Children with Asperger’s Syndrome are often hyperlexic. They can be excellent decoders. Often, this skill at decoding can lull the parent or teacher into assuming that the child has the comprehension skill to match. The child with AS can have particular difficulty when the reading material involves ambiguity or social nuances.
My husband and I reacted to the diagnosis very differently. I began to obsessively read everything on AS I could find. I found a safe haven at the OASIS board and website (www.aspergersyndrome.org) (thank you Barb Kirby!) with other parents who understood and supported me. My husband needed to take his time and allow me to be the filter for AS knowledge. He helped me realize that life would still go on, and that the only thing that had changed was our understanding.
We began to enter the world of special ed and the IEP process. For an excellent source of information, see the Wrightslaw website at http://www.wrightslaw.org/.
