New to the Group :-)

[Guest guest]

Hi all,My name is and I have a 17 year old son with AS. I am new to the group and have been reading as many messages as I could before I inundated you with some questions. As parents I know that you all have more experience than many of the doctor's we have seen through the years. No physician, psychologist or specialist has ever walked a day in our shoes. J Have any of your children ever experienced the following: Even though my son turned 17 years old last May, it seems that he is a very late bloomer. I believe he is just now going through pubertyand his hormones have sent him into an extreme heightened level of "selfawareness" and "social phobia". The last several months have been horrific. He has been refusing to attend school and his senses seem to be in overdrive. Getting him to shower lately has been arduous and that is an understatement. Hard to persuade someone 6'4" that he needs to shower. (Much easier when he was 5'4"). Not that he was ever thrilled to shower. ..the last several months it took all the energy I had to coerce him. He has gone as long as seven days. Maybe that is not a long time for some, but teenagers going through puberty can get quite putrid. Like I said, he was never fond of it, but now is refusing altogether. And this is one battle that I chose not to ignore. Also, he has started refusing to attend movies at the cinema (which he loved) and detest going to the mall (another favorite outing). He just seems very despondent and reclusive. The more I try to converse with him….the further he pulls away. This is his senior year and he is so close to graduating. While the school is really trying to work with him - I feel as if they are losing their patience with some of his Aspie traits.You would think they would be more understanding, but I am sure all of you have dealt with the "IEP Nightmare". That is another issue for a different day.Any suggestions or input you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Wish I had found your group when he was diagnosed back in 2004. Reading your posts have been very enlightening and helpful.Thanks!