Has anyone had experiance with high functioning autism children involved in sport's.

The reason I ask is because my son has a boy in his class whose parent's have FINALLY relented and allowed him to join the wrestling team. :D

His mother does not have access to a computer and asked that I seek any advice on how to maintain his positive attitude toward's the sport and other player's. The boy's in his class have let him win his fair share of matches during practice. She is extremely worried that he will have an "outburst" as she calls them should he continually lose.

I personally know this child and have tried to comfort her and ease her anxieties over the issue. He's adorable honestly I have never seen a kid walk off the mat after loosing a match with the look of pure joy he has on his face.

Anyway's question asked. Awaiting ideas.
Thanks,
Cherity

I have a HFA son and teach 2 others as well in our karate class. What the mother is concerned about, is her son learning bad behaviour patterns which she then will have to fix.

Actually, I think she has calmed a lot since his first meet. He made it to the last round in which he lost but he was so excited about getting second place that I honestly don't think he understood that he lost. Well, maybe he understood but it didn't matter. We could definatly use a lot more athlete's like him on our squad.

My son has Autism Futs, I am currently doing a course thereon, so what I can contribute here may sound a bit odd but here goes...The "outbursts" have a function, so the key to understanding is what the function of the outburst is and why? And when you learn why the outburst occured you can then take steps to manage that behaviour. Does that make sense? If I sound silly just let me know!

Sammy

Actually NOT at all Sammy, makes sense it's almost like trying to figure out why any child has an outburst then taking measure's to ensure it doesn't happen.

Yesterday, during practice we noticed that Ben was highly agitated and began to worry but this kid is smart he know's his limits. He just stood up and said I don't want anyone to touch me anymore and that was that.

I talked over the phone with his mother last night and she said that they discussed his getting over stimulated and that at any time during a match it was OK to stand up and say the same thing and the ref. will let him walk away instead of him trying to continue and having a physical outburst.

Hopefully, that work's I would hate for him to give up something he obviously loves.

Well you and Mom have got it sorted! Thats so great, I find it annoying when people dont understand, I was going to say that a lot of people with Autism do not like physical contact at all, but then again my son loves the rough stuff, bless his heart!
Ben sounds like a wonderful kid.

Sammy

He is I admit there is a lot I have no clue about but his mom is finally comfortable with letting us give her short breaks. Which makes me feel better and I will admit shock the first time he slugged me for no reason other then he didn't want touched anymore and I did not recognize the subtle sign's. We're working on it.