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ASD-DAD

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About ASD-DAD

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  1. free on promotion next couple of days http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Stardust-Met-Sam-ebook/dp/B00A53KZY8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353248932&sr=8-1 This book is a children's story that explains some of the traits of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Aspergers Syndrome through the eyes of a pet hamster. The story is based around a hamster being chosen as a pet by a young boy with Autistic Disorder and the characteristics they share, with an informative explanation of some of the feelings they both experience on the journey home from the pet shop. It is not intended to be academic in any way, but rather gives a lay explanation and descriptive overview to explain some of the issues as they arise throughout the tale. The book is designed for all children to enjoy, but may help adults relate to some of the traits their child with ASD may be demonstrating.
  2. Completley understand with what you go through. We always find there will be something sets him off, whether its the food, noise, seating, he also gets very impatient and what seems like a few minutes to us tends to get exaggerated in his head as being ages. He then gets anxious, and is then more likely to kick off, so it can be a viscous circle. Tend to avoid any busy places these days, and either eat very early or sometmes takeaway. Doesn't directly address the problem, but maybe we will have to work on that gradually. Either that or we end up bribing him with sweets or something - which really isn't ideal. It would be great if he could learn to hold it together so we could have a family meal, but I also think he's not really into the whole ambience thing, rather just sees eating as a function.
  3. We had an 'interesting' take on this a few years ago. Our son was becoming more stressed and running out of the school but if he left the school grounds - they said they would not go after him because it was outside their jurisdiction, and we were quoted Health and Safety concerns for the staff (not our Son - lol). They said if it happened they would have to phone the Police. I think that sort of shows the balance in life when a grown adult wouldn't go after a 7 year old !
  4. Our son only hit out after reaching critical point,ie meltdown. It is important to remember that they are non-teachable in this stage, the build up of various stresses and then the ultimate trigger that puts them over the edge can result in them having very little understanding or recognition of the event. Any retrospective punishment is not going to be related back to the incident in this case. It is just likely to cause further stress as they fail to understand the reason. Also, despite being verbal, when this state occurs it can also make it even more difficult for them to co-ordinate a reasoned response (takes them longer to process anyway, but under stress even more difficult) and that's why they resort to communicating by hitting out or in some cases running away. Its the most basic, fight / flight response. I really hope things go the right way for your son and he can handle mainstream. We also had huge difficulties at playtimes, generally not helped by the fact his one to one became a general playground support to everyone and he was effectively unsupported in a what is one of the most stressful, confusing times for some kids. Lucnchtime just didn't happen for us, in three years they didn't have him once. We started off on the wrong foot by taking him home and then they made every excuse in the book for not having him as it was easier with him gone. The school day is the whole day, but a lot of people i've spoken to are in the same position. We even suggested they could have a smaller table of children, seperate from the main dining room (which is an effective strategy) and this wasn't even considered. We also were under so much pressure we were constantly trying different strategies, in retrospect they were not suitable for a 5yeard old to fully comprehend - never mind one with ASD. This no doubt resulted in more confusion and further anxiety - all the time we were effectivley trying to condition our son to 'normal' behaviours. You cant chase the ASD out of these kids, its there, will always be there and its the adaptations to allow for the condition i feel are not delivered upon. They always coped well with him when he had a good day because there was no hassle. At the slightest bit of difficulty mass hysteria ensued.
  5. My son loves this too ! and he uses youtube a lot. (probably too much!) There are a lot of kids on there that i suspect are on the spectrum. There is a whole community of people who are obsessed with all Mario related stuff and plush toys, games etc. and they seem to find each other through their interests !
  6. It's a tough one. Our son is also 9 and becoming more aware of his self. We subtly bought him a book a couple of years ago called All Cats Have Aspergers Syndrome, which was just really a picture book with phrases accompanying the photos describing some traits. He was also fully aware of our discussions about autistic behaviours / autism and we have never hidden it from him. Just really casually dropped it into conversations and explanations for his behaviours with him at times - while trying to reinforce positives about the condition too. He even uses it as an excuse nowadays, whcih is kind of annoying when he's done something wrong and turns round and says "well I am autistic, what do you expect !" There are quite a lot of books available, I'm sure the NAS site has a good list of their reosurces. Also search Amazon and there are a few books come up that area aimed at pre-teen kids. I would just try and be honest and frank, but at his pace. Good Luck !
  7. ASD-DAD

    Greetings!

    I recognise almost all you folks are saying too. My boy, goes through phases of eating the same food over and over and then won't touch them again. He currently won't even eat chips. Not that i'm advocating them as a good dietry option ! lol He is a bit underweight and we also feel desperate trying to ensure he eats enough and also the right things. But at the end of the day as long as he eats something, we are happier.
  8. ASD-DAD

    Greetings!

    thanks for your responses. Yeah, we are seriously working on a lot of things. (The blog is intended to be a bit tongue in cheek too, I'm not diluting the seriousness of these situations - just trying to highlight there can be a time to look back on these events, and they (like may Autistic responses) can have a comic value sometimes too) Have you read The Curious Incident of The Dog In the Nightime ?
  9. ASD-DAD

    Greetings!

    Yes ! Thanks for that :-)
  10. ASD-DAD

    Greetings!

    Have dipped in this forum now and then over the years, especially when our son was going through diagnosis of ASD / ASpergers and we had lots of troubles at mainstream school with challenging behaviour and meltdowns etc. Now we have him in a specialist Rudolph Steiner placement and he's in a better place, but still has his underlying problems which are always there. Anyway, i started a bit of a light hearted blog the other day, which won't always be ASD related but some of you might relate to. www.forty-not-out.blogspt.com
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