A friend of mine has a brother that I think might be on the autistic spectrum. I was wondering if you might give me your 2 cents on this one. First of all, he is close to 40 years of age. He has suffered from lack of motivation most of his life. He has close to a genius IQ but is not very good socially. Never married, no kids. He sleeps a lot so that makes me think he may have some depression. Has a history of drug use also. He seems a little slow to respond when asked questions. My friend gets impatient with him frequently. I have a cousin that was recently diagnosed with Aspergers. I mentioned this to my friend and got to thinking that her brother may also suffer from something similar. I looked up a few things on Aspergers and he doesn't seem to fit in that category entirely. Any ideas? Maybe he is just a normal guy but I feel he has always been kind of different. I was hoping to improve their relationship and give her ideas on ways to cope/help him. Thanks for any info or advice.

It sounds like he could have some characteristics but it is pretty uncommon for Aspies to use drugs and they never like to lose control. Maybe you could direct your friend to a website?? www.wrongplanet.net has a lot of information on Aspergers and active forums, she could see if she thinks it fits him. The hardest part will be approaching him!

Good luck,

Jessica

Jessica
Mom to Parker, McKenna, ^Hadley^ born 10/9/07 28w5d
little brother Sawyer
and big sister Ashlyn
www.fourplusanangel.com