<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/health/04aspe.html?em[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/health/04aspe.html?em</a></p>
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<p>I agree that public awareness of Asperger’s has increased greatly. Shows like “Monk” also make people more aware. I would say, however, that the public has become much more relaxed and accepting of people with disabilities, in general, in recent years. It is a much healthier situation than it was years ago.</p>
<p>Monk has Asperger’s ? </p>
<p>My son has an LD that is part of the spectrum and I found it is a devastating disability for a young person in the cusp of adulthood. The executive function deficits really put him at an disadvantage. Then I have people who advise me to “let go” and “let him grow up”. Believe me, I had tried to let go. Results: spectacular failure. Not good for him or for us. I wonder how does he “grow up” when his brain is missing that part - I believe it’s the white matter that is damaged/missing according to an expert in his field. Sigh.</p>
<p>As the mom of an Aspie (who we’re taking to college in one week!), there’s a lot I could write, but this is what I’ll say about awareness: I had never heard of Asperger’s until my son was diagnosed (and I was even a special ed major back in college). Once you start reading about Asperger’s, you realize that there are undiagonosed adults all around you. </p>
<p>There was a guy at work a few years older than me who has to have Asperger’s - he meets every criteria on any checklist. I realized this at about the time our company was in the process of firing him.The tipping point in his employment was that he’d get into these email “battles” with people-there would be an issue, and it would escalate and he’d send these scathing emails using this tremendous vocabulary. For him it was sport, but he just didn’t realize that his email wars were making people furious at him.</p>
<p>There was no way I could have stepped in to say that based on my amatuer diagnosis, this guy has Aspergers so we should deal with him differently. The guy himself had probably never heard of Asperger’s. He had infuriated the most senior people in our company.</p>
<p>But had our company - and the guy himself! - been aware, he might have been counseled in a way that would have saved his job.</p>
<p>Yes, the public is becoming more aware, the schools are becoming more aware. My real concerns lie in the long-term employment prospects of those with Asperger’s in meaninful work of a level that matches their intelligence.</p>
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<p>Well, I don’t know; what do you think he has? He has something.</p>
<p>In a social sense, I think it is more productive just to think of it as an individual difference.</p>
<p>I always thought Monk had OCD. (Aspie Son loves House but doesn’t like Monk.)</p>
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<p>I can so see my son behaving like that. 
He once (in high school) went on a blog trashing an ex-friend who had taken advantage of him but who died tragically. No amount of explaining/ forbidding from me could stop him. He just could not see how inappropriate he was. It was, not a game, but speaking the truth for him. He thought the world should see the departed boy for who he was. </p>
<p>As his mother, I know he is not generally cruel or obnoxious.</p>
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<p>How old is your son now, munchkin? I ask because as far as I understand it, the brain continues to grow neuron pathways in the prefrontal cortex until the mid-20s. This is the part of the brain that helps people think ahead, consider implications of actions, be more cautious, plan better, etc… So if your son is not yet 24-25, his brain still has some developing to do, probably quite a bit. Not that the new growth will alleviate something like Asperger’s but he could definitely improve his executive functioning just through maturity (not to mention more years of life experience, trial and error, etc…).</p>
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<p>So you’re saying that I shouldn’t take Son to college next week, but should keep him at home with me for 6 more years? Okay! Gladly!</p>
<p>Ha ha. No I’m not saying that. Just that there is room for improvement in our young adults, particularly the boys living on the Aspie spectrum. Don’t write them off at 19 or 20, I guess is what I’m saying.</p>
<p>momof2inca : he is 22 this year, we had supported him fully for 4 years of post high school education. I had a melt down last week because he continues to flounder and fail and come up with one ridiculous idea for what he wants to do after another. </p>
<p>Yet he is not lazy or not trying. His IQ is about 140 so he has some abilities. </p>
<p>I and his dad as well, had finally came to the conclusion that we have to take over and impose some direction on him. </p>
<p>The difficult thing I find is : where does the LD end and his immaturity/own bad self begins ? One grows out of immaturity. Life will make sure of that. If one is born without sight, for eg. how do they grow to see better ? </p>
<p>I guess I should explain his situation. People with his type of LD - NVLD are usually not good with Math subjects and most things conceptual. He chose to study Biological Engineering. He failed the year. After that, we took him home, had him tested to figure out what was going on and received the dx. The neuropsy asked him,“Math was always your weakest subject, why did you choose to go into engineering ?” Son had no answer. From his face, I could see the question/issue never even occurred to him. Yet until recently he was adamant he wants to be a scientist. He even talked about study medicine at one point. </p>
<p>For the next two years we had him go through specialist tutoring to augment his study skills and one full year at a special school where he did intensive brain therapy to augment his brain functions. Then the last year, he went off to college again, to study his scaled back ambition … microbiology. He did well in the first term with 3 courses, getting an A average. Next thing we knew, without talking to us, he changed his major to Biochemistry, with a much heavier Math component. We had much misgivings but he ignored us and against our better judgment, we adopted a wait and see. He received a C+ about 68% with 4 courses in winter term. The worse subject was … chemistry, where he barely scraped by with a 52%. This summer he is taking 3 courses, Cal, Stats, Psy. He got a 33% in a stats midterm when he told us he expected a 75% grade, and at our insistence, dropped the course. He was in danger of failing Cal. After I figured that out we hired a very well regarded tutor, who agreed to take him on as a favor and mucho fees of course. Time and again he does not recognize that he needs help but go on thinking everything is fine until a F comes in a transcript. </p>
<p>So we told him he has to consider a different major with less science and concept based material. He then told us he wants to go to physio school or OT. I almost cried because, in Canada, physio and OT school, well, pretty much all health science schools are grad schools and uber competitive. Some kid we knew got rejected, GPA 3.8. </p>
<p>That’s how off my son’s judgment is.</p>
<p>I’m so glad that people are getting to understand asperger’s syndrome. 
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<p>Its very hard having it though (i’m an aspie), as i tend to like things to stay the same. Case in point, i about had a near melt down last week because walmart stopped selling the kind of pencils i liked :(, so i had to find something else… But, i was able to find the type of calender i wanted (after searching about ten stores) :D.</p>
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<p>That’s what Son has said about going away to college: “Eveything is going to be different.”</p>
<p>In a way i’m looking foward to it (i love studying), but i am not looking foward to all the people around me… i don’t like crowded places very much :(</p>
<p>‘Adam’ seems very interesting. I would love to see it. I was diagnosed with AS, but sometimes I don’t believe I have it. Then again, even AS has a spectrum and it supposedly manifests differently in girls. </p>
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<p>Me too! I liked the episodes of House that I saw, but Monk looks like an annoying show.</p>
<p>I too always thought Monk had OCD. But Bones, the forensic pathologist in the TV show Bones, seems Aspie to me. Smart, sweet, obsessed about her job, socially clueless. And while we’re doing diagnosis by Internet, I also think Nate Silver, the wonderful statistician at the blog 538.com, is an Aspie.</p>
<p>My son had been diagnosed with NVLD, but I’m pretty sure his newest evaluation (which we’ll get next week) will be Aspergers.</p>
<p>Am sure many of you here have read it already, but I would recommend the book “Look me in the Eye” by John Elder Robison - a memoir of growing up with Aspergers. Though I don’t have Aspergers, I could relate to SO many of the social and interpersonal issues the author had – still can, actually!</p>