Replies

Ambrose,

Thank you so much for posting this excerpt from ASPEN's website. They are a very informative site and helped me a great deal when my son (now 16) was diagnosed. I am in full agreement with those who feel that every few years the medical/psychiatric society comes up with the diagnosis du jour, and they among others use it to explain virtually everything. However, I must say, upon my son's dx, that's exactly how I felt. He was previously labelled ADHD (surprise, surprise) and although he definitely had quite a few of the tell-tale characteristics of that disorder, there were definitely other things that just weren't explained by ADHD alone. I am all for trying everything else before using medication, but left with no other alternatives, we put my son on Ritalin from 2nd through 6th grade. I am 100% certain that he would not have learned even 1/10th of what he did during those years had he not been on it. When he exhibited the ability to concentrate and focus adequetly without it, we pulled him off.

Although the excerpt you posted is an excellent read on Asperger's, too many people do take most of the material out there on the subject and come away with the idea that it IS simply a matter of shyness or awkwardness in social situations. While this is a major part of the disorder, and one of it's defining characteristics, most AS people have several other autisticly related issues. (DUH, it's on the autistic spectrum for a reason) If you've seen the movie Rainman or observed the way autistics react to being touched, you know they don't react like normal people. This is called tactile defensiveness, and can affect more senses than just touch. Sight, smells, sounds and tatses as well as touch can be perceived by the afflicted person as pain. This is true in AS individuals, although to a somewhat lesser degree. Discomfort or aversion is more akin to what someone with Asperger's might describe it as. My son has several issues with touch- won't wear long sleeves, is forever hot, yet takes scalding showers and has a very high tolerance for pain. He also cannot stand food smells and will leave the table in a restaurant upon us receiving our meals.

But the social aspect of his disorder (or what ever term you prefer) is the most outward sign that he is not normal. He could talk for hours on end about nothing but movies. Typical for a teenage boy, you say? Not to this degree. He can tell you everyone in a given movie, what they've played in previously, what they're doing next, who produced, wrote and directed the thing, and on, and on.... I'd love to just have a normal conversation about life occasionally, but he's just not having it! If you were so unlucky as to unknowingly show an interest in hearing about his movie trivia and were pulled in by his tractor beam and sat there rolling your eyes in complete boredom, he wouldn't pick up on that most obvious sign in a hundred years. (Poor you) Sarcasm is a waste of good breath, and when giving instructions, spell out exactly what you expect of him or you'll be walking him through it later.

For all of his faults, (can you really call them faults when they're not his fault?) I wouldn't trade him for a "normal" teenager for all the world. This young man will get you cold drinks, wet washcloths, thermometers, and fever medications when you're feeling under the weather; will tirelessly watch younger kids for you, making certain nothing ill befalls them; come up and give you a hug just when you thought you were at the end of your rope; and makes my life as complete a joy as could ever be!

There is so much more information out there on this problem than there was when my son was first diagnosed and it is more widely recognized by the general public. Yet for every mainstream media article or show on it, I feel as though it's being simplified, and the more disturbing and autistic aspects are being gleaned over to leave most people to come away with the impression that Rush seems to have adopted: It's a shyness problem. The only problem I had when I heard Rush report on this was that if he truly has never heard of this (and wasn't just being absurd) then he might have done better to do a little research before introducing this article. From my perspective, he sounded like an ill-informed person, and this was disappointing to me.

MIhomeschooler,our granddaughter is obsessed with " SPirit and Rain" from the movie , Spirit. It used to be Lilo and STitch. She talks horses, takes toy horses with her everywhere she goes,looks at the world through the eyes of a horse. She also used to get upset if our 12 year old daughter( yes we are raising a teen foster daughter too) didn't order the identical food that she did.) Her knife, fork and spoon have to be moved to a different postition, and in general it is difficult to take her out to eat.*sigh*
When she comes to visit, she moves my chairs all in a different setting. If shades are up, she pulls them down, if they are down she pulls them up, just basically reversing everything. You can tell her not to do it, and it seems to be such a compulsive need, that overpowers her. We definitely choose our battles with her.

Thank you for your long and thoughtful response.

It is apparent that I jumped the gun on labeling this as some sort of bs left-wing 'disease of the day'.

I am sorry if I offended anyone.

That said, most of the 'symptoms' described on the AS website could apply to virtually any computer programmer or many of the people I have met at Star Trek conventions. Not being sarcastic, but quite serious on that. It seems that the websites which describe AS need to do a better job making it clear that this isn't just a "Geek Disease".