This needs a long reply I don't really have time for right now, but I see that Grinity and aculady have given excellent (as usual) feedback I won't cover again. Just add my +1s
What do you mean SIaSL about being Asperger in France ?
Pretty much this:
This f**** (sorry can't find anything else to describe her) psychologist just told us that there was nothing to do except waiting he stopped being immature. Told that we were just too anxious, that the mother was too close to our child, that we did not do the good things … My wife was on therapy, I was and we were on a couple counseling.
Was she Freudian or Lacanian?
(this forum sorely lacks my most useful emoticon, the eye roll). Yep, France is still hung up on the refrigerator mother theory of autism, and the most commonly available "therapy" is Freudian psycho-analysis.
http://www.soutenonslemur.org/2012/...-sur-la-situation-de-lautisme-en-france/ (in French)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/h...utism-strongly-criticized-in-france.html (in English)
(the subject of autism treatment in France is currently high visibility --
http://www.soutenonslemur.org/ is anti-psy but has a good collection of press clips on the subject).
This might also be helpful:
http://www.aspergeraide.com/index.php (French)
Now, the answers to SIaSL :
Well, that VIQ/IQ is going to make ruling Asperger's in/out tricky. I hope the person you are meeting with has experience with that combo (the 1/10,000 IQ, the undefined "other(s)")
Based on that, a neurologist diagnose ADHD ( last year at the age of 6) and gave him a long-delivery Ritalin equivalent. Things then improved at school, but not that much and definitely not at home: it was the beginning of rebellion, violence, tantrums ….
But it helped some with classroom behaviors...
ADHD and meds is not my... area of interest but I would be wondering about aggression appearing right after the drugs were started. Have you talked with the neurologist about the home issues? Have your tried weaning him off the meds, maybe during the last summer vacations, to see if the aggressive behavior went away?
I hope somebody with more experience (and especially someone who has gone through several med protocols) can chime in here.
So we prefer insisting on the difficulties to find some help. One of the big anxiety source of the mother is her questioning on his possible grade repeating … French schooling is much based on writing, so my son is facing a lot of problems. The reason for this thread is precisely on the giftedness care at home, just to overcome this lack at school.
But... it won't be enough. Unfortunately.
Yes, I am familiar (well, 30 years out of date familiar) with the situation in France. I am French, although I have been living in the US for a while now (and with my own maybe 2E child, not going back anytime soon).
Retention (redoublement) is only going to make things worse for him, I am afraid, but a grade skip (which would be much exponentially easier to get than in the US) won't help either.
Drawing a blank on suggestions. Homeschooling is probably not an option (parental sanity seems to be in serious danger as it is). Has the speech therapist (orthophoniste), who seems to get him, been able to give any suggestions on keeping his mind fed *at school* while working at his comprehension level? The fact that the teacher scribes for him is actually wonderful.
How does he do with other kids?
A lot of warning signs for Asperger's there, down to the playing preferentially with girls.
A lot of warning signs for a PG child who is increasingly disconnected from age peers and their interests and starting to shut down.
The fact that he connects so well with his sister, who is probably his only intellectual peer in your village, is... a good thing.
And BTW, is the school thinking about skipping her (sauter un classe)? Because she might need it. Soon.
I guess I should try books on tape, but the mother does not truly agree with that.
Because she wants him to read instead? What about reading lower level books and listening to things a 7 year old wouldn't be expected to read anyway?
