking to his peers, ignoring them or simply walking away from them. We talk about how to react to people, we rehearse social situations at home, I've bought books, etc. etc. He's been going to social skills class outside of school on and off for years (currently he does attend a class every week), and he also had a social skills session every week in school. My son took it upon himself today to start yelling (I mean really yelling) at a kid easily a foot taller than him and starting point his finger right in that poor kid's face. This kid's crime - he was playing at a trench my son and some other boys had dug earlier in the sand at the local lake. My son had long abandonded it, had moved on to other things. The other boy was a stranger to him, and the way I see it we are lucky he didn't react badly. I was nearby and was able intervene immediately.
I just feel so down in the dumps about it. We work so hard with this social stuff, and I feel like nothing we say or do makes any kind of impression on him.
OK. all done venting, thanks for listening!
Background - my son is highly functioning autistic. He's verbal - way verbal. He is academically close to grade level, maybe a bit lower. He stims sometimes, has a terrible attention span and has little interest in his peers.
Today my son had a HORRIBLE social flub. I am used to him not talking to his peers, ignoring them or simply walking away from them. We talk about how to react to people, we rehearse social situations at home, I've bought books, etc. etc. He's been going to social skills class outside of school on and off for years (currently he does attend a class every week), and he also had a social skills session every week in school. My son took it upon himself today to start yelling (I mean really yelling) at a kid easily a foot taller than him and starting point his finger right in that poor kid's face. This kid's crime - he was playing at a trench my son and some other boys had dug earlier in the sand at the local lake. My son had long abandonded it, had moved on to other things. The other boy was a stranger to him, and the way I see it we are lucky he didn't react badly. I was nearby and was able intervene immediately.
I just feel so down in the dumps about it. We work so hard with this social stuff, and I feel like nothing we say or do makes any kind of impression on him.
OK. all done venting, thanks for listening!
.
your way. We had a similar situation with DS the last week of school in the before/after school program. Apparently weeks or maybe even months ago DS built a creation with KNEX and the other kids left it alone. Well we walked in one morning and someone had taken it all apart to use the pieces in something else. We are talking MAJOR MELTDOWN. First one all year. DS was so angry he was clentching his fists. I was late that day; it took almost 30 minutes and a long walk through the halls to diffuse the situation. Luckily, an older child who sort of looks out for DS offered to help rebuild it with him. Later we talked about how upset he was, how the kids weren't trying to be mean, and how he could have handled it a little differently. We'll see how it goes next time.
