Messages By: wolfey912

My 17 year old son has Aspergers and what I am seeing with this individual on this show is an uncontrolled case. We have managed our sons Aspergers with counseling, Medications and patience. All parties involved in his care including his primary care doctor, psychologist, counselor, teachers, principals, brothers and especially his mother and I have worked very hard to make his life as normal as possible. He is finally developing some social skills and I believe he is finally enjoying life a little. The thing I am seeing on this show that is disturbing to me is the yelling and cursing by his father at him, that is not helpful to a child with Aspergers because they kind of live in their own world and when they are in a bout no amount of yelling will get through to them. We have done tremendous amounts of research and have been instrumental in making our School district being made aware of the needs of Aspergers sufferers. 

The fear of our son injuring someone has subsided alot however we still focus with him about controlling his temper which he is capable of controlling as a of these discussions we have and his medications. 

The real key in managing this disorder is finding a subject or subjects that interest the individual and allowing them the freedom to pursue those interests. My son loves to read and can go through about 4 to 5 books a week and many more if he finds interesting ones to read. these books have also helped him to cope at school in the crowd by essentially hiding in the books between classes. 

The bottom line is with the proper help and support the Asperger sufferer can lead a very normal life. However it is true that uncontrolled they could be very physical and could possibly hurt someone because when they lash out at what they perceive as an intrusion to their private world they have a physiological reaction that dumps adrenaline into their system which is the fight or flight mechanism. this gives them the strength to injure someone if pushed. 

bottom line medicationused in conjuction with therapy and making them understand the medication is only their to help but not control them it is still their responsibility to control themselves. 

My son is a wonderful kid who has very few friends but functions essentially normal in most situations and it interferes minimally on our family life, his brothers have been very supportive and include him in activities as much as he is willing. 

Craig S. Wolfe 

I and my wife have lived with an AS child for 14 years. So I can speak from experience and say first of all that i am slightly confused by what I saw on the screen. I watched your segment twice now the second time with my wife. Screaming at a child with AS does nothing but escalate that anger,second we noticed that some of his actions and interactions with Dr Phil did not seem to match with AS, such as good eye contact and expressing his feelings. With our son we cannot drag an emotional response out of him. When asked a question relating to emotions he cannot come up with the words to respond. It sounds like your son has social interactions at school our son has no friends and very limited social interactions and does not want to seek out those social interactions even when encouraged to do so. 

I hope the brain scan he has will help definitley diagnose him because I suspect that if he has AS it is not trully the major problem in his life. I am also dissappointed that Dr Phil did not discuss any of the treatment or support you and your family has received because that would have been more helpful than scaring people about AS by showing the clips that were shown. I blame Dr Phil for that one. However, I was shocked by the screaming matches that took place between you , your husband and your son. I can honestly say that we have never had such screaming matches in our house. Which is not to say that our son has not had extreme out bursts, He has , in cluding inflicting wounds on his brother that required medical treatment and varying from screaming at the top of his lungs to not saying a word for hours because he did not want to respond to us. 

With the help of an outstanding child psychologist and therapist (whom he trusts) and an appropriate pharmacological solution properly administered and understood by our son he has come to a point in his life where the outbursts now limited in frequency and duration and severity. It does not sound to me that you have found that kind of help and support as yet and it is my sincere hope that you find through the help of Dr Phil. 

Sincerely  

Craig S. Wolfe 

wolfeden927@comcast.net 

I agree 100 percent with you!And I let Dr Phil know that in an E-mail as well. 

Craig S. Wolfe