My DS is 12yo, with AS, in mainstream school. He has a statement. He has good underlying cognitive abilities but terrible concentration in lessons etc, so not doing well academically in school. One thing I've noticed when I'm trying to do homework with him is that he gets really panicky when he doesn't 'get' stuff quickly. Not just discouraged, but quite panicky. Then he just decides he can't do it, no point trying, and he gets really angry if I try to help or encourage him. He says he has the same panicky feelings in school but there he just sort of shuts down. I've tried to talk him through this - so far unsuccessfully - by explaining that rarely do pupils pick up everything first time, it's not just him. But that calmly going over something again, or looking at it differently can help. And so on. So my question is - does anyone have any ideas for helping him to re-frame this in his head. I feel if we could find him strategies to deal with this panicky response it could really help to unlock a lot of stuff for him. He has decided he is rubbish at everything, and of course his grades reinforce this for him.