Unfortunately, my son's only real friends are myself, his Dad and his Granma. He does interact somewhat with his classmates when at school, but he does not have the typical relationships that my daughter who is a typical teen has. If I have a party at the house, he will hang around on the edges (even if he is coached to join)until his bedtime...which for him must happen everyday at 8pm come hell or high water...lol. I think it must be a lonely life, so my mother and I take him everywhere to all kinds of events so he can continue to be socialized; wethere he likes to or not. He also is very excited about going to church on Sundays, but he has no real friends there to speak; but he knows everyone and everyone knows him....very popular guy for someone who can't speak more than 2 -3 word sentences. He loves the band and the dancers at church and he loves the fact that I bought his own personal Bible (in fav color blue) with his name on the front.

I am a grandmother, new to this web site. After reading the posts back to 2 years ago I observe a common thread in the story. My grandson is 20. His school years were in public schools, main streamed. Friendships for him have been very different that what we have ever known through raising other children not on spectrum. Because there is so much to learn about your child it is actually almost impossible to assume anything. My advice as an involved grandmother is his social life is critical. All your instincts are correct. Blake did not socialize at all outside of school with anyone he attended school with. He did attended dances, had some social mixing during lunch or as he chose. Friends were available. The best gift we ever had was our neighbors with 2 boys who became his world. Daily they were together for about 4 years. Families are still best friends and still live next door. However, the boys aren't close as before due to a relationship roadblock. I won't elaborate a it doesn't matter. They still see each other and are often together with family. It was the happiest time i his life. I can only stress one thing: spend the money and time to learn how to communicate with your children. Understand what they are thinking and feeling and make sure they know who they are at all stages. Don't hide their spectrum advantages and disadvantages. Find counseling for the family and for you child for the sole purpose to learn to communicate. This is vital. It will change as they change and age. Patterns are similar in how they cope with day to day, minute by minute life. LEARN HOW they THINK and digest daily experiences. Education is the only answer. AND EACH ONE OF THESE CHILDREN ARE 100% UNIQUE so don't make the mistake of forgetting he is like but different. Your child's home is different that any other child. So his life is impacted differently.
Don't be afraid to teach him who he is, not who you thought he would be. He still is and he/she can live and love. Good luck

I don't think it matters who their friends are ,as long as they're happy.My son doesn't have any typical teen friends, he finds them to be uncaring and irresponsible . I guess we accepted that he was happy, that he wasn't missing out on anything because he didn't want to be there in the first place. His few close friends are all he really wants and needs .

@A MyAutismTeam Member, my friend was amazed at how quickly her meetup.com group grew! The reason she started it was because she has a young teenage daughter with Aspergers, and she wanted to try and find other girls she could hang out with... And it worked! There are a few other girls in the group now (mostly boys, tho), and they get along great. Now we have members from all over southern California in the group. This weekend we are having a Mad Hatter bowling party...we'll all be wearing crazy hats!! We had a Holiday Party at my place in December... each parent brought a gift for their kid (from Santa), so we handed out gifts. I had some crafts for them if they wanted, and it was potluck,so lots of good munchies! I had the party in my condo bldg's Rec Room... but the kids all ended up in my condo, playing the Wii, and the parents stayed in the Rec Room and had a wonderful time connecting and learning from each other and sharing stories. It was so awesome! My son even shared his Nintendo DS with one of the girls... I was so proud of him! One time we hosted a "Just Because" party because our kids hardly ever get invited to birthday parties. The kids loved it!! So definitely get on meetup.com and get something going!!

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A MyAutis...

My son has one "friend" who has sever Aspergers. He was actually the one who told us that Micah had Aspergers too. He is a month younger then my ds but has had a lot more therapy to help him cope in a NT world. Their friendship has been growing at a very slow pace but my son does call him a friend.