Thompsons

I find it strange that she didn't understand what you meant when you told her you were a member of Mensa.. You answered her, and yet she then asked if you could read and write! Sounds like she wasn't paying much attention. I'd meet her for the first appointment, and if you're really not comfortable and you don't get along, then I wouldn't bother going again. I don't know about you, but being put into a situation that I'm not fully comfortable with can just make me feel even more anxious and stressed out, thus defeating the object of going in the first place.

Hi Lizzie I'm glad your daughter has finally got a diagnosis and is on her way to getting some much needed help. I think sometimes us girls slip through the system and get labelled as having mental health issues, or no one noticing that there's a problem at all. Both myself and my youngest brother have Aspergers. And while we have some very similar traits, we can be quite different. I think it depends as well if there are any other co-morbid conditions with the AS. My brother is just Aspergers, however I also have OCD and an anxiety disorder, so my behaviour often differs to his very much. I suppose it can differ with each individual childs personality as well. Good luck to you all!! <'>

Thank you for the replies.. I'm glad that other people can understand. At school he can be the most unpredictable child, and everyone is very wary of him.. Yet at home, he really is one of the sweetest children I've ever met. He has two completely opposite sides to him. My Mum said that the reason he does get excluded is because he doesn't have a statement yet to protect him. He does have support, but his one-to-one teacher doesn't have any real experience of working with children on the spectrum. She's just a helper, I guess. His main problem at the moment seems to be with another child, who he particularly dislikes. And it's difficult because this child only has to speak for it to annoy L.. We've tried everything. L will even see this childs work up on the wall and tear it down. He screams if someone mentions his name. On a positive note, he got a reward this weekend for not getting excluded this past week, and being better behaved. And we've said he can have a reward each weekend if he behaves during the week. We're not sure really what else to try. I'm hoping it may encourage him to make more of an effort to control his anger.

Hi all, L has been going to school from 9 am til 11:30am for a while now as they cannot cope with him all day and we are still waiting on his statement. Our main concern at the moment is that he keeps getting excluded for two days at a time!! When he gets angry he tends to hit out. Which means he has hit the teachers on more than one occasion. If he hits a member of staff he gets an automatic two day exclusion. Needless to say, we've had a few of these I don't even know if there's a possibility that he's doing it deliberately now to get time off from school. It's hard to say. I know Mum is getting pretty stressed out with having him at home and just the whole school situation - she looks after me during the day also, and I think it's really wearing her out How can we get him to stop acting so aggressively? I, myself was excluded a few times for hitting teachers, but I had grown out of it by the time I was his age. He seems far more violent than I was.. I have mentioned before he was excluded for some time, for throwing tables and chairs. He also often draws pictures and will talk about killing his teachers Which we are quite concerned about. He's still taking his medication at bedtime to make him sleep, which is working wonders!! He's asleep by 10pm now. The only other problem we have is that he still refuses to use the toilet. He'll be starting Middle School in September and we're worried about him being teased and having problems because of that. Thanks for listening to me rant.. Is there anyone else out there who is familiar with these issues?

I'm sorry to hear that it was an upsetting experience for him <'> I attended Brownies when I was small, but only for about 4 months. I found that I felt very self-concious about seeing the other children 'out of school'. It was also noisy, and I think another negative factor was that it was stressful enough being at school all day, and then coming home and going straight off to Brownies was too much - I needed time to myself to wind down. However, I do think that these sorts of activities can be very beneficial for some kids. The suggestion that was previously made about him having a 'buddy' or best friend there is a good one. I remember when I started violin lessons, I asked my only friend if she would go with me, and it made the world of difference. I felt far more comfortable. We even went on to perform in a show, which I know I certainly wouldn't have done if she wasn't there. My brother (also ASD) has a big problem with seeing people from school/that he knows also.. We went to an event recently and he happened to see some children from his school. He pulled his hood up and ran and hid. Then later on when they said hello to him, he shouted at them and became angry. It can be so difficult. I hope everything works out for you both <'>

Well, this past week has been a bit of a nightmare. Mum thought she had everything sorted out. We were told that Levi would have a special support teacher in the class with him. But they didn't turn up. Apparently no one is available yet.. We were told that he would have someone starting from the Monday So Mum took him to school Monday and Tuesday, but things were no different. They moved his desk to a corner on his own, but he still threw a chair and ran outside and cryed for half an hour, as well as a lot of shouting. So he's stayed at home for the rest of the week and we'll see if there is anyone coming to help him on Monday. The other problem is that I suspect the headteacher is not being completely honest. We had doubts about her before, when she told us that he couldn't have any help unless the bad behaviour had been going on for at least six months. I mentioned that on here and was told that this is not true. Mum went back to the headteacher and told her, she said she'd made a mistake and said that she would sort out a statement for Levi. She then told us, that it had been done and sent off and was awaiting approval. My Mum called up to find out about why she has not heard anything, only to find that no one has ever received a statement. She also for some reason has told people that Levi is having time off for medical reasons, when in fact she has excluded him. I really just get so confused with it all. My Mum understands it better than I do, but she's finding it all terribly stressful. As for me, I found a social group with the NAS that I called up to ask if I could join. Apparently not because I'm in the wrong area? I'm just a few miles from this place, but apparently, I'm just out of their catchment area. So that was a bit disappointing. I called the NAS helpline to inquire as to whether there is anywhere else I could try, only to be told that there are no adult services in Bedfordshire. Hmm. Trekster - Thank you for your comment. It is very possible that he's getting over tired. I get very grumpy when I'm tired too.. I'll let my Mum know and see if she'll look into Melatonin for him.. We'd like to send him to a different school. We found a very nice one who caters for ASD kids, but they said he needed a statement before he could get in. Which we haven't got yet, and who knows if and when we will. We're not sure why he gets so angry. It's happening during class time. We think it may be because of another child that he particularly dislikes. They've moved him right away from him, but just being able to hear him and knowing he's in the same room makes him very angry.

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Hi, thanks for all the replies Sorry I've been a while getting back to you all, my Grandfather passed away and it's been a little difficult. Levi has been excluded all this time.. My Mum had a meeting at the school yesterday with his teachers and an Aspergers specialist. I believe the Edwin Lobo Centre helped her sort something out. Levi starts back at school on Monday and he will just be going in the mornings and will have a private tutor who specializes in AS children. It's exactly the same scenario that I had. I have got worries about this. Because I still couldn't cope and ended up being taken out of school altogether. But I'll keep my fingers crossed. The only other thing that the specialist said was that some of Levi's behaviours are that of an older person with AS and that they think he may be copying some of my behaviours.. Which makes me feel really guilty. I suppose I'm in need of more help myself, it's just the adult mental health team tell me they don't deal with Aspergers Alexis - He does have sleep problems. He goes to sleep at about 12 am, and has to have a nightlight as he has a fear of the dark, then because he's gone to bed late, he'll get up late. I'm trying to get around that one myself. In between the awful nightmares and night sweats I'm currently in bed 6am til 5 pm.. I really need to swap the time around as I've become nocturnal. We sound fairly similar if you don't mind me saying - I'm also Aspergers/OCD and we're looking into Fibromyalgia or possible Chronic Fatigue also.

Thank you all so much for your helpful replies. Levi has been temporarily suspended from school for the rest of this week and all of next week. He had a very bad day where he completely tore apart a classroom and the headteacher has said he is too violent to be around the other children. I'm very upset.. I hate to see him like this. It's all happened so suddenly. He was progressing really nicely before the summer holidays. We have tried to work out what has triggered it, but we haven't found anything definate. We know there is a new child in his class this term who he dislikes a great deal. He can't stand to be in the same room as him, and Levi only has to hear him speak and he gets very angry. I'm trying to recall the problems I had when I was his age to see if I can work it out, but I'm not sure. I had suggested to Mum about the lunch hall. That was one place that always got me very upset. I stopped eating at school in order to avoid it. Levi has been eating his lunch at break time on his own instead of lunch time with everyone else, so that doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. Honestly, we feel a bit frustrated with the school... Levi doesn't have a statement to protect him. My Mum has asked the headteacher about getting him one and she said that he needs to have had this behaviour for at least six months before she can apply. Is this correct? I get the feeling she just doesn't want to bother with it, that she'd rather just expel him because they can't deal with him. His class teacher is of no help either. She upset my Mum a lot the other day when she said, "If he were my child, he'd get a good clip round the ear. You need to discipline him." That's not helpful at all! And believe me, Levi is well disciplined. My Mum has very traditional views, he is usually very polite and we've always taught him to have good manners. I spoke to him earlier and he said "When I get angry, it all just comes out. I don't mean to." I don't think that he is deliberately being naughty. My Mum has been to see the GP and he has done a referral for anger management, so we have to wait to hear from them. Other than that, we've been considering medication. We're just not sure that he'd agree to take it. My Mum is going to try and call around tomorrow and find something out. He does seem a little depressed also.. I wonder if it's the constant stress everyday. Maybe this suspension from school will give him some time to breathe. Thanks again

My Mum and I are desperate for some advice - so I knew this was the best place to ask.. My little brother (he's 8 and AS) has been having difficulties at school. But they seem to have gotten worse this term. It was one of the worst days he's had today. My Mum was called in as Levi was out of control. He was throwing chairs and tables, screaming and shouting, ripping things from the wall - he also managed to escape out of the school gate. The Head teacher has given him an ultimatum now. If he does this again then he will be expelled, because he's a risk to the children and staff. He comes home crying every day. He has an observation book that he brings home that is filled with similar things that happen on a daily basis. We don't know what to do.. He's an incredibly sweet kid for the most part at home.. Anyone have any suggestions/experience with this? I feel so bad for him.. My Mum had been through a similar thing with myself when I was younger than Levi is. And I did end up getting expelled. But my Mum later chose to home-school me. She's reluctant to do this again with Levi. Any comments are very much appreciated!

Thank you for your advice Tally I'm going to go back on Thursday and give it another go. I think I dwell on things too much, I need to just give it a bit more time and effort and we'll see how it goes. Scotsguy80 - Thanks And I'm 19 years old.. How old are you, if you don't mind my asking? I suspect my Dad has Aspergers too (he's 43) but he doesn't want an assessment for whatever reason.

Thankyou JsMum The group isn't anything to do with the Maudsley hospital, it's just a local NHS group for young people with mental health issues and drug addictions.. Most of the people there, suffer with depression, which I do understand, but that's as far as the similarites go, I'm afraid. There is no one else with AS.. Just depression, bi-polar, and drug addictions. I was told to attend to get me more socialised with other people my own age and also to discuss my OCD and depression.. But that was it.. I've been told that AS does not come under 'mental health' and that they do not deal with autism spectrum disorders. So I do feel like the group leader is completely disregarding the fact that I have AS. They honestly don't even mention it, it's like they don't want to know I'm going to try not to worry too much and wait on all the information to arrive. Thank you again for being so helpful - I feel like I can see things from a much clearer perspective now

Hi Jake Where abouts in Cornwall are you? We always have our annual holiday down there, near the Penzance area, never been anywhere else, as we all love it so much. I'm 19 and just a couple of weeks ago got my diagnosis, but was in a similar situation as you, it was through my brother being diagnosed months earlier that I also was

Welcome!!

Hi Aliyah - welcome!!