Control Issues in Asperger's Syndrome

The first time I heard the phrase "White Plate Issues" was when I was describing my son's insistence over using a white plate to eat his meals on to a group of parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome. When several of the parents replied that their children had a lot of those "White Plate Issues" too, I suddenly realized that insistence on sameness is very much a part of Asperger's Syndrome and shows itself in different ways with different children. An unsuspecting parent or teacher might think that they are in a control battle with their child, when, in actual fact, the child is behaving that way for a logical reason (in their own mind).

When my son was around three years old, he insisted that he only eat his meals on a white plate, drink from a "sippie cup" and sit in his own chair. If those conditions were not met, he wouldn't eat (much to the despair of the rest of the family). If we got the colour of the cup wrong (it had to be green), he wouldn't drink either.

While he seemed to accept the fact that when we were in a restaurant, or someone else's house, he couldn't eat off a white plate, drink from a cup, or sit in his own chair, he always did fuss in one way or the other when these conditions weren't met. If we had company for dinner, he reacted very badly if someone else sat in his chair. (This was always embarrassing to us, until we just asked everyone not to sit in his chair.)

Until I spoke to other parents about my child, I thought he had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There's an excellent website at:http://mentalhelp.net/disorders/sx25.htm for those of you wondering the same thing about your child. After researching that condition, I realized that his quirks were one of the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome. Other parents have told me about some of their children's issues, such as only eating pink coloured food (it's hard to be creative and get enough vitamins into the child), or their child will only eat soft food, go to the bathroom only in their home, etc.

As the years have passed and my child is now 11, I have successfully managed to put his food on a brown plate once in awhile, and he will drink from a diffent cup, mug, or glass, however, he still doesn't like it when someone sits in his chair without his permission. For those of you who are trying to help your child become more flexible with their "white plate issues", I can only tell you what worked for me. About once a week I would tell my son that all the white plates were being washed in the dishwasher, would he mind eating from a brown plate? Gradually, very gradually, he grudingly ate off that brown plate and now it's not such a big issue.

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