My 4 year old Son

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Was recently diagnosed with AS. I want to do all I can to prepare him for his teenage/adult years. I want to ensure he becomes an independent, happy adult. Can some of you tell me what you found to be successful therapy/schooling or what you wished your parents had done for you at a young age. My wife homeschools our older daughters and plans on homeschooling our son as well. We have 5 children total so he has a large family and is around other children (family and friends) regularly. Thanks in advance for any input.

Just a few ideas:

1) I played by my self with lego's or daydreaming, tv ,etc. You need to make sure
your kid is getting maxium social contact with other kids. I think its fine to home
school but I hope your kid will have many social contacts besides family. I do not
mean a kid he sees a few hours a week . I mean a few hours everyday kinda thing.
Make sure they are playing social games. Take the video game machine and garbage
can it. While I did not have the physical dexterity to play video games its the modern
way aspie kids maybe destroying their social skills development.

2) Fish oil. There are studies on fish oil helping a number of conditions related to
the mind.

3) If he has physical coordination problems I would look into some kinda of
exercise program for that. Not sure what will help but I bet there is something.

4) If he has issue with speech get him a spech therpist

5) Teach him body language.

A lot of people with Asperger's find homeschooling far better than attending a 'normal' school (not sure what the correct terminology is to use there), so that in itself may well prevent a lot of difficulties which could have occurred in school.

Being around other people does not necessarily mean your son is going to learn social skills. A researcher called McConnel noticed that autistic children tend to be socially isolated because they reject social initiation from other children, not because other people avoid them. If he does not read social cues well, he will not pick up on which behaviours to imitate. You will probably find that social skills need to be actively taught as part of his education.

I think it's important for people with AS to understand their condition. I grew up believing I was some kind of wierdo who must be inferior because I had no friends. As an adult I learned about AS and was eventually diagnosed with the condition. Now I know I'm a bit odd, but I realise that I have no friends because I don't really make an effort to make friends, not because I am inferior or unlikeable. In order for your son to grow into a happy, healthy adult, I think you and your son need to accept and embrace the fact that he is different. Let him be different. Let him isolate himself from social situations when he feels the need. By all means teach him skills to cope with necessary social situations, but don't pressure him to make friends when he wants to be alone. You can teach him things like going into a shop, asking for something, queing and paying, etc, but you can't teach him to enjoy social occasions.

Learn to tell the difference between AS and its co-morbids (conditions which commonly occur alongside AS). For example, most people with AS thrive on routine. It would be crazy to try to change this, as it will just cause distress, and he'll still thrive on routine because that's part of who he is. If this crosses the line and becomes something that causes him great distress, this is when it needs to be addressed. If you have to change your plans, your son needs coping mechanisms to deal with this.

This is what I think based on my experiences growing up with undiagnosed AS. Everyone is different, and your son is going to have different experiences and symptoms to me. So I might be completely wrong. I think I have a point, which is why I replied to you, but feel free to disregard anything that you don't think relates to your son.