FROM WILLIAM: I was reminded again last week as we worked with parents and professionals, in our Son-Rise Program Start-Up course, that the main challenge with children/adults with Aspergers or High Functioning Autism is creating and sustaining interactive relationships with family, teachers, peers etc. - essentially their ability to be socially successful.
Their number one challenge is not speech because they are good at talking, in fact many of them can talk and talk and talk especially about a favorite topic (i.e. who's coming next to be with them, what happened to dad six months ago at the mall, what fish are at the aquarium, the specific train lines on the London underground, etc.). Many individuals with Aspergers or High Functioning Autism don't use their extensive language ability and only use it to communicate to get their needs met. No matter how much they use or do not use their speech their main challenge still comes down to their autism.
The way to help them dissolve their autism and become more socially successful is to help them become more interested in and enjoy interacting with other people. You do this by running a Son-Rise Program with them - get them into your social gym (a playroom or focus room) where through play and enjoyable activities with another person they learn how to be more social.
Even 1-2 hrs a day will make a difference. Make having fun together the priority versus teaching them. You can't teach or lecture them out of their autism!
Thank you to all the parents and professionals last week who were here to help your Aspergers or High Functioning Autistic child/adult. It is always a pleasure and inspiring to work with you.
Love and smiles
William
"Making having fun together the priority versus teaching them. You can't teach them out of their autism!"
ReplyDeleteWow, William. This is such great advice. This is precisely where I faltered many years ago.. I started out with the intention of having fun, but succumb to the fear that my son wouldn't pass the mandatory standarized test given to homeschoolers and have to go back to school.
I started pushing the academics and what resulted was that I ended up putting him back in school!
If I had to do it over again, I would forget about "them"... the school district, because when I did put him back in school I realized that they were so busy that they weren't concerned with what we were doing in our program in the least.
Cheers to the social gym!