My brother Drew was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome when he was younger. Recently my brother joined a school play and he had an incident with another student that was also in the play. When the incident was addressed I calmly explained that my brother was on the spectrum and that he had Asperger's syndrome and the director told me that it was no excuse that he should know the difference between right and wrong and that if there was another issue with my brother that he would be out of the play. This spiked my interest in Asperger's syndrome more than it had before because I knew that these directors had to have specific training to work with kiddos. I googled Asperger's syndrome and found an article that I liked and thought was interestng. My brother is a very literal perosn and asks questions to find out the answer. He is such a sweet little man but he can be semi awkward in some social situations. Sometimes he doesn't make eye contact when he talks to people. Drew sometimes twirls and spins around in a room if it is too loud in a room and generally tries to be louder than the noise already going on in the room. When he spins and twirls he seems like he is really clumsy and uncoordinated He is so set in his ways that I wasn't shocked to see something about routines and rituals that they refuse to change and if they change can deeply upset them. He has to do things the same way when he does them every time he does them because he likes the repitition. He also owns more orange and more tie dye tee shirts than any eight year old I know and he wears them repeatedly. Drew really likes Transformers and Switch and Go Dinos. Everytime we are at the store he drags me down to the toy section and we see if there are any new ones. It is so cool to see the fascination he has with them. He is really musically talented. When we were cleaning up the yard once I was playing music and he fell in love with the song "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. We are always singing it when he asks to sing it and I find it adorable that he is learning the notes and words! Drew's teacher told me one day that he had asked to sing a song in class and she started humming it to me. Turns out Drew stood up and sang my solo from District Music Festival last year. He had only heard me sing it once and that was at Districts and he remembered it. He asks to sing this along with "Ho Hey" now. Drew is very energetic and loves his hamster. He is a joy and a laugh every single day and I love him.
Drew goes to occupational therapy every Friday morning. One of the many routines that he follows weekly. I found it interesting that Asperger's syndrome has only recently been recognized as its own disorder and that it is actually becoming more common than autism itself. I also found it interesting that it is four times more likely to occur in males than females. Children are normally diagnosed between the ages of two and six. Children if they have Asperger's are also likely to be linked to other conditions like ADHD, depression, and others. There isn't a prevention for Asperger's nor is there a set way to treat it. Some children, like Drew, go to occupational therapy and social skills therapy. And like any child support of the positive behavior can help reduce the negative. I have seen all of the therapies first hand and I know that my family is extremely thankful for all of the support that Drew gets from all the people around him. I am so proud of the person Drew is and who he is becoming. Drew has touched my heart and I know that the transition from high school to college will be difficult on both of us. I know that I will have to call and talk to him all of the time and that we will have to Skype twice a week!
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