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My husband and I found that we had to advocate continuously on behalf of our Aspie son as he navigated through Beaverton public schools. When he was in elementary school, teachers knew much less than we did about Asperger's syndrome and even autism in general, and as soon as they knew he had an IEP (individualized education plan), their expectations for his abilities and performance dropped dramatically. Without our advocacy, I doubt that he would have been in mainstream classes in high school, earning A's in math and science courses with the organizational and note-taking support of a "shadow aide". Parents of Aspie children and youth should be prepared to set high goals as participants in the IEP process, to continuously monitor what schools are doing to facilitate your child getting to those goals, and to work to coordinate what you are doing outside of school to develop your child's capacities. We think that our son's teachers came to appreciate our persistence, and we hope that other high-functioning children who followed after have benefited from our efforts to raise awareness and enhance positive expectations for Aspies' abilities and gifts.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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I also have a 21-year-old son with an Asperger's syndrome diagnosis. He didn't receive an autism spectrum label until he was over 5, probably because he was and is very verbal. What I have always told him is that he is "differently-abled", not "disabled". He has always had an incredible memory for many things, including people's names (we have relied on this many times), a love of music couple with perfect pitch and a beautiful singing voice, and mathematical reasoning skills that carried him through calculus in high school. He is also a kind and compassionate person who is enthused about life and inspires others. I would hope that parents are always encouraged to look for the gifts that their children have and bring to the world, as this will help them overcome the challenges they will face.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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