Does anyone have any experience of explaining a diagnosis of Aspergers (and its long-term implications) to a bright teenager, who is already acutely aware of not fitting in with his peers and is terrified of being "different"?
13 year old DS has been undergoing assessment for social and communication difficulties by the SALT team at his new school. He joined year 9 in September after we moved to a new part of the country and within 2 weeks the SENCO had referred him because he was getting bullied and the stress of the situation made his Aspie traits extremely apparent.
Their initial thoughts were dyspraxia, but the test results have come back strongly indicating Aspergers, and they want to refer him to a paediatrician as soon as possible for a formal diagnosis.
We have been incredibly fortunate with DS's school, they have been enormously supportive and have already put lots of strategies in place to help DS. The SENCO went out of her way to stress that the school currently has several popular and high-achieving pupils with HFA/Aspergers.
I have strongly suspected for years that DS is on the autisic spectrum but have always had my concerns dismissed by all and sundry. For a variety of reasons it is a condition that I know quite a lot about, and the diagnosis has come as a relief after years of being told by family, friends and school that DS's difficulties were down to my crap parenting.
I don't know how to start discussing this with DS though. The SENCO suggested we tell him the referral for a diagnosis is part of an on-going assessment of his "learning styles", which will enable him to make the best choices re. his GSCE options next year.
Should I just leave it to the paediatrician and the SALT team to discuss this with DS in the first instance? I am really confused about the best approach to take .