Jericho

Congratulations!

I hope he knows more about being a Head than he does about AS. It sounds as though he hasn't got a clue (to put it politely!).

My younger son was awarded DLA about a year or so before his diagnosis was made official. He was awarded higher rate care.

In our area a lot of the friendships are formed during the toddler years, mainly through local toddler groups. It's impossible to sit round talking and drinking coffee though when you are busy extracting your child from the toilets (obsessions with flushing them), acting as a human barrier to stop them climbing up the toy shelves and launching themselves off them repeatedly, or just following your child around the room hoping to prevent the next meltdown. You either do all of those things and just not speak to anyone or you just stay at home and see no-one. During the school years it gets even harder to relate to other parents. Their worries and concerns are a world away from your own. Their hope is that their child will do well academically and be popular. Your own hope is that your child will make it through the day without harming either themselves or anyone else. It's not as easy to find a babysitter for a child with autism and so you end up becoming a hermit. So yes I think it can be easy to feel isolated from people around you. It helps when you can find other families in similar situations but obviously that won't always be possible.

For my two the OT did some of her assessment by watching them to see how they used their hands, how they reacted to the different parts of the sensory room etc. The main part involved going through a questionnaire and answering lots of questions about how my children reacted to the environment around them (light, noise, smells, taste) and whether they liked movements such as being swung, held upside down, spinning etc. The conclusion was that one of my sons was sensory seeking and the other was tactile defensive. They were then able to base their advice for different problems on those profile results.

My two hate surprises too. They choose their own birthday presents the weekend before. At Christmas we do the choosing but they are allowed to know in advance what they will be getting.

My 5yr-old has become obsessed with this even though he hasn't actually seen the film yet. We've bought him the DVD for Christmas so I'm just hoping it lives up to his expectations.

I have two sons with ASD and both show their anxiety in different ways. My eldest tends to internalise things so we see things like: - bursting into tears over even the tiniest things - tells us that he has an upset stomach - very quiet and subdued one moment and having a raging meltdown the next My younger son is much more volatile (for want of a better word) so for him it comes out as: - lots of anger - hitting himself in the face and chest - throwing himself to the ground - throwing objects around - calling himself names

Congratulations!

From reading the comments your neighbour made to you about the noise it's my guess that it's not done intentionally but more out of a general lack of consideration for others. He admitted to you that he didn't care about whether or not the previous occupant was bothered by the noise. I would say that he is just making the noise because he can and because it's the way he is rather than out of spite or as a means of revenge. You sound so much like my husband (he has undiagnosed AS) that it's almost uncanny. For a moment there I thought he'd joined the forum without telling me.

My 8yr-old is fascinated by everything to do with space and has his eye on a solar system model that's �20 in Tesco.

Congratulations!

Thank goodness they saw sense after all.

My younger son has been carrying around a much-ripped and much-sellotaped picture of the Transformers toys. When he finally put it down for a couple of days I dared to put it in the bin. Then when he spotted it I lied and said that the evil Megatron must have moved it. I will burn in hell for that one yet still have to look at the wretched picture every day. When the woman working on the checkout at Asda complained about the awful Christmas music they were being subjected to, I failed to confess that I had the same cheesey CD at home. Two sins for the price of one: failure to confess and also owning such a crime against music. <shuffles away in shame>

If you are at all concerned then it's worth mentioning it to someone. Waiting lists are often so long that it might be a good idea to get your daughter's name on the list as soon as possible. My eldest was diagnosed with ASD at 3yrs and I later had concerns about his younger brother. One thing that really helped was to treat my second son as though hedid have ASD. Little things like keeping instructions simple, preparing him for things as much as possible etc. Keeping a short diary of his meltdowns also helped - partly so that I could try to figure out what the triggers might be and partly as a record for when he finally got to see a Paed. He was diagnosed a little after his 2nd birthday. The only other thing I would say is that my daughter would also fit your description of your little girl. She probably makes more noise than both of her brothers put together and often terrorises the poor lads with her pushing and grabbing. She's 2.5yrs old now and (as far as anyone can tell) is not autistic. If in any doubt though, I would ask for a referral. Good luck.