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October 22, 2008, 7:22 am PDT
I understand.... to a point...
Quote From: beccasmomMy son is 16 and has Asperger's Syndrome. His obsession is video games. He is an excellent student with mostly A's but spends hours on the computer mostly playing video games. He plays a variety of different games and World of Warcraft is not one of them. It's video games in general. When he is online, he is an equal and noone knows he has Asperger's. He follows all the rules about not telling too much about himself to strangers, etc. He is a junior in high school and wants to go to college to major in video game design and programming. When we lock him out of the computer due to not getting off when we tell him to he has a meltdown and we all suffer. He was really starting to listen to us and try to meet us halfway but since really getting interested in colleges here in Ohio for his major interest, he seems more "addicted" than before. In spite of him being careful we still know he is on there too much. We know turning off the computer is the most obvious solution but we would like to have some other ideas as to how we can solve this problem. I know this sounds pretty pathetic on our part but sometimes we walk a fine line in our household to maintain peace. My son (13) as well has a very mild case of Asperger's. But non the less his repetitive habits can drive us all a bit mad at times... He has a great deal of difficulty completing chores and required tasks at home and so I have set up a system or rewards of sorts to allow him the time he wants to game (WOW) and to get what I need done as well... I actually encouraged him to play WOW as it has done a tremendous job at teaching him to read better... there are a lot of repetitive tasks to complete in the game and achievements to gain, all of which require many very intelligent skills, and all of which help him with developing skills to help him with his school work... I can not say enough good about this game ... But I think the other thing that I did that was important, is I have also played the game! I know where and what my kids are doing... earning the right to play for four hours on the weekend, is a huge acomplishiment for my son... and he has better expectations for himself and plans his time wisely while in the game as well to complete tasks he wants to do... Like anything is life moderation is the key...
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