Comments on: Asperger’s and Peanut Butter

By: Judi

Judi — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:45:20 +0000

My daughter at the age of 16 was diagnosed with Asperger’s. She is an amazingly intelligent girl who simply cannot read nonverbal cues and who cannot organize herself because she lacks executive functioning skills. She and I are very close and when she came to me because she wanted to do well in school and could not understand why she could not concentrate for more than a week at a time before falling into her hyperfocus which is drawing anime characters, watching anime and writing Anime stories. Yes, these kids hyperfocus and they can have some generally “rough” (I cannot use violent here because it’s simply not the right word) actions at times.

I think people need to understand that there are, as with anything else, varying degrees of Aspergers. My daughter is at the top end of the scale. Her reactions to changes in schedule are not as extreme as others, but she does get upset if she does not hear me when I say something and then she thinks I am changing her schedule.

I like this article because it puts the good with the challenging. My daughter is very talented and because she can hyperfocus, she can perfect. Her only downfall is that if she is not interested, she loses focus very easily. The more we know about all of this the better. I do have to say that while I understand that people are allergic to peanut butter, some people have it as a staple in their house, especially when one of the few foods that their Asperger’s child will eat is Peanut butter.

Thank you for an interesting article.

To the woman who commented on discipline, I actually agree with her. I think that structure and discipline are necessary even more for these kids and not using the disability as an excuse. I have the benefit of a school district that will even, entering 11th grade, set up an IEP and help my daughter to prepare her for the outside world. I also found a social worker who will work with her to help her. There is help out there, but it takes a lot of foot work to find it.

By: Sarah Rowland

Sarah Rowland — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:12:51 +0000

I have the most wonderful, amazing, sweet five year old ever !! But he has Aspergers, so when he is at school, he is uncontrollable, and typically spends the entire day in inclusion, or in the principles office. He has been admitted to a psychiatric ward, which ultimately helped him in his downward spiral, and he is on the verge of being kicked out of school, so the next school will be his 5th since January 2008. I feel like I am alone with this problem. My son is apparently the only one out of 900+ students that has this condition. The teachers dread him, the principle is tired of calling me and dealing with me daily (I am a VERY active parent)and I am frankly sick of dealing with these uneducated “professionals”.

By: Magali Alonso

Magali Alonso — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:54:07 +0000

Hi,
I m writing you from Belgium, and I complètely agree with you!
They did the very same thing about a guy who shot 2 or 3 persons in Antwerp.
It was a racist crime, …and the first thing every journalist say was that the young man was under medication for a disorder syndrome.heres’s in french ! you can follow the link, I m not inventing!

(http://www.lalibre.be/index.php?view=article&art_id=375988)

“Selon son rapport, Van Themsche souffre du syndrome d’Asperger, une forme d’autisme responsable d’un dérèglement mental assimilable à l’état de démence.”

translation ” According to the medical report, Van Themsche suffers of Asperger’s syndrom , an autism form responsible of a mental disorder assimilable to dementia;

They have “put” a label on every Asperger in the world because of a “wrong” one. That’s UNACCEPTABLE !

When my daughter was 6 years old, just before first grade, the “PMS” which is in french Psycho Medico Social. They “diagnosed” that my daughter could be kind of autistic, and I refused to believe it!
back to 1999 the only “idea” that I had of autism was ” Rain-Main”. (sorry)
So I stands that my daughter was weird and special in some ways, but I had decide to be in her side and love her, because she was and is lovable, curious…
Then,a few months ago I heard of Asperger syndrome and I Have recognize patterns of my daughter’s character. So now she’s almost 16 and I’m considering of ask for a test or something to figure out that she may have asperger. I can confirm that she’s not violent, like Nancy said, she’s afraid of violence. She’s kind with animals, she has learn all by herself to hold a bee in her hand! she’s always rescuing spiders in the house ;o) getting them safely in to the back yard. She knows tons of things about sharks.

Thanks again for the essay!

Magali

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:10:47 +0000

As an Aspie I can say that’s terrible! As a kid I was not violent.
As an adult I am not violent! I don’t like violence, as it scares me.
But I do tend to have a temper, but since adolescence, that temper has and is still directed toward me, I do not lash out at people.

What an unfair portrayal of AS.

(PS. PEANUT BUTTER HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY ‘NO FOODS’)

By: Frederica

Frederica — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:15:43 +0000

Thank you for your wonderful presentation of what it means to have a child with a psychiatric illness. I am appalled by the lack of concern shown by the school’s teachers and John’s parents. They should all be on trial. It is so much easier to blame the illness than their lack of concern. How true are your words, a child is dead and the other as good as dead.
And by the way, it is ridiculous to have a peanut free school while the children can carry weapons with them…

By: ray nwam

ray nwam — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:46:17 +0000

Excellent article and site .your piece is a great resource to the online audience. Please when you have time check out my site with many articles like seasonal allergies http://allergieshelp.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

-sps

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:01:21 +0000

So far you are the most sensible person that haas close ties to Aspergers that I have had the pleasre of reading about. I will tell you that I first hand knew John Odgren and his mother when he was at the school in 7th grade. I totaally understand the quote, “I can’t help but wonder to what extent the system failed him, and by doing so, failed James Alenson. John Odgren had the right to special education, but James Alenson had an even more basic right: the right to come home from school alive. But now one teenager, a child really, is dead, and the other as good as dead”. Especially coming from someone outside of Elementary Education and Special Education.
My only question is this… Where are his parents to pick up this responsibility? I hate to put it this way, but they “created a monster”. They allowed him to hyperfocus on crime and dark gory things, they obviously never punished him (as they never did when I worked with him, they had NO discipline at all), when he brought the weapons to school the proir times. How did he own a knife colletion? Why let him take a forensics class? Reading gory Stephen King Books? And if the parents were aware of some of the things that he was writing… yikes. If I had a choice I would send these parents to prison right along with John. Never once in John’s Elementary career did I even see his father. Onlly his mother, who was clueless and couldn’t get a handle on any situation.
I believe some fault lies with the schools, but more lies with Mr. and Mrs. Odgren.

P.S. Loved your comment about the peanut butter… to all the parents out there, if you think you can stop 1,000 elementary school kids from EVER bringing peanut butter to school, forget it, and most principals are unwilling to make schools “peanut free” because it is too much of a liability for them to deal with.

By: Jeanna Johnson

Jeanna Johnson — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:15:25 +0000

I was looking at this website because my daughter has social difficulties, but I became very offended because she also has peanut allergies. I would love for peanut butter to be banned in school, most schools will not ban it. I really don’t see the removal of peanut butter to protect the lives of children with extreme allergies related to removing children with social difficulties.

In your own concern for your child be a little more sensitive to others concerns.

J. Johnson

Frankly you’re just the sort of soccer mommy I was writing about. I have no doubt that if your child were allergic to chalk dust you would be leading the crusade to ban blackboards from the school system. I hate to be the one who points this out to you, but the world does not revolve around your child and her food allergy.

It’s not that I don’t sympathize, I do. But I find it interesting that my offhand remark about peanut butter was all you were able to take from this essay. It tells me that you’ve totally missed the point of this post.

This is the sort of thing that offends you, is it? Frankly I think that says more about you than it does about me. If you want to disagree with me, so be it. But offended? Please. Get a thicker skin.

By: A

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:54:48 +0000

My son has autism — high functioning — but suffice to say I understand…and pfnevyl — it’s so beautiful to me that you share this about your son with everyone. I love to see the world through his eyes. Not a cliche. Such a difference.

Having a child with autism (or any birth defect, for that matter) is a challenge. It certainly puts to the test the old cliche “God never give you more than you can handle.”

Smith…thank you for the comment…I’ll be checking in.

Thank you for sharing this with me, and thank you for stopping by.

By: L. Champagne

L. Champagne — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:04:42 +0000

Many Asbergers Children do have violent tendancies and although your child may not be one of them it does not mean that this child was the exception. I live in constant fear for my daughter because her 17 year old half brother who has Asbergers has made very frightening remarks towards both of us. The two Children are not permitted to be together because of the threat for her safety. His father is a very active, involved parent who spends the majority of his time with his special needs son but these restrictions and the lack of help and specialized programs for dealing with Asberger teens especially has put an immense strain on our family. He is hardly ever available without his son to see his daughter and she now has little more than an hour or so contact with her father because of not finding the proper help his son needs. We need more research, understanding and better resourses in and out of our schools for helping these kids so that more parents, teachers and their peers are better able to cope with these various situations. I suspect that you being a concerned and caring stepparent will help guide your son through his difficulties in adolescents which seems to be much harder on Asbergers kids.

I agree with most of what you say. But my point with this post was that ALL Asperger’s kids would be painted with the same brush. Asperger’s Syndrome by itself will not cause a child to be violent. However, the syndrome often has co-morbidities; it is rare to find an Asperger’s kid who doesn’t have other issues. My best wishes for you and your children. This is not an easy situation to live with.