I'm the mom of 2 boys with autism/aspergers. My older son is 22. He manages to be both low IQ and brilliant at the same time. His biggest perseverative interest is vacuums. He works in a shop repairing them. My younger son is 17 with high IQ and no social skills. He's my biggest concern at the moment. He's very isolated (not by choice, but by not knowing how to get it out of it). He has no friends at all. He used to when he was elementary school age, but those kids all outgrew him. Their interests were wildly divergent from his and he had nothing in common with them anymore. He still mourns their loss. He goes once a week to a church activity with boys his age. They are very kind to him but they are not his friends. They've never invited him anywhere, etc. I think the only reason he goes to the activities is that he's desperate to be doing something considered normal for a boy his age. He doesn't have a good time there and has no friends. Things that seem very small or easy to me send him easily into defense mode (brushing his teeth, taking a shower, changing his shirt etc). I'm really worried about him because he's so lonely, depressed, and anxious about everything. I can tell you all you want to know about defense mode, but have never been successful bringing him out of it. The only time we ever come close is if we can make him happy temporarily, but we can't buy a new lego set every time he's supposed to brush his teeth. Legos and the Marvel MCU are his perseverative interests. Other than those things, he's quite limited.

Posted by harrylover110 at 2023-02-02 07:49:39 UTC