petet

Hello folks, we have a "Dizziness" or "Vertigo" problem and I wonder if anyone has seen anything like this... Our 17yr old is a classic Kanner Autistic male with hand-flapping and toe-walking and pronoun-reversal and all the other things. He has recently started to stumble , to grab hold of objects (chairs/doorframes/tables/ nearby people) and look quite distressed. He says "Do you feel dizzy" (which means "I feel dizzy") - though "dizzy" is a word he picked up after this started, so the symptoms may be something else. He has also become quite averse to looking over railings from first-floor level or above - which he used to like doing. He's not on any medication except the occasional melatonin tab which he hasn't had for weeks. His ears are quite waxed up - I wondered if it could be that, but there doesn't seem to be any link between earwax and balance. No sudden eye-movements that can detect. I'm going to try and measure his blood-pressure tonight - that'll be a fight! Appreciate any advice or similar tales that anyone can offer. Thanks PT

Thanks everybody for the advice... Looks like I need to investigate "Power of Attorney" and set up a trust fund. I just am NOT looking forward to the burocrcay, form-filling and tax returns that I know I am letting myself in for . Also, the last lawyer I engaged on his behalf was hopeless: Tried to make me pay him for a Deed of Variation that would have been useless for avoiding income tax. Didn't admit the problem until I read out the relevant section of the tax law to him. Then said "sorry" and never talked to me again. Just for anyone else with a younger child who has some money that DIDN'T come from the parents. It was so simple when it was all his (as a child) and in a joint account with mum. The revenue allowed us to claim tax-free interest as if it was all his because we told them it was just a way of parents managing kids money. Now that he's 17 it will probably count 50/50 as mum's income. If the revenue challenges it .... which I suspect they won't. Cheers!

Hi, can anyone explain what happens to money that belongs to people who "lack mental capacity" when they reach age 18?? Our son is 17 and severely autistic and has no understanding of money but he has some savings that are currently held in 'joint accounts'. What should we do?? We don't want it to affect benefits etc and we don't want to pay tax that we can avoid. Any advice or good websites would be greatly appreciated . Thx PT

My wifes Mother-in-Law (also known as "My Mum"- aged 83) says that "All he needs is a good SMACK!" (That's for a 14 year old Kanner Autistic! with 'routines that must be followed'!) Some people just never get it!! P

Hello folks - I'm sure someone out there must have solved this problem and may want to share their experience... We're trying to find out what to expect from our LEA when our son reaches Age 16 .. We are approaching our Year9 review, when they start talking about post 16 provision. Our son is a classic Kanner Autistic (Hand flapping reverse-pronoun type) with some extra abilities and he's currently at a special school (mixed in with all sorts of kids with 'other problems') and has 'virtually 1:1' provision. Which means 1:2! He is making very little progress because they don't really have an Autistic Education program. Staff at school have mentioned (vaguely) that we need to find a place for him at a residential school, but we can't identify one. We suspect that the LEA will offer some 'minimum cost' hopeless placement. Does anyone know of any 'establishments' in the Wiltshire/Berkshire/Somerset area that offer specialist Autistic-centered education for 16-19 year olds?? Does anyone know how to defeat an LEA that claims 'Needs can be met' by a hopeless placement?? Any advice appreciated . P

We're in the NAS ... and they do send out a lot of informative stuff (and they sell quite nice Christmas cards)... My biggest complaint is that their 'advice' is virtually useless... Doesn't turn up any information that you can't find using Google! (Based on 2 requests for advice).

Thanks again for all the ideas... We used to have a fishtank and he would wait til we were out of the room and use it for splashing. We would find "things" floating in it! Rompa and Liberator are full of ideas - way too pricey though and I'm off to the workshop to make my own stuff. Lava lamp is definitely on the list. Plus new water for bubble tower and some different fake fish. New torch too.. (Not that there's anything wrong with the old one!)

Thanks all. Bubble tower we already have (water's a bit murky though, maybe he'd like a 2 gallon plastic container of Halfords DI water for Christmas!! ). Rope lights - Definite possiblity, but they don't 'retain interest' for long enough. We have a LED flashy-light ball, and that's very popular. Koosh-balls are 'phobic items' - so we have to be careful with things like that. The Tomy magnetic board sounds good - I'll go and hunt for one.. What he really needs is a slave!! To run and fetch lemonade, breadsticks chocolate fingers, pringles and custard creams (auty-food) and to bounce him on the trampoline.

Hello... We need help finding birthday & christmas presents for our 14yr old son who is a classic Kanner autistic (the hand-flapping, pronoun reversed type). Problem is - his interests are so limited that he never seems to need or get much in the way of presents and this means A ) We feel mean. B ) We have problems satisfying the relations who 'cop out' by giving us money and telling us to buy "something for Alec". He doesn't need any more toy cars/planes/torches/DVDs He likes splashing and looking through binoculars, but those needs are already met. Any suggestions welcome.

Hello all... I just discovered this forum while trawling for 16-19 provision options for our son "Al" who is middle functioning AS aged 13. Details follow ... Location - Swindon Status - Married to Anne Children - 2 (Al + 1 young lady aged 15) Work - "Gardening leave" but used to be a "chip-head" at Intel. I'm looking to exchange experience on parenting Al for 13 yrs for advice on what to do next... And you may even get your PC/Motorbike/TV/Plumbing fixed in the process PT