12 years old boy autism

Hi, my son is 12 years old. He is a very talented musician and does lots of work in various places of music professionally. He is studying in a secondary grammar school which is a mainstream school. But in different areas he needs support. He can't follow multiple instructions at a time. He can't understand people's emotions and doesn't know to show proper emotions at proper time. People think he is very mature and older because of his personality. If we don't teach him something in day to day life he can't do it. He can't jump and can't run properly till now. We had to teach him how to run. We had to teach him how to climb stairs. Before talking to someone we need to tell him what to say. But if he gets his favourite topic he will continue talking about it for hours. If he finds something interesting he goes for it and finds each and every single thing about it and it continues until I fight to stop it somehow and that takes ages to divert the interest etc. 

I am a LSA in a SEN school. Though since beginning I had doubt that he have some issues but as he is doing extremely good academically and in music, everyone said he is a genius. Now I think he has symptoms related to Asperger's syndrome. But as he is a very quiet well behaved and good student school is not helping me to get referral. GP is asking for school's assessment. 

Can anyone help me with this problem? As his problems are not quite seen normally by school or outside people, how can I get help to diagnose his problems?

Nabanita 

Parents
  • Aww bless. He sounds 100% autistic. And lovely! 

    Over sharing (or info-dumping) is how we connect and are vulnerable with others. It is like a very long hug. It is an expression of sharing our deep excitement and joy and awe. We don't share with those we don't trust (not necessarily bad, but trust is earned, respect is given).

    Being 'wise for one's age' is a classic marker of the Autistic Neural-wiring. We are known as Lateral Thinkers, we can see systems and symptoms and fundamental values of things effortlessly. But the irony - the catch - is that we often cannot use vocabulary, linguistics or even language the same as our Non-Autistic peers. So, just like stumbling through a foreign language and being discredited simply for how poorly one speaks, we can be misheard, misjudged. But often we didn't get the memo on how to mature either. One thought behind this is a brain with less synaptic pruning. Not wrong, just different. Instead of super-pruning those hyper-connexions in the areas responsible for language and semiotics, the Autistic brain is structured different, one that most Autistics can tap into if they micro-dose on psilocybin, for example, which opens up the capacity to see the world as 'Too Real', which is another theory that our Salience Network works different, and doesn't filter out the same. This would've been incredibly useful in the wild.

    ADHD and Autistics (along with dyslexics) are often a mismatch for the expectations of modern society where the Neurotypical brain can dull the senses or become desensitised. Both Freud and Lacan suggested the autistic wasn't creating Defence mechanisms which allowed them to do just this - dull their senses. Jung noticed the same, but specifically the issue with Sublimation and only for particular Introverted Types. Jung basically was noticing the "high functioning autistic" without the label. And probably because he may have been a BAP (borderline Autistic Phenotype) himself. He treats Trauma never Autistic Traits easily recognisable in his patients just by a peel through Volume 1 of his extensive collexion. 

    The main issue with having to teach him everything (and well done noticing and not leaving him to 'figure it out') is a matter of a Loss in Translation. Autistics aren't receiving seemingly secret social codes due to a different salience network being overwhelming, due to not having these hyper connexions which keep a 'tribe' together. This mismatch is more pronounced today than in 1950 due to how society has changed and western thought is further homogenised by mass media. Many of us in the Music industry are Autistic or ADHD, most undiagnosed. 

  • Note- that 'intense interest' is driven by Monotorpism (a 3rd major fundamental value which marks the autistic difference) and this Salience Network: we aren't just deeply impacted, but intensely impacted. A thing can be consuming. There aren't just 5 senses but 40 basic ones and then hundreds within the human body. There is no difference between a strong smell and a strong feeling, these are both subject to Sensory-Perception. 

    So, with an interest which can become a specialisation and can lead to a well paid career, it's important to learn how to delegate time to be consumed with that if possible. Never deny it, but create space to be in it. I have a pile of books I will work though. I initially gave myself 5 years to get through 2 of the main books by these historical giants. After 5 I added another 5 and then realised this will be a life-long project I will specialise in. The principle I use is called "acting like an ant" - carrying one small stone a day to build a whole nest. This can be helpful as I know the project is next to me, while my sound-related job is also all-consuming. Sometimes just reinforcing working through a paragraph a day, for instance, can help create a sense of ease. The brain is working at a speed beyond which our maturity or human-ness can keep up. It requires exhausting like a sheep dog or it will accelerate into anxiety.

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  • Note- that 'intense interest' is driven by Monotorpism (a 3rd major fundamental value which marks the autistic difference) and this Salience Network: we aren't just deeply impacted, but intensely impacted. A thing can be consuming. There aren't just 5 senses but 40 basic ones and then hundreds within the human body. There is no difference between a strong smell and a strong feeling, these are both subject to Sensory-Perception. 

    So, with an interest which can become a specialisation and can lead to a well paid career, it's important to learn how to delegate time to be consumed with that if possible. Never deny it, but create space to be in it. I have a pile of books I will work though. I initially gave myself 5 years to get through 2 of the main books by these historical giants. After 5 I added another 5 and then realised this will be a life-long project I will specialise in. The principle I use is called "acting like an ant" - carrying one small stone a day to build a whole nest. This can be helpful as I know the project is next to me, while my sound-related job is also all-consuming. Sometimes just reinforcing working through a paragraph a day, for instance, can help create a sense of ease. The brain is working at a speed beyond which our maturity or human-ness can keep up. It requires exhausting like a sheep dog or it will accelerate into anxiety.

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