Sooze2

Just wondering because the other day I bought a second hand Eye Toy for the PlayStation. My 6 year old twin girls loved it and played really well with it until DS came along. He caused havok! Had to win (as with everything), they were playing a game where you had to wash the soap off a window by waving your hands around and he just stuck his hand over the camera so it all went away automatically and was really cheeting and upsetting the girls. When hubby told him to play properly he had a tantrum and couldn't understand why he couldn't do it how he wanted. The whole thing turned into a nightmare with every one totaly wound up and getting told off. I even sent them all to bed early because it got so bad! So............ Is the Wii going to be the same?? Does it have the same concept as the eye toy? I have bought one for Christmas as a family present and it is the main pressie because they have all just had birthdays and don't need anymore toys. They will only get a few nick nacks on top of this. Is it a bad move? What are your experiences of an Autistic child playing a Wii with siblings or generally sharing it with anyone? Is Christmas going to end up even more stressful than usual because f the Wii?

I didn't know they needed a break from it untill I read it on this post. Although his consultant said that their is some question over it effecting fertility in males so she doesn't want him on it for long! Has anyone else been told this?

Thanks Kathryn, I know, you did mention it the other day but after speeking to the school I got myself in a tis again! I also got a letter today that brought it all to the fore again when I was having a good day and not even thinking about anything to do with DS untill I opened it! Spoke to SENCO after school and she was really sweet and said it will be fully ready after half term. They really are great but I think I just worry nothing will come of it after being fobbed off by my gp etc for such a long time. The school are actually lovely. Sorry for rambling again!

My son did get worse as the school work got harder and he couldn't cope with having to sit and concentrate during lessons and work independantly. Does your son have help at school? Perhaps you need to speek to them about what they do when he becomes disruptive in class. At the beginning of year 3 me and the teacher went through strategies that they could use to make things easier for him and them like using his name before talking to him and making sure he had responded (usually by a grunt!), making sure he was given a 5 minute warning before changing task (he has huge problems with this) and talking in a very authoritive voice as he responds best to that rather than being too "nice" which his teacher found hard at first but found worked very well. I know that the TA takes my son out of class and calms him down, in year 2 she also had certain signs to tell him when to listen and stop ripping his clothes up etc - she would say his name and get him to look at her (no mean feat!) and then clasp her hands together and make him do the same if he was fiddling and distracting when he should be listening for example. He was quite agitated in year 2 and 3 and would have a lot of tantrums and generaly distract others if things were not going his way like one day when they had to tidy up the Gears when he was still enjoying using them - he had a massive meltdown over that and had to be taken out of class because he wasn't given a 5 minute warning. She also found that telling him he was rocking on his chair helped rather than telling him to stop rocking and then telling him off if he didn't stop, she realised he wasn't aware he was doing it even though he was driving the class mad! I try and go shopping on my own, even if it means going late at night because I hate taking any of my children but he is very hard to take. I always send him to his room if he missbehaves, its the only thing that works for me, he does object very loudly and it can take a long time for him to settle down, its been a long haul but now that he has just turned 9 he is settling down a bit. I was going to send lots of hugs but the icon isn't working so ((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Same here, he was and still is like a sponge, he has a better memory than me or DH. The school say he is very very bright, but he can't write a readable sentence or understand intructions or do anything people want him to do without them getting to a point where he has to be told 10 times over and then everyone is frustrated. You should look at photo's and videos of him before he started school and then those taken after. I find it hard to watch, my boy is gone forever, he was always first up to volantear for things and would stand up in front of loads of people to dance and sing when we went to groups etc. He was extremely funny to be around. Now he won't even let me hand in his swimming certificates to school so he can be congratualeted like his sisters.... he doesn't want to be singled out. That is not my boy!

Hellooooo

Thanks KJ, I feel reasured by that. So they do have to compile all the evidence before they apply. Ok. Thing is that they always say he's been fine even if he hasn't. He is calmer at home at the mo so if he's the same at school now they won't have a chance of getting as far a assessment I fear! They do have 2 TA's in his class now though, one for an Autistic boy who DS now shares and another one who also helps the rest of the class and him sometimes. I only know about what help he gets from what he tells me. The teachers aren't really very good at that bit but at least it's there eh. Thing is that he was 9 the other week and so if I have to wait till next year he will almost be in year 5!

Hello. Sorry you are going through a rough time at the moment. My son was in year 3 last year and I can honestly say that it is the hardest he's ever been so I really sympthise. I think the transition from the infants to the juniors is very hard for our kids to cope with really. Its funny (not ha ha) my boy says now that he wants to join the army NOW so he can get the gun and shoot himself amongst other things! DH thinks he does it for effect but I'm not so sure about that. Apart from that he's being very good but something is brewing under the surface - he's being too good! Anyway, have a <'>

So, I asked them to apply for Stat Assessment early july, phoned them this morning about some other boy child related thing (yawn) and asked if they had send off the apllictaion for stat assessment yet - guess what they said "erm, yes, well, we are still compiling the evidence - I will speek to SENCO to see how far along it is"!!!!!! From what I've read on here you send a letter to the Education Authority and they say either yes we will do it or no we will not. Is that right or have I got it completely wrong. Do they need to compile evidence before they send off this print out letter that you can get off the IPSEA website of is it infact much much more complicated than that. I asked if I can read through the stuff they are sending off before they send it and she said that there is a section on the actual "assessment form" that I will have to write on but thats it! I am very very angry. I keep waiting for my letter saying they will/won't assess him. I think I am about to blow a gaskit Are they doing their job or not, am I expecting too much? Sorry just editing to say that surely I should be involved in the whole process or is there some kind of "education cult" that I am excluded from unless I speek in an extremely high irritating voice and can do lots of funny dances. Please enlighten me!

Thanks a lot lovelies, I will send it in then. Like you say, he did try to smash the house up over a Kinderegg toy being wrong. Do most kids of 9 do that? I think not! Mwah xx

My son started Menatonin about 2 months ago and the change is amazing. He wasn't getting to sleep intill 11pm - midnight then would get up sleep walking or having night terrors almost every night. He would get up and down before falling asleep and like you say wanted to sleep (well, knew he should) but couldn't. He now goes to sleep around 9 and rarely gets up and is so much nicer to be around. I ran out of the tablets after the first month and he was back to not sleeping and sleep walking andhaving nightmres once alseep. He found it very upsetting not being able to get to sleep because he loved the fact that he wasn't being tald off and made to go back to bed every 5 minutes for hours at night. I didn't know they needed to have a break from it every now and again. I'm dreading that!

He's being really good at the moment. Ive written down all the things that he gets up to and the extra strain there is on the family etc etc. Parent Support Advisor went through it with me and said I'd done it well. BUT not he's being really good I'd feel like a fraud sending it off! He's sleeping now that he's on menatonin and I feel that has made a real difference to him. Is it because he's more chilled now that I have DH on side and he's handling him in a kinder way and I am not being so grumpy these days or is he getting better. We haven't done anything out of the ordinary lately either, its been School, Park, Home, freinds on a Wednesday each day since the new term started so perhaps that is a really tight routine and he will go mad again when we do other things. He did have a majour paddy the other day where he tried to smash my glass display cabinate and then his bedroom window, luckily DH stayed with him and managed to calm him down. All over getting the wrong toy in a Kinder Egg! Do you think I would be a fraud sendning this DLA form off since he's being so good? Am I just so used to him now that I haven't really got a big problem with him and the way he behaves because I have ways to deal with him that work? I don't know!

Same here too, everyone exept very close family can't see that there is a problem with DS. His reading is amazing and I know that he would be able read books well above his age but won't because he deems anything that is not about lovely fluffy things or Horrid Henry type things scarey! Put it this way, he had a great week until I gave him a kinder egg on Friday and he tried to smash my glass display cabinate and once in his room his window all because the toy in the egg wasn't what he wanted!

My son would be horrified and if they did that to him! Glad you have sorted it out.

Thanks very much for your support. Ok, I spoke to the teacher yesterday and she said that he was put in the top group for spelling because his old teacher said he needed to be callenged or he won't work in class - bless her. She said that if they are far too hard then she will move him down and see how he gets on, once his confidence is built up again they will see about moving him up again. She was lovely. I also spoke about him being very stressed and upset about now being in the bottom group for maths when he was in the top group last year (don't know where he gets that from!!! not me!) and she said he is in the top group - the middle top and she has no idea where he got that idea from! There was one of those moments where we both looked at him and exclaimed "Boy Child!!" with tutting and dispairing shaking of the heads he's all smiles again now. So I felt a bit daft after speeking to her because he got the wrong end of the stick all round. Happy now though, I think she is getting the idea of how he gets very stressed over things that aren't actually happening!!

I don't think my school is doing that.

Its great that you got through the alarm so well. <'> Its also great to hear about how these things feel from an adult perspective because little ones can't tell us how they feel etc and just react to situations leaving us confused. Thanks very much for helping me to understand. Mwah!

OMG! That is outrageous! How can they get away with things like that?

They seem to be building him up for a fall, he is being very very good at the moment but he is too quiet. We were chatting last night and he is actually very very unhappy at school, he was crying about certain things . I think that they are either making things hard to prove he needs extra help for the statmenting process or they are just completely ingnoring his needs as you you say Puffin. I'm so fed up for him I just want to take it al away and keep him at home. He tries so hard.

Yes, he does the watching me thing to see if I find something funny then going over board and litterally rolling around laughing! If fact he watches me constantly for reactions, at home and out and about as if he is constantly taking cue from me about how to act.

Well well well, it seems they do just make it up as they go along. He was discharged from Speech and Language on 06/10/06 almost exactly 2 years ago. I just found the letter. Being a hoarder and never throwing anything away has it's advantages doesn't it. I don't know why I have got such a bee in my bonnet about this but I think its because I know now that they aren't being quite as pro active as I thought and as they are making out to be. I'm very annoyed about it. Probably making more of it than I should be but all my kids will be supported by me 100% (my parents didn't support me emotionally and I vowed that wouldn't happen to mine) and I feel very angry that they are lying to me. Sorry if I am being annoying now.

<'> <'> <'> Poor Jordan and poor you for having to resort to this. I hope you have some sucess with the LEA. Going off with the kids exploring the world and learning through experience is becoming more and more appealing to us as time goes on. School is a farce, the teachers are scared of the kids (or is it their parents?) and unless you have very good communication with your child (like you do, I do too luckily) you have no idea what is going on while they are in their care. With my son it started at pre school and he would come home black and blue and they would claim he was fine but they did notice he was crying on a few occations (!!!!!) but luckily primary are better on the bullying front. I'm a bit anti school today, can you tell. I'd be going in each day to see if there were any incidences and keep on untill they were so fed up with seeing me that they get the bully sorted.

Cathy, Why did you do it to yourself! The other week we watched The Crocodile hunter with DS and his sisters. The man died a few years ago, stung by a stingray or something - DS remembered hearing about it. DS said, how can he be on TV - he is dead! We expalined that it was filmed when he was alive but he spent the whole time the programe was on (an hour!) asking how he was on TV if he was dead.................................!

I am starting to think my son needs to know, he's feeling very frustrated and anxious at school because he know he needs a lot of help and isn't getting it. He knows I am trying to get him help and that I talk to the teacher about this. He feels very sad about the fact that he is on the bottom tables for school work even though he was boosted up last year and told he was very good at maths. He knows he's different and its starting to upset him. I think it's time to get the books out to read together. Its so hard isn't it. <'>

DS - no, well he does sort of but has to disect it and say exactly what was meant and why it was meant to be funny so he gets jokes a bit! But I don't, I always have to pretend to laugh! I can't tell jokes either because I forget the ending or the middle so no, jokes aren't really part of my life! How sad does that sound. My husband has been telling the same joke for the last 10 years, he forgets who he's told it to so it can be embarrassing. It isn't even funny! Here it is - Horse walks into a bar, bar man says "Hi there, why the long face" , horse says "well I am a horse" Hilarious eh! He thinks it is very very funny and rolls around laughing every time he tells it, but no one else ever laughs. Its a shame really.