Will, a 13-year-old from Wisconsin, lives with high-functioning Asperger’s and faces difficulties recognizing and managing his emotions. He doesn’t like to talk about emotions he perceives as negative, and becomes upset when he doesn’t meet the high standards he sets for himself. These oachhallenges have made it difficult for Will to thrive in social situations.
Karen immediately began researching strategies, as many as she could find, to help Will manage his emotions. She found a Social Thinking program, as well as ABA therapy, both of them important opportunities for Will to increase his “social batting average,” as Karen puts it.
However, Will soon became resistant to using the strategies offered by these programs. Cues to calm down through deep breathing, for example, tended to create more frustration and anger and did not decrease his swearing, frustration or oppositional behaviors. Despite his ongoing work with an ABA therapist and the Social Thinking program, his academics started to suffer and he sometimes had to leave the classroom. “He would miss class, and then miss homework, and it would circle out of control,” says Karen. …