ASD - the Autism Spectrum Disorder 

Do you have a kid who is ASD? Well, I have a son who is on the spectrum and is having severe difficulties with certain things, especially learning Math, etc. He is now 20 years old. I am taking this opportunity to share my experience and some of my knowledge, not only as a clinician but as a parent of such a wonderful kid.

When he was growing up, he cried a lot whenever someone visited us or we have left the house for going out. We couldn't understand his meltdowns at that time. Real problems arose when he started going to kindergarten. There was no way he was going to make it through that era. When he started primary school, he was terribly lagging behind and problems started to appear. It was not later in second grade that we realized that he is not up to making any good by going to school. So, we discontinued his traditional schooling and started home-schooling. Within about 6-months, the results were amazing. Apart from Math, he picked up in every other subject. We designed our own curriculum and added a lot of interesting subjects slowly in his course over a period of 3-years. He learned a lot and did amazing things. We told him to just understand basic Math concepts and used the help of a calculator and computer to get him through. He started taking interest in life and it was not long when his real passion started to show up. He was very much interested in History, Psychology, and film making. His language capabilities started to become awesome. He excelled in paragraph writing, storytelling, and logically critiquing movies, novels, and even political issues.

After he finished his middle education, he started his online high school course. It didn't take him long to apprehend the course and he took 2-years to finish it. He excelled in every subject, except Math, of course, but in the end, his GPA remained 3.75.

He chose psychology for his undergraduate studies and now is doing a BSc in psychology from a reputable university. His hobbies include movies watching (a lot), listening to film critics, and himself critiquing films. He has got a photographic memory. We call him a living encyclopedia of the movie industry. You can just ask him anything about any movie and he will tell you in a jiff. Ask him who directed this movie, how much was the budget of that movie, how much this film grossed in the box office worldwide, who was the cinematographer, which year was it released. Did this actor win Oscar for this particular movie? Who else was nominated for Oscar for this same category in a particular year.....and so on?

The point is, if you have a kid with ASD, just stop worrying about him/her and start doing things which he or she wanted to do. Learn about your ASD child by sitting with him/her. Try to find out what's his/her niche in life. Encourage your child to be just him/herself. Do not force him/her to do what you want him/her to be. Go with the flow. Give him/her a chance to tell or show you what is he/she good at. Tell him/her that I am there for him/her, no matter what. Then watch the difference!

If you have a kid, do not hesitate to open a communication line with me, I am here to help.
