About Michelle Fattig Expertise I can answer questions about educational testing, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, Special Education, IEP, Learning Disabilities, Sensory Processing, Parent Advocacy, Response to Intervention, living and parenting with disabilities, parent rights in special education, school psychology, and more. I cannot provide a medical diagnosis.
Experience I am a school psychologist, medical technologist, author of the Annie Books series: Experience Aspeger's Syndrome and Attention Deficits Through the Eyes of a Child, RTI facilitator, ILCD facilitator, parent advocate, presenter, and researcher. My children and I have Asperger's, ADD/ADHD, and learning disabilities.
Organizations National Association of School Pyschologists, American Medical Technologists, Learning Disabilities Association of Nebraska
Education/Credentials Ed.S. in School Psychology, doctoral studies in SPED Law, SPED Systems Enhancement Leadership, and doctoral candidate Education Leadership. MT(AMT) and MLT(ASCP)
Question So I started up a Christian community house for college students going to Whatcom Community College up in Bellingham WA. There are six of us living here and one of my house mates has HFA. Now I have already lived with him for 3 months at another community house in a different part of town. But I still can not seem to be able to communicate with him very well he is 21 and has a very generous heart and is very loving but when it comes to social situations he fails, he makes people feel awkward without knowing it, he cracks jokes that no can tell are jokes and people often get mad because these jokes can be offensive unless the person saying the joke had a sarcastic tone but he doesn't understand sarcasm. I want to be kind and love this guy as best as possible but I have never dealt with autism in my life except with small children that I have looked after. But its different when its you house mate who is older than you. He also has this thing with girls, when there is a girl in the room he focuses in on her and ignores everyone else in the room and they don't say it to him but they tell me later that they felt really uncomfortable. And we have tried to explain this to him but he wont believe us. And when he does kinda of believe us he will just go apologize to that girl and of course the girl will be polite and say that she wasn't uncomfortable at all which just ruins all the work we put into explaining.One other thing he does is use the fact that he has autism to say that he can do certain things, but when I hear that I wonder how he can say because he knows he has autism and he knows he shouldn't do it, then you would think he can make the choice not...I don't know I would just love some tips on how to talk to and live with a 21 year old with HTA. I have been doing my best to be a friend to him but sometimes I just cant take it I selfishly want him to understand things that most people do.
Answer You will find wonderful insight and humor on the website:
www.wrongplanet.com
Also, I recommend renting the video "Mozart and the Whale" for a very good portrayal of what we look, think, and feel like from the inside. Pretending to be Normal is a great book for helping women to understand our autism, but I am not as sure about a book for men. It is heart-warming that a person and room mate would take the time to ask how best to understand. I just hope that my son has caring people like you around when he decides to try living on his own. Bless you.
