Also: after thinking over what the neuropsych told me re: teachers' perceptions of behaviors...my conclusion is that none of his behaviors are severe. I was talking with my parents about it and said my feeling is that DS is annoying and irritating. My dad said, "TOO BAD. Lots of people are irritating. They can't remove him from school on that basis." LOL
Well, yeah. But down the road people can definitely choose to not offer him a job because he's irritating in an interview.
In some ways, kids like yours are the trickiest-- they are not "obviously disabled" but they are also not within the norm.
I think the best strategy is to help them learn the norms and enough self-advocacy and self-awareness that they can blend in as needed. Protective coloration.
He said he loves it when people are funny and he becomes so excited and overstimulated that he just wants to keep it going--doesn't know when to put on the brakes. That seemed pretty insightful to me, and also gives us something to work with because if he can begin to notice when he is "amping up" physiologically, perhaps he can learn to regulate it better. I hope.
Yep. He can do this.
There are lots of ways to teach this skill. Some people use the "Incredible 5-point scale" which also has resources for teenagers.
http://www.5pointscale.com/more_sweet_scale_five_book.htm
