| My son, Kyle, was diagnosed with autism-Asperger's | | | | Asperger's syndrome often have extremely narrow |
| syndrome, actually. I wasn't too surprised because | | | | interests and obsessively focus on one subject: |
| I've been wondering about it for awhile. I noticed | | | | trains, for example. I was floored. Kyle was |
| about a year ago that his involvement with his peers | | | | absolutely obsessed with trains. He would only play |
| was different; he didn't know how to join a group of | | | | with his train toys, only liked to talk about trains, and |
| children his age and play with them. His sisters have | | | | only watched TV shows about trains. I'm no doctor, |
| long since given up on including him in anything they | | | | but this was all starting to make sense. My wife and |
| do; and he's not the ideal birthday party guest. I | | | | I had a serious discussion and decided that we would |
| didn't think it was autism at the time because his | | | | take Kyle to be evaluated by a child psychologist as |
| verbal skills seemed completely on par with other | | | | soon as possible. |
| children his age. Something just didn't seem right, so I | | | | Sure enough, after the evaluation, the doctor was |
| got online and did some researching on disorders with | | | | talking to us about Asperger's syndrome. She was |
| symptom similar to Kyle's, and one of them was | | | | really impressed with our knowledge of the disorder, |
| Asperger's syndrome. | | | | and I told her I had been doing some research. She |
| I read the checklist of symptoms. Problems with | | | | directed me to a few other websites about autism |
| social interaction? Definitely. I can't even count the | | | | and Asperger's syndrome and encouraged me to |
| times that I thought he was behaving strangely in | | | | enroll in local support groups. We're currently doing |
| social situations. He hasn't caused trouble in his | | | | various treatments and therapies with Kyle-using |
| preschool, but he absolutely does not interact with | | | | trains, of course. He's made some noticeable |
| any of the other children. Dislike for change in | | | | progress in the past year, and I was especially |
| routine? Check. I have two older daughters and we | | | | encouraged to use his love of trains to acclimate him |
| used to take family trips to the beach several times | | | | to new social situations. I'm constantly researching |
| a year, but with Kyle, it's been impossible. Everyone | | | | and learning about new techniques for interacting |
| used to assume he was just fussy, but it struck me | | | | with autistic children, and I'm encouraged every day |
| as something more than that. The last time we tried | | | | by the improvements I see in Kyle. Many children |
| to go on vacation, my wife had to drive home with | | | | with Asperger's do eventually learn to be more at |
| Kyle and I stayed at the beach with the girls-that's | | | | ease in social situations, and we're working with Kyle |
| how bad it got. | | | | (and his trains) all the time. I know improvement will |
| But here's where I got really curious. One of the | | | | be slow and gradual, but I'm learning everything I can |
| items on the checklist said that children with | | | | to help Kyle and the rest of my family. |