Editor’s Note:  This article was written for parents and guardians.  Would be an excellent share for our School Psychologist readers!

[Source:  My Aspergers Child]

“Dustin, my son with high functioning autism, recently turned 13. He started back to school this week (8th grade) and we are already having some issues. He still has a hard time engaging with other classmates, his personal hygiene is lacking (e.g. hates to shower or comb his hair), and he’s simply not interested in the current fads or topics of conversation among his peer-group. Now he tells us that he’s being teased by a few kids in his class. Last school year, he ‘failed’ socially and became completely ostracized from his peer-group and felt a sense of general isolation from everybody. It appears that we are going to have a repeat performance of these issues again this time around. He mostly just stays to himself (playing his digital piano and video games in his room). How can I help my son in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.”

Due to the fact that the adolescent with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) or Asperger’s (AS) tends to be a loner, develops odd mannerisms, and has poor people skills in general, he can be shunned from the peer-group and be the focus of teasing, thus resulting in low self-esteem – and even depression.

Read the Rest of this Article on My Aspergers Child