Thanks, Karen. I really appreciate hearing that. I do realize and see in S8 that every day he gets a little better. It has been a slow, arduous process, but I can look back and see how far he's come and how he is continuing to progress.
Academically he is doing well. He still has this strong aversion to writing (especially the very mechanics of it), but in every other subject he is doing well. Like many AS kids, he has no problems with Math or Reading.
He is doing well enough, in fact, that early next month he will be taking the COGAT. His teacher thinks he is brilliant enough to be selected for this test. His only failing is in the emotional realm and in the sensory-integration realm. As such it is still a struggle to help him learn self-control.
Cognitively, I'd say S8 is about two years ahead of his peers, but emotionally, he is at least two years behind them. I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't lapse into laziness, since he is more than capable of doing the work but his emotional maturity leads him to want to get out of it even more so. He will "melt-down" if things exceed his ability to cope. Thankfully, that has eased considerably since entering the 3rd grade, and I expect this progresss to continue as he gets older.
S8 can also be pretty wily too at times, if one doesn't keep on him. Again. he's often too smart for his own maturity level. That's typical for lots of kids, but more-so for some AS kids like S8.
