Are children with aspergers disorder prone to self abuse?!
Question:
Are children with aspergers disorder prone to self abuse?
My little brother is five. He has aspergers,and he looked up at me and told me I was treating him like a baby(which I was at the time,I was teasing him and he was teasing me as well-I thought we were having fun)
He said,"Could a BABY do this?!?!"
He put his hands around his throat and squeezed as hard as he could for a few seconds and made "choking" sound effects.
He was red in the face...but laughing about it.
I told him never to do that again,and that hurting himself made me very sad-He said,"BUT you were being mean."
He's going to school this fall. I'm worried,should I be?
Answers:
People with Aspergers usually take things very literally. What most people would see as friendly ribbing or teasing is often seen as serious statements.
The emotions that they show such as laughing can often be completely disconnected to what they are feeling. He could have been actually very angry yet laughing.
His statement about you being mean was probably him not understanding why you were sad about him hurting himself when you were being mean to him (playful teasing). To him those are opposites. You can't be mean to someone and care about them at the same time.