Our Aspergers Teenage Boy

Mom reports: Yesterday Tommy’s teacher asked us if Tommy is on the vocational or college track so she can get his class schedule for next year finished. It’s a question that should have been asked last year but I still found it difficult to answer. Lots of people with Aspergers can and do go to college. I just don’t think it is right for Tommy. He would refuse to participate in foundation courses and no professor is going to tolerate Tommy making noises and fidgeting during class. I don’t want to sound like I don’t believe in Tommy. I believe Tommy is incredibly intelligent and we will never really know how smart he is because of his uncooperativeness during standardized testing. I long ago decided that Tommy needed a technical education that would allow him to focus on something that interests him. Unfortunately, his only interests right now are computer games, reading and sleeping. The school gave him an interest survey. It said he should work with airplanes. Since he just finished reading World War II books about airplanes, that is not really a surprise. However, last year he read all the library books about dragons, so last year he would have tested as an anthropologist or science fiction editor. In the end, it should be Tommy’s choice, but he won’t focus on the future. He seems to have no opinion when I try and discuss this with him. Without any input from him, I asked the teacher to pursue the vocational track. I feel sad but convinced it is the right decision. Now if I could just figure out what he would be happy doing. Most people graduate college and wander for years but I am supposed to make my child’s future plans right now?

This is a 4 day weekend for the children and Tommy has already declared his intent to play online for 36 hours straight. Part of me thinks that is incredibly unhealthy but another part of me knows how important it is to set goals (even silly ones).