Expert: James Michael Roan - 9/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dear James,
My 5 yrs 3 mths old daughter has been diagnosed with high function autism. Recently she had her school year end vacation for about a month (we live in Thailand). Now it's been a week since the school reopened. She has been promoted to Kindergarten 2 but now, the problem is, she wants to remain in her previous class with her old teacher. And because of this, she doesn't want to go to school. When her school van arrives in the morning, there's no problem sending her off, but when she comes back she starts crying and getting angry with me, as if to say she's mad at me for sending her to school. What shall I do to help her? I've tried to tell her and make her understand that she's growing to be a big girl and as she grows bigger, she needs to go to higher classes, but she doesn't like me to talk to her. Is it ok or is there a better way. Please help.....
Thank you so much.
GLT.

ANSWER: Hi Gunjan;

Children with Asperger's syndrome (AS) have difficulty with transitions so we have to help them with them. I suggest, if possible, that her last year's teacher meet her in her new classroom on a random/variable basis then fade those appearances out as part of a gradual transition. Your daughter will, of course, adjust on her own but this will help her do it smoothly.

Kind regards,
James

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear James,
First of all, thank you so much for your response. Is there an alternate way to help my child about this.
Another thing I want to ask you about is, is about an incident that took place just yesterday. At the place where we stay, all the kids play together in the evenings, and my girl just happened to pull a younger kid's hands to play together, but when she pulled the other kid lost balance and fell down. She cried really loud drawing everybody's attention, obviously. Ofcourse my child didn't mean to do it. But my child just seemed so oblivious to the thing and just went away. I had to literally pull her back and ask her to say sorry atleast, even though she didn't say it meaningfully. I know kids with this problem don't have a sense of feelings for others. How can I help her in such matters.
My child brings some assignments from school on a daily basis but she gets very very agitated once I ask her to do it. What shall I do? She doesn't like me to read stories to her, doesn't like it when we buy something new for her(usually kids are so excited to get new stuffs right?) To tell you frankly, we can't afford a therapist. What can I do at home to help her?? I get so frustrated at times.
Please help.
Thank you so much.
GLT

Answer
Hi Gunjan;


Children with AS have very poor understanding of language and find it very difficult to take the perspective of others, and when coupled with very low social thinking (see: http://www.socialthinking.com/) they have trouble in these types of situations. They do care about others and eventually learn to behave appropriately socially albeit not fluidly. If you want to communicate with her you'll need to use the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) see: http://www.pecs.com/ . Also see Carol Gray's Social Stories at www.thegraycenter.org/ as a way discuss future social situations.

In terms of homework, these kids frequently have great difficutly with their executive functions, which means she may not be able to independently organize, sequence, and begin a task on her own. In my opinion, the TEACCH program/concept of instruction is really suited to address this problem (see: www.teacch.com/ ). Your school and you can use the same principles to teach her anything.

If and when you have a full psychoeducational assessment of her strengths and weaknesses let me know first and I can make some suggestions to you before the assessment.

Let me know how these things work for you.

Kind regards,
James

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Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting assessment professional responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.