sugarplum

Hi all Thanks for the replies, i've found them very helpful it is quite hard because autism is so complex to say that he may be HFA when older... elun1 : thanks for that, my son seems like he understands alot more lately but he is a cheeky little rascal its lovely to hear your niece is doing so well Lucas: Thats very interesting and quite surprising to me! quite upsetting for higher functioning autistics who are misunderstood Bid: Don't worry I completely understand what you mean! to be honest its hard not to enjoy him hes such a gorgeous little boy with a huge personality, he lights up the room I have to say though, 2 years ago was much harder for us when me and his dad seperated and I found everything so overwhelming on my own...still feel guilty that I couldn't enjoy him as much as I should of The future is scary but I think I will have a chat with his ed psych/teacher/speech therapist and see what they say... Thanks

If a child of 5 is considered low functioning, non verbal, still in nappies etc etc can the become high functioning? I mean what is the likelihood of him being this way as an adult? I am a single parent so it is just me and ds, he gets all my attention and he is quite interactive and loves having my attention, he definately likes to be around people he likes Just a general question as I do stress about the future an awful lot

ryansmum - Sorry I just jumped to conclusions with the 'stress' thing I just thought thats what weighted blankets where used for, it sounds like a very good idea. After the easter break I'll be asking our multi sensory centre if we can borrow one and see how it goes cariad - thanks for that, we do have a routine but it does go a bit out of the windows every now and again(eg he has a nap in the day - then he doesnt go asleep!) Is there any reason why the light is green, is it more calming? caz2007 - yes we did, we've been a few times and he has offered medication but im not sure if i want that for him as i dont know if he actually NEEDS the extra sleep? or if its just me who needs it

My son has SLDs which is obviously seperate from his autism, I usually get the opposite end of it... I get the 'oh, he'll be a genuis when he's older' type of malarky

My son doesnt seem stressed when he wakes up, hes just ready to play hmmm maybe it might be worth a go though it could work Thanks for the tip

Thanks everyone thats been a great help, he doesn't seem tired at all through the day...he hardly even sits down im tired but hey such is being a parent lol I was worried maybe it might not be enough sleep but it seems it is so thats cool Thanks again x

did you just not need more sleep?

Hello everyone Just wondering if your a parent of a child with autism how much sleep they have? ds does not sleep very well at all, he goes asleep about 9 after bedtime routine...bath/story etc but at 12 hes up again until at least 3 then sleeps til 6 then hes ready for the day, is this quite a common trait of autism? Also to anyone who has ASD and sleep probs why do you think this is? is there too much noise or don't you need as much sleep? just want to find out if i can do anything to help him sleep better?

When talking about my son i say either, just whatever makes sense in the sentence i suppose, i think i tend to say that he is autistic more than say he has autism though

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome

Hello Lynne and Sue thanks for welcoming me

Hi everyone, Im new here I have a 5 year old boy who has autism and severe learning disabilities, hes a cheeky little monkey Hope I can find some answers here and help others too x