I am the mom of a wonderful 9 year old with SPD. He hasn't quite fit the criteria for Aspergers. The progress he has made over the last several months (since starting OT) is amazing. Our biggest struggle has been school. Academically he is way ahead of the game, but interactions with other kids and staff are difficult. He gets very frustrated and angry and the school doesn't know what to do. I have been trying to educate them, but they aren't all that interested in learning how to help him. He has a 504 plan finally and we are continuing to advocate for him to get all of the services he needs. At home, he can be charming, funny (in a 9 year old boy kind of way) and a joy to be around. He loves his 11 yr old sister and playing games with all of us. It isn't an easy journey, but my husband and I feel very blessed with our family.
To help your son with the interactions with other kids, have him invite one or two children to your home to play games with him and his sister. Basically having the kids from school do activities with him that he enjoys and relaxes to will help him interact more easily with these kids.
I totally agree with Beck. And make it one or two; if he's anything like me, the fewer he starts with, the easier it is to start learning the dance of social interaction.
Glad you could join us!
Your son sounds a bit like mine! He recently turned 10 and was diagnosed about 3 years ago. He was evaluated for autism but didn't fit all the criteria. His Kindergarten teacher was the one who alerted us to the fact that he wasn't really interacting with the other kids. The school social worker was brought in to model behavior for him, and then we went from there. I've been lucky that his school has been wonderful about providing every service they think will help. We did OT when he was first diagnosed but now he's just in a social skills group at school as well as one at a psychologists' office that specializes in SPD and autism spectrum.
Welcome! My daughter is a few years younger, but we find same age groups to be really hard. My daughter does best with children who are a couple years younger or older or a multi aged group. I wonder if he had an opportunities with children who are more intellectually his peers if he would enjoy that?