There are some excellent websites dealing with all the basic information about Asperger Syndrome . Such as ....
www.as-if.org.uk
www.autismhelp.info
www.nas.org.uk
www.irish-ancestor.com ( my son Sean's website)
and for occupational therapy / sensory integration -
www.sante-ot.co.uk
The best 'link' is of course the one between you and your child .
You know them best . You know what suits them best - and what doesn't .
You know when to speed up , when to slow down , and when to sit on a plateau for a bit
Like myself , you may get it ' wrong ' 2 days out of 3
BUT...Nobody 'out there' is more of an expert than you .
Trust your instincts .
Many parents report back with hindsight that their best decisions on behalf of their children arose from doing just that.
Information is good . But the insight it delivers is NOT the same as change .
The academics who entertain us at conferences with the latest ivory tower research seem oblivious to this fact .
Whilst 'us teachers' and 'us parents' who operate at the sharp end sit there politely and emit silent screams .
What if we don't live in area where ABA is available .
What if we can't afford to jet off to the States to swim with Dolphins .
What if ....none of this mattered as much as minimising their stress and maximising their self-esteem .
I agree wholeheartedly with Rebecca Moyes - a teacher and parent of an autistic child when she says ...
'Providing our children with the gift of self-esteem is always more effective than every dollar we spend on therapy and treatment to 'fix' asperger syndrome .'
At the end of the day it's basically you and your child v the world - but it's as much our planet as anybody else's.
We just have to take a step back - and another one sideways - to see the 'big picture' for them and for us .
If we adopt our own definition of 'success' - and don't let other people's milestones become our millstones -
we are back on track . Our own track .
In football it's called 'playing the way you're facing' .
Education systems are designed to produce efficient work-forces as cheaply as possible. They're not designed to keep people sane . (Especially our bone china offspring .) Once politicized , with league tables etc , they cease even to be 'education' systems as such . I think their days are numbered for educating academically able autistic people.
For an Economics graduate from Warwick , I don't seem to have ended up with much money to pass on to my son .
But if he does turn out to be an independent living personally navigating reasonably happy person - so what !
He has the mountains to the back of him , the sea to the front .
We're both rich beyond measure.
If we focus on what might have been in the other half of the glass we have a recipe for 2 very miserable lives.
So we don't .
Good Luck
Kevin
www.autismhelp.info
www.nas.org.uk
www.irish-ancestor.com ( my son Sean's website)
and for occupational therapy / sensory integration -
www.sante-ot.co.uk
The best 'link' is of course the one between you and your child .
You know them best . You know what suits them best - and what doesn't .
You know when to speed up , when to slow down , and when to sit on a plateau for a bit
Like myself , you may get it ' wrong ' 2 days out of 3
BUT...Nobody 'out there' is more of an expert than you .
Trust your instincts .
Many parents report back with hindsight that their best decisions on behalf of their children arose from doing just that.
Information is good . But the insight it delivers is NOT the same as change .
The academics who entertain us at conferences with the latest ivory tower research seem oblivious to this fact .
Whilst 'us teachers' and 'us parents' who operate at the sharp end sit there politely and emit silent screams .
What if we don't live in area where ABA is available .
What if we can't afford to jet off to the States to swim with Dolphins .
What if ....none of this mattered as much as minimising their stress and maximising their self-esteem .
I agree wholeheartedly with Rebecca Moyes - a teacher and parent of an autistic child when she says ...
'Providing our children with the gift of self-esteem is always more effective than every dollar we spend on therapy and treatment to 'fix' asperger syndrome .'
At the end of the day it's basically you and your child v the world - but it's as much our planet as anybody else's.
We just have to take a step back - and another one sideways - to see the 'big picture' for them and for us .
If we adopt our own definition of 'success' - and don't let other people's milestones become our millstones -
we are back on track . Our own track .
In football it's called 'playing the way you're facing' .
Education systems are designed to produce efficient work-forces as cheaply as possible. They're not designed to keep people sane . (Especially our bone china offspring .) Once politicized , with league tables etc , they cease even to be 'education' systems as such . I think their days are numbered for educating academically able autistic people.
For an Economics graduate from Warwick , I don't seem to have ended up with much money to pass on to my son .
But if he does turn out to be an independent living personally navigating reasonably happy person - so what !
He has the mountains to the back of him , the sea to the front .
We're both rich beyond measure.
If we focus on what might have been in the other half of the glass we have a recipe for 2 very miserable lives.
So we don't .
Good Luck
Kevin