mrsmuffins

I had to lol at this one as my lil boy (5) is exactly the same. Constant running commentary when the programme or film is running - if it is one of his faves which he has seen 100 times you get what is about to happen and what will be said, if he is unsure of it we get the one million and one questions which can range from quite appropriate to absolutely absurd - just asking questions for talkings sake at this point! He has a habit of chatting to himself whenever and wherever though so it's not just restricted to TV times unfortunately!

I'm a legal assistant. I haven't been able to work with my lil man, as many of you have said, you are fit enough to drop at the end of the day as it is, and the money just wasn't worth it whilst paying childcare for a little one. Now he is at school full-time and *touch wood* seems to be getting on ok, I have returned to work part-time 9:00 to 2:30, so I am still able to take him to school and pick him up which is great. However, it goes without saying, if he started to have a bad time or needed more support I would give up work and go back to being full-time with him, we're parents, it's what we do right?! The money is obviously a bonus but we just about scrape by without the extra.....we have just put in a claim for DLA anyway so fingers crossed if that goes through it will help us with all the extra little bits we have to pay for for lil man at the moment and free up the finances a bit...it doesn't seem like much but it all adds up. I agree with previous posters, I go to work for a bit of peace and sanity!

I can't offer advice just empathy! My son is 4 and has just recently developed a facial tick I suppose you would call it, he isn't aware he is doing it either but it becomes pretty prevalent when he is stressed or nervous. He will also grind his teeth and make some funny noises! Humming, squelching and tongue-clicking have all made an appearance... At the moment we are just ignoring and letting him express them, except the grinding which is bad for his teeth so I am trying to stop that - without much success so far, as you say he doesn't realise when he is doing it...

Thanks guys, means I can seriously look into it now, it's just finding that workable balance

Sorry for the post and run but I have a quick question about home education, I've looked through a few websites and haven't found the answer yet, can you home educate if you work part-time? Thanks for your help Mrs M x

Yes, the TV has to be off here as well and absolutely no other distractions around, I lay his clothes out for him in the living room as it's the most boring room with none of his toys or books about - and he still has to be reminded what to put on in what order, and to continue getting dressed and not go off and do something else or start singing and dancing and twirling etc <sigh> it does take a long time but we get there in the end! Edited to say he does like stickers as rewards but only at school - he couldn't give a fig for them at home wish I knew their secret!

This is very interesting! My ds doesn't have an accent but he does add extra vowels in words sometimes - difficult to describe but he will say what sounds like 'ho-yome' for home etc. The SALT said he did it because he was bored and was craving more words to learn so he was just making up his own, don't know how correct it was but he is very literary now and great at reading so I suppose there could be a truth in it?

Oh dear (HUGS) I had a lap a couple of years ago for suspected endo, they couldn't find anything but said because of my symptoms it may be there and be microscopic, the surgeon doing the lap didn't have the expertise to deal with it and tbh I haven't bothered going back about it as just have too much to deal with as it is! Hopefully they can do something to ease things for you, make sure you get to see someone with some proper expertise in endo if you can! xx

oxgirl - had to laugh, that's another one of the MIL's favourites - dh being just like that as a child...

Oh the best comments are from the grandparents for me...they just won't have it that he has AS even though he has been officially diagnosed now. We get 'oh, he's just bored at school' or 'he's just a very active boy' or 'it's not his fault he has a lot to say that's all' etc etc. Grrr..really gets on my nerves! We've given everyone some basic info on AS but I know it's just never going to sink in. Mrs M x (Son aged 4 dx with AS April '08)

We asked our GP for a referral last October (demanded actually!), we were referred and got an appointment for this month and got the diagnosis there. So 7 months from referral to diagnosis - although we were questioning things with our HV when he was at nursery so it could really have happened a bit sooner.

I just wanted to send you some hugs and say I thought that way for a long time too - I spent ages comparing my son to other children and worrying about how different he was and how he was progressing so differently...but then when I realised he did have ASD I started to look at things in a completely different way and it just opened up things so much for us. I don't look at his future as being a struggle now, I just look at it that things won't be the same as for other families maybe, but so what? I don't care if people look at me while I'm doing a silly jig to keep my son entertained, I don't care if he shouts out in the middle of Tesco, lol, he is his own, unique person and I have learnt to really value him for what he is and not my image of what I thought he would be, iykwim? I will fight for him tooth and nail and defend him to the hilt - if he isn't quiet at school, what does that really matter in the long run? He will get a job where he can be creative and vocal and be involved with the things he loves. So what if his writing isn't perfect? I can understand it and he tries his very best, that matters more than anything to me and makes me so proud. I'm just trying to say you have to really look at things in a different light and you will start to feel better - believe me I've cried and been sooooo upset in the past but I realised it wasn't doing myself or him any good and I'm his Mum, I need to be there for him and love him unconditionally and be proud of every little step he makes We are all going to have our down days for sure but try and turn those negatives in positives or 'so what's' as my Mum would say. Again, BIG HUGS for you and apologies for my ramblings, hope they were some form of help! x

Thanks all for the replies - I suppose I just find it hard as I really don't know what the trigger is. Again this morning he was absolutely happy on the way to school, running along with his friend and playing games, then all of a sudden he just started to cry again, out of the blue...I try and distract him and switch subjects, I've asked him before to just come and run fast with me or jump up and down together - even though we look silly I don't care! But he won't do any of that atm, I may try the counting or something similar - he loves superheroes so I may try challenging him to a hero naming contest, lol, trust me I know all about them as well by now! x

Thank you all for the lovely welcome!

My son (4) was recently diagnosed with Aspergers, we are waiting for an appt with the OT to assess what help he needs with gross and fine motor skills. He has recently started to have some pretty big mood swings, the worst one was this morning getting ready to go to school. We had a nice morning having breakfast, a bath and getting dressed and he was fine until he sat to put his shoes on. Then he started wailing 'I don't want to go to school, I hate school' and went from 0-60 in about 30 seconds. He was honestly unconsolable and was crying and making this incessant shrieking sound and refusing to look at us or listen. I don't know if we did the right thing, but we took him into school through the office and one of the classroom assistants came out of class and took him off, still crying and shrieking! We called when we got home and she said he was OK, she had managed to distract him with cuddles, activities and stickers. I am really looking for some advice on ways to deal with this situation before he escalates to the point where we can't get through to him...does anyone else go through this? I don't know if it's the recent break from school and the routines there and now he's had to go back and start them all up again...? x