About Joe Shapiro

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• Comment on Sphinx's answer…

  0 0 Thanks for taking the time to reply, Sphinx. I've left out one important detail - which I'm afraid may lead to an answer along the lines of "get professional help." But my original tack hasn't elicited what I was looking for so... this boy is "on the spectrum." He used to be pretty severely impaired but now, through lots of work by both professionals and his parents, he's quite functional. However, it SEEMS to me like he might be stuck. He's got a certain level of mastery for some tasks but seems like he's afraid to venture beyond these. He's been encouraged to reach beyond these and told that making mistakes is a good thing - and the best way to learn. Even so, when presented with a difficulty, he tends to retreat rather than push on. This is true in both his school work and outside of school. I think that he would be helped quite a bit by feeling the process of going from novice to journeyman - of feeling what it's like to work at something and "get good at it." I don't think it really matters what it is - just so long as he gets a feel for "if I practice I can get better at it" as opposed to "if I'm not good at it from the first try I'll never be good at it." I'm concerned that just "giving him space" will result in him continuing with the familiar and not reaching out to the world. Joe Shapiro commented about 1 year ago

• Follow Following 1 How do you encourage a kid to go deeper into his interests? Joe Shapiro asked in Other Family & Kids about 1 year ago 1 Answer by Sphinx…

• Comment on Griffin's answer…

  0 0 I am not his father but neither is his father abscent. His parents share custody and he and his sister (16) spend opposite parts of the week at each house. The father and I get along just fine and the kids see that. The two kids do not get along. I think this is because he annoys his sister by trying to copy her "cool" behaviors but doesn't have the social skill to pull it off. The result is, of course, less than ideal. She bites back and he feels like "he's being treated like crap." (his words) I believe he's a good kid. He means well. He also wants attention. In the moment he doesn't seem to be able to take others' feelings into account. That and he wants instant gratification. He doesn't want to - or is unable to - spend the time listening to others and waiting until he can inject a relevant comment into the conversation. Joe Shapiro commented about 1 year ago

• Follow Following 1 How do we convince our 12y/o boy that provoking negative attention won't help him? Joe Shapiro asked in Family & Kids about 1 year ago 8 Answers by Griffin, Squirrel Girl , Sphinx…

• See all of my 2 Questions , 0 Answers and 2 Comments