Any help out there?

[Eliza22]

I live in South Cheshire having re-located from Hereford to remarry, 4 years ago. My ds has Aspergers. He's nearly 13. He's bright, articulate and friendless. He has one friend but, it's a relationship which I put a lot of work/thought into and the boy's parents NEVER reciprocate. DS and this pal have a great old time on the Wii/XBOX/IPad or whatever and I've taken them both to cinema/go-Karting/outdoorsy adventure things. I DREAD every half term and holiday. My husband works abroad quite a bit and relatives are far-flung. My son and I were talking about the up coming half term....it's 13 days long thanks to "inset" training days for the staff. It'll be just him and me and you'd think I'd be used to it by now but ds himself says "I get bored" "what will we do?"

I've tried every conceivable activity.... Football, trampoline club, drama group, scouts, tennis, table tennis club, swimming but everything fizzles out.

Anyone have any suggestions?

It's so incredibly sad. We cannot even visit family/friends in Hereford over half term because their dates are different!

God, it's....so....bloody hard.

That must be so hard, for both of you. My friend has a son with aspergers and they get some support from these people. They are a little out your area, but might be able to help

Voices.... Which people? Thanks for your reply

If you press where it says "these people" in my previous post, the details should come up

Oh thanks! That looks good and is about 40 minutes away.

That's good news. I know my friend found them helpful. Don't know if its still run by the same guy but the one my friend used to talk about had aspergers too and was great at pointing out all of the benefits

Eliza were you after someone to meet up with or some suggestions of how to fill your time or just somewhere to post about your frustrations?

Probably, all three! I'm 50+ and have friends I've known since school and I also have one sibling with whom I'm very close. My sister is always 'there' for me. It's hard for "only children" sometimes, to get out there socially and even more of a challenge with Aspergers!

And you've had to move.

Is he happy though eliza? Think its easy to worry that single children are lonely when in actual fact they are usually quite happy.

How about having a project over the hols? Can he cook? Could he choose a cookbook from the library and you could cook a meal each day together or very other day? I can recommend the Usborne boys cookbook

Would he like anything like this or would it be too much?

My friends son has joined the air cadets. Whilst it's not been easy for him I think the routine and discipline suits him.

We have been to the Audley Climbing Center in Newcastle. But may suggest that again. The Peak Pursuits site is really good. I'm not sure he'd actually do it because his OCD keeps him away from anything too wet/muddy/messy but, that's something we and school are working through. He came home last week and his uniform was a mud-fest. God knows where he'd been but I had to grit my teeth, smile and say "it's Ok, it'll all wash off for tomorrow!" as he proudly told me he'd been playing in the school field and got a bit dirty and it wasn't so bad

I'm still suggesting we go to scouts "just to have a peak" as I have all the info about it and it's about 5 mins from our front door!

You've been ever so helpful.....thanks!

Oh bless him, sounds like he had a great time and was pleased with himself to boot

Was in the vue cinema in Newcastle today and noticed they are advertising autism friendly screenings, thought that might interest you.

If scouts and air cadets are not appealing how about the fire cadets?