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It occured to me that with Asperger's, we all have or know someone who also suffers with Asperger's. This is a difficult area in which to get support and help with most parents feeling for a long time before diagnosis, that no-one would listen to them and they felt like the only people in the world with their problems.

We know this is not the case and we must support each other. It was another parent that initially supported me and provided written information - a whole folder full - that showed me what we needed to know about Matthew. I was then able to go to the doctors and a diagnosis was arranged after many other appointments over the following year, but we got there in the end.

Once we had received this information and I knew (even before diagnosis) that this was what Matthew had, I felt so relieved because now I knew which path to travel. Till then it felt like being in a corridor of 100 doors and not knowing which one to open. Each door was labelled "Dyslexia" "ADD/ADHD" "Emotional" "Dietary" and so on but I did not know about the door labelled "Asperger's"

I hated the parents with a dozen kids who claimed that children shouldn't be labeled. I hated those that said "It's because he's a boy" I hated those that said "there are children worse off the Matthew" I hated those who said "It's nothing a bit of discipline won't cure" .

If two children both suffered a broken leg and one was a more severe break than the other - does that mean it would be OK to only treat the worse one? So why does this seem to be the case with Aspergers? That infuriated me! Our occupational therapist seemed to be the only one who understood and helped. We owe her many thanks and my calmness and understanding of it today is mainly due to her work and reasearch and gentle manner with Matthew. Even two years after finishing treatment with her we still talk about her and refer to the work she did with him. Thankyou Linda.

Now we attend an Asperger support group fortnightly and Matthew actually has what I would call GENUINE FRIENDS for the first time in his life. It amazes me every time how one child with Aspergers in class is regularly deemed the "Problem" while a group of Asperger children never or rarely bother each other. They all follow the same social rules and when they wan't their own space, the others respect that and leave them alone, unlike children in class who will follow and taunt a child that goes to retreat. The support group is a place where they do truly understand that they as children are not alone and as parent there is much support too.

Share, network, phone, email and more are ways to alleviate the loneliness of Aspergers for the parents so please do share with me and tell your friends about this blog so they can share in the support too by clicking on the first button. If you would like buttons like this for your website or blog, click on the Bravenet button.