Jill

It is difficult to say from just reading a couple of your posts, but it does sound to me like your lad is a good candidate for PECs. PECs for us were a real God send & certainly developed his desire to communicate with us & he had shown no previous interest in books or pictures etc. so we were surprised at how well they worked. I have to say that The Boy I think is quite imaginative too in his own way & I was always told this was a good thing as it is the emerging signs of empathy. This prognosis has proven true - he really does get upset if another child is upset etc. You sound a bit like I was 6 months ago (sorry to lump that on you ) trying to look for any glimmer of hope for how things will be. If I can give you a bit of advice (altho I'm not really such an old hand myself) it's try to live for today and gain acceptance in your heart. I was always looking to the future and trying to see what would happen & I also don't think I had truly accepted The Boy for who he is. I have accepted him now - fully - and it has made such a massive difference to our relationship. We're much happier in each other's company (not that it was awful before, but I always sort of felt a little strained with him) and I've stopped looking at what he's like now / will be like and just take him as he is IYKWIM. Sorry if I've mis read you! It's just that I know that acceptance just sort of hit me one day & I've been so much better since. <'>

Fiorelli, You may also find something useful on this site: http://www.growingandlearning.co.uk/ The lady who wrote the books has a son with autism and she has also been a nurse specialising in helping children with special needs re sexual health. I know what your son is doing isn't sexual per se, but the books may help him to understand a little more why it would be unacceptable to do what he's doing. I must confess to not having read the books myself mind, cos The Boy is so young yet, but I do know that people have found them useful and at least the author has knowledge of the subject.

OMG TheNeil. Coffee sprayed into keyboard alert. These profilers usually base things on where it occurred, what weapon was used, who was attacked etc based on things they know from previous similar crimes / situations. It's all a bit woolly IMO, but it's what they do. So how on earth they have decided this person is possibly aspergic? Have they a history of crazed brick wielding aspergics in the area that have led them to this conclusion? Does the profiler in question know of previous crimes of a similar nature committed by an organised gang of people with aspergers? Otherwise, how can they base their profile on known previous evidence? Totally totally bizarre. I think the only thing you can safely say about someone who attacks other people with bricks is that they are crackers. Ergo they cannot be aspergic, to nick a quote from an earlier post I read on this forum "I am Aspergic, not mad".

I think it's amazing that he points out objects! My lad has NEVER done that. On the talking front, hmmm a little more difficult to answer. All I can say is that The Boy didn't say anything until he was 3. But that wasn't the big issue. The big issue was his apparent lack of desire to try ANY form of communication. He wouldn't even demonstrate what he wanted by taking you to it, bringing it to you etc. He made no attempt to share his interest with you for anything. Then he was dx'd, started part time at special nursery, started using PECs & we had some help with strategies at home. The first signs were when he took us into the kitchen with a purpose e.g. because he wanted a drink / something to eat. TBH I would have been more than happy with this form of communication, at least it was something. But he's just gone from strength to strength. Now he has a handful of stock phrases that may not always entirely "fit" in a situation, but at least you know what he means. To me he's quite a chatterbox now, albeit his language is that of an "18 month old" according to the paed (how he can judge that I don't know, when any 18 month old would call me mummy & he doesn't ) I guess what I am trying to say (in my usual waffly way) is that if your child is attempting ANY form of communication it is a good thing & should be encouraged. Is it a sign he will talk? Not necessarily, but encouragement & results e.g. he indicates he wants something you get it quickly to show him his effort is rewarded, may support that development into speech. Remember tho, speech is such a small way of communicating. I've learnt more about communication since having The Boy than in the previous 34 years of my life and speech is almost irrelevant IMO.

Emily, your posts are making me laugh! You ought to suggest the above to t-shirt makers as a good slogan I'll give you a wave & a supportive horn honk if I see you outside ITV

Welcome! <'> I agree with what many have said, I think echolalia is a good thing. If you think about it, in a way it's how all children learn to talk, it's just that our kids apply it differently. The Boy is 5 in January. Until 4 months ago he was non verbal (it was a massive breakthrough when he took our hand and led us to what he wanted, rather than just having a meltdown cos we didn't automatically know what he wanted ). Now he has a stock of phrases. Ok, so may of them are echoed, but he's started to use most of them in appropriate places. (unfortunately one of these phrases is "well this is a chuffing mess" taught by daddy ) So his speech development is a little ecclectic, he has hardly any single words (I tell ya, the day he calls me mummy I will ), but he has a batch of whole sentences which I THINK he understands. The main thing is that he's trying & it must be SO hard for our kids to get this whole talking mullarkey. So take heart, I don't think echolalia is a bad thing floss.

TMF I don't have any practical advice, just to let you know tho that this may not be as unusual as you think. The Boy went through a phase of just HAVING to stroke any woman's bottom in the vicinity. It got really embarrassing in queues, you'd get the woman in front of you turn around with a really cross face, see me (rather than a bloke), look puzzled for a second, look down and see The Boy gently stroking away with a blissful smile on his face. Luckily all the women he did it to laughed about it. I found it reasonably ok to control, just tried not to stand too near to any ladies . He did eventually stop doing it - took about 4 months tho. Best of luck resolving this one!

Sweetheart I really really really hope this is the first positive step towards resolving this horrendous situation. You are in my thoughts and I continue to send you positive vibes. (((()))) to you and your family.

Jim

Can anyone remember Texan bars? My DH reckons I dreamt 'em. They were like a really really hard chewy centre with choc coating. I had one once and it pulled two of me fillings out!! Fave sweets - Caramac Munchies Orange Aero Cabana (?) it was a coconut, soft toffee & cherry bar coated in chocolate. I really craved these when preggers but they don't make 'em any more. Again, DH reckons I made these up! As for the chewy strawberry / toffee chews, I can see the wrapping they came in - stripy - but I'll be beggared if I can remember what they were called. It's driving me crackers now! I'll probably think harder about this this afternoon than any work!!! Were they made by Millers or something????

I had the same problem, so I had to vote that my NT child was a mixture of both too (which has completely messed up the results, cos I only have one child - sorry!) The Boy is 5 in January & he's still not showing an particular preference. If I hold out anything for him to take I have noticed that he will take it with either hand, definitely no preference at all. He will sometimes pick up his fork with his right hand then use his left hand to eat with (picking up food directly, still a bit sketchy with fork usage ) but then the next meal he holds the fork in his left hand and eats with his right.

I don't post very often, but I have been following your sad story. I really really really hope the phone call today is good news. I think of you often and pray for a happy ending to this sorry saga. (((())))

frontier

Now that would have made me feel really guilty I'd have probably ended up confessing to half the things that were heard on the radio Is that a woman thing or is that just me?? Glad your lad is all right!

Personally I can't stand that pair anyway, they get right up my left nostril. If they tried to give me advice on clothes (or worse, grab me boobs - what's that all about) I'd be the first to grab my fave red 5" stilettos n give em a good shoeing.

I did see all the Trevor McD prog & TBH it wasn't that bad. They weren't trying to blame the mums, they were trying to say that the doctors / midwives should really discuss FAS with us when we're pg. They also covered how there were health warnings on alcoholic drinks in America similar to those on packs of cigs e.g. drinking when pg can harm your baby. The main gripe was that the info that IS provided to mums is in leaflets, which mums don't read & if they do it's really hard to follow for e.g. it talks about glasses of wine as units - meaning 125ml but most pubs do 250ml as glasses these days. Also, none of the mums had ever heard of FAS cos no-one had every mentioned it to them. The upshot was that the mums they had on the prog were all pretty much over drinking or even binge drinking without realising it (two glasses of 250ml wine in one evening, constituting a binge). They were all really upset. For the record, I just had half a glass of wine on our wedding anniversary when expecting so I don't see how that could've done owt! But, DH does have three relatives on the spectrum, so I'm firmly in the "it must be something genetic" brigade.

If I sent The Boy to school with anything containing aspartame & he drank it, then I think they would quickly change their mind about dictating what we could put in his lunchbox, cos he'd be climbing the walls Bid - TBH The Boy really doesn't like sweet stuff. He'd much sooner a banana or yoghurt. What annoys me about all of this tho is that anyone with half a brain KNOWS what is healthy to eat. Any caring parent tries to make sure their child eats well within the boundaries of what that child will eat. The minority of parents that ARE sending rubbish in the lunch boxes are (generally) in the "don't care" brigade - the post about crusts / mouldy bread / biscuits demonstrates this. These people will not change just because of leaflets or new rules from school, but those of us that DO try suffer as a result. That's my gripe anyway

Well there's a pair of us lined up to get shot! Cos I agree with you 100%. I saw this on the news the other day & I was so There was a mum on who made her kids a meat n salad sandwich, with a piece of fruit and one of those small animal bars of chocolate. Like she said, 99% of the lunch was healthy, this was a treat for her kids. Plus they had a proper breakfast and a meat and two veg kind of tea so she was furious when the school banned the choccy. This is another example of nanny state I reckon. By all means let the govt come up with ideas if they feel they need to, but at the end of the day we KNOW what's healthy for our kids, we don't need to be told! BUT, one rule suits all does not work. We know some of our lot can be faddy eaters to say the least - as long as they eat that's what counts! Had to larf tho. They had this chef on the news with these wonderful ideas about healthy wraps involving cous cous and salad and salmon for packed lunches. This mother looked at him incredulously and said "TBH I am lucky if I can get up, get my kids dressed, get their PE kit / school books / etc sorted, get then out in time for the bus and leave the house with my knickers on the right way round, without thinking I can faff about with cous cous" I liked her

We had a cat who purred and flicked his tail when he was indecisive about something - usually whether to jump and grab your arm or jump and grab your leg He was crackers he was, right up to being 13 when we sadly lost him to leukemia. The cat I have now usually flicks his tail and purrs when he's eating - his favourite passtime.

I do make me own mash, but am an absolute no hoper with yorkshire puds so was over the moon when the famous fictional aunt appeared on the scene. I now serve up risen crisp yorkshires, rather than circular flat floppy unidentifiable cooked thingies - rather hard to pour your gravy into those.

The best I ever saw was when a colleague at work was trying to set up a musical & he Googled "Singing in the Rain"

Aww that's brilliant! My mate had a similar birth with her second - she felt an odd sensation down there, got her husband to look & he fainted cos it was the baby's head Luckily her friend & neighbour was there & she helped with the delivery. So glad all went well - the comment about being covered in wee did give me a chuckle, boys are good at that when you change their nappies aren't they Big kisses to baby Max and a pat on the back to you for doing so well!!!

The Boy had an ear infection with every tooth he cut, it was a nightmare poor little mite. Funnily enuff my MIL commented on it and said "our xxxx was the same and it worries me" - "our xxxx" is a cousin of my hubby's and is autistic. At the time I scoffed at her and said "having ear infections is not related to being autistic". But now, I wonder.............

I too passed my test in a geared car, but saw a car that I fell in love with. It's quite unusual looking, it's an X90 - it's sort of a two seater four by four. Anyway, loved it to pieces, had to have it. Initially I was a bit put off because it was automatic but I found it a pleasure to drive. So relaxing. Because I didn't have to faff with gears I also usually beat people away from traffic lights - bonus! BTW, it was only a 1.6 too, so automatics don't have to be big engines if you're not comfortable with that much power on a car (or fuel consumption). Alas "Arthur" had to go when The Boy came along. We did buy another one recently (they're really cheap now) but this one was geared & I soon found that what I really loved about the X90 I had before was that it was automatic!

I've really enjoyed Josh's posts and wanted to comment. Unfortunately (or stupidly) I can't work out how you register in order to leave a comment! Every time I try to create a blogger account, it says "this username is not available" (no matter what I put as a username). Like I say, it's prob me being thicko, but Josh has commented a few times in his blog about people not leaving comments - maybe people are just having difficulty registering as a blogger? Enjoying reading it tho, just feel a bit sorry that he's not getting comments, cos I bet there's loads of folks dipping in and reading his updates.