ASD narrow interests

[Pleasepassthewine]

Hi

My DS is 10 and has a diagnosis of high functioning ASD. He's statemented and in MS school with 20 hours 1:1 support a week. He has very limited interests, namely Sonic the Hedgehog. This has been his obsession for years. It worked socially when he was younger but now his peers have moved on and he hasn't. He has no friends really largely due to school being unsupportive and because of his limited interests.

My DH has a new job so we are relocating area which means a new school for ds too. I'm terrified of how this will go for DS.

I think I need to expose him to new things to try to broaden his interests to give him some common ground with his peers. For example he has no idea who James Bond is, he's never been to a football match. Last week I made him watch Harry Potter - which he loved :).

What are 10 year old boys into? Is it all about minecraft? Sorry if I sound naive, so worried for DS, I'm literally in tears just thinking about it all :(

Does ds get help with social skills? I ma thinking of working at the root of the problem here, rather than trying to tweak the symptoms.

He obviously has social-skills difficulties, and a good SALT would be recommending weekly social skills training to help dc understand how to navigate mainstream interaction. Things like 'topic maintenance' ie staying on the topic chosen by the other person, rather than reverting to your chosen subject.

If the statement doesn't say he has difficulties with social skills then it should - you could ask for a reassessment and get an OT to consider what his needs are and what the provision should be.

An NHS SALT is much more likely to recommend therapy in the class room, and an independent salt is much more likely to recommend SALT-designed social use of language groups, monitored or even delivered by a qualified SALT.

Also where did they pluck 20 hours from? Your dc has ASD 24/7. If he needs support for 20 hours he probably needs it for the other hours aswell.

A child with ASD is more likely to need help in playtimes and over lunchtime as that is when the social skills are needed the most, and when there are many chances to reinforce the skills learned in the social skills group. Or is it just that they stop the one to one on a Friday afternoon to save money, and don't give him the help he needs to learn at that time?

DC is entitled to full time education to meet his needs, not just to meet his needs for part of the time.

In the mean time, can you ask some of the other mums what they are into? I found they went in crazes at that age - my ds went through pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and a game with marbles which was come and gone.

Spiderman, Harry Potter, James Bond and any Guardians of the Galaxy would be my guess for something that goes across schools, and of course football - you can support a team without loving playing it.

Hope this helps

Oh and if you post under the child tab - there is a board called 'chat about your child' you will get many more answers there

Football
James Bond (although some of it is unsuitable)
and now it is airports and airlines! (which was really quite educational involving atlases and books on civil aviation)

However this was quite boring for other people. Practical skills helped build social friendships - like actually being able to play a few games properly so ds practised being a goalie very intensively and also his badminton. Enjoying going to a football match standing there being enthusiastic went a long way to reinforcing some social engagement.
Drama groups are wonderful ways to do social skills and an interest in one go
Choirs

Just to remind you that just because his peers have moved on from Sonic doesn't mean he has to. :) In fact, many individuals on the spectrum get on much better with people older or younger than themselves. Sonic is very popular among all age groups. Perhaps you could look into helping him socialise in a different age range.

Special interests are really important and it's great your son has one. You can teach and broaden horizons through Sonic the Hedgehog. For example, talk to him about it (communication skills), suggest he create his own Sonic game levels (programming skills), draw the characters with him (motor skills, creative skills) etc.

Glad he loved the James Bond film, that may be another avenue. :)

Dd has similar problems. Many children are really into Minecraft. Mine aren't though so I know nothing about it. Mine r now into 'Five nights at Freddies'. However I hate it and would like to ban it here, it revolves around people beingade to jump in a restaurant at night!? Sorry yeas ready will check back later.