I�ve already posted about ds10, so here�s ds9:
He�s been diagnosed with ADHD, dysgraphia, depression, and he�s highly gifted. There have been suggestions that he might have Asperger�s, but no official testing has been done. I think he would miss the mark because his difficulties are mostly social. He has some sensitivities, mostly to noise. He does very well in school academically, but he sometimes gets very upset and shuts down, cries, and/or yells. He has a hard time when confronted with something he�s done wrong, when he thinks he�s being treated unfairly, and when people tease him. We tried a social skills/counseling group, but he was very annoyed by the behaviors (repetitive talking, making noises) of some of the other kids (mostly Aspies) in the group. I think he needs more socialization or maybe a social skills group where he�s the lowest-functioning. He enjoys being around other kids most of the time. He�s involved with cub scouts and a church group. He plays with the kids in the neighborhood pretty well, but that group is pretty small. When the depression was really bad, he didn�t want to leave the house, but now he�ll go out every day if the neighborhood kids are available and go to scouts/church willingly.
Do you have any suggestions to work on social skills? I�d like him to realize sooner when he�s getting upset so he can remove himself from the situation to avoid a meltdown. There are other things that would be helpful, like making friends, ignoring annoyances, etc. if you have suggestions there.
