hamish

Still not sure I could bear to take him shopping yet Perhaps in a year or too! You are right about the wave of calm, everyones stress levels have decreased by about half now, I think the other kids are relieved too. A couple of times he has missed a dose (by that I mean pretended to take it then spat it out) and the difference is shocking- makes me wonder how I have survived the last few years without a nervous breakdown! S x

Hi, My DS is only 5 but he has a strong leaning towards Maths, ICT and P.E. The P.E is perhaps more unusual as a lot of autistic people have difficultly with motor skills but he is very athletic and fast (maybe thats his ADHD ) he is also very good at football with excellent ball control. The maths and ICT is probably about logic and strategy skills, not sure what they teach in ICT at reception age but I think his ICT skills are probably as good as a child twice his age- he spends hours at home playing Sid Meirs Civilisation (very proficiently too so i bet the age appropriate school software really doesn't do it for him!) Facinating thread, it's really interesting to hear what floats everyones boat. ETA: Just read your post Julieann, the geneolgy thing is really interesting. Hubby is a keen geneologist and has traced our tree back a long way.Through his fathers line (where much of the ASD comes from IMO) he also has a very famous economist, Thomas Gresham but most interesting of all is that his fathers line also goes back at some point to Sir Issac Newton's line (who is well renowned for appearing on famous autistic lists). It's actually really great to do this kind of stuff if you have the time because despite worrying about DS's future sometimes I remind myself that maybe his talents will someday change the world for the better like some of his ancestors S x

Hi, Thanks for all the replies. I will have a look in Next at their socks see if they are soft. I had a look on the internet and couldn't find a UK site that did kids seamless socks- they all seem to be adults. I have ordered a pair of these to try http://www.toesocks.co.uk/ I guess he will either love them or hate them I think the problem is with them not being fitted enough (after washing) as he pulls them up as far as they will go but it still isn't enough. Also the seams not fitting his foot shape well enough after wearing them once. LOL at the days of the week socks, I will remember not to do that, DS would not be happy with Monday socks on a Friday, although if I could be dedicated enough to always get it right he would probably love some S x

Hi Everyone, Not posted for a while mostly because DS has started on meds for ADHD, which are working really well and we have finally started to function better as a family The downside of meds in a ADHD/ASD child, as I'm sure most of you know, is that once the ADHD is controlled some of the ASD traits come to the fore. The hosiptal warned that this might happen (DS doesn't have a dx as yet but the professionals involved seem to accept he is a syndrome mix). Anyway, the point of the post is about socks! DS has always had a bit of a thing about socks (they feel WRONG) the last few weeks this has got much worse to the point where we have to try on umpteen pairs then he usually cries all the way to school. A woman from CAMHS told me the sock thing is quite common-can anyone explain what it is about the socks that are upsetting and are there a certain type of sock I can buy that might help? Thanks Sx

Thanks for the advice everyone. I appreciate what CAT is saying about correct diagnostic criteria- not sure it is applied in this neck of the woods but it has given me something to flag up for the future. We have started the meds this weekend for a months trial, it is worth seeing how it works particularly as the CAMHS witing list is about 5 months so we can't get any behaviour intervention for a while. S x

Hi, How awful for you , I can understand why you are so mad, being undermined is so frustrating. I think the advice about talking to your mum about how giving into G now will affect him in the future is worth a try. Having said that mothers are a law unto themselves (I'm pretty sure I drive my DD mad too ). Hope you get it sorted, we have the opposite problem- don't see my mother for dust! S x

Sorry to hear that your daughter is upset. I'm sure everyone here empathises with the the difficulties parties (or lack of them) present. My son has been invited to a few parties over the years (not as many as his siblings though) I have tended to arrive late and leave early in order to minimise the potential for difficult behaviour, I suppose partly so other parents don't judge him as much. Hopefully as she gets older she will form friendships with children that are more accepting and she will at least go to their parties. I think it is very cruel of that parent to invite 22 out of 24 children, half that number could have been explained away due to cost or close friendships. I really feel for your child (and the other child). Sx

Hi, My son (5) is notoriously poor at cooperating with anything, he also refused hearing test this year and also wouldn't comply with the first 2 attempts at a Speech Assessment. The best way I have found around this is to arrange all tests to be done in school, he is far more willing in that environment and also when his teacher asks him to rather than me S x Edit to say: Sorry just realised your DD was in school, guess this doesn't help then. Maybe a bit of bribery then as someone else suggested?

Hi All, Been for a paed visit today. Went pretty well, I got to see the Dr that dx DS about 18mths ago, since then I have only seen his junior Drs who tbh haven't been very helpful and we have been in and out in about 15mins. Spent over an hr today talking to paed as DS was 3 when dx ADHD and is 5 now, Dr is now saying that we shouldn't label DS as ADHD but should should tell school etc... he is possible ADHD but under ongoing assessment (or words to that effect) as it is impossible to tell at this stage what is going on. We made the decision at the end of the appt to start DS on 5mg of Medikinet and see what happens as he is concerned (as I am) about his increasing safety risk due to impulsive behaviour (4 incidents of running away and 1 climb out of upstairs window trying to reach roof in last 7 days alone ). Discussed my concerns about ASD traits which he was surprisingly open minded about having dismissed an ASD completely at the initial appt. He said that the dx could be in flux for sometime as different symptoms may recede or come forward at different ages. A bit shocked really - he seemed more up to speed than he did 18 months ago, he is semi retired now- maybe he used the time for furthering knowledge Bit of a quandry now though, I told the Dr we had got DS speech therapy and CAMHS referral but didn't mention that inbetween seeing him 18mths ago and now I took DS to another Drs clinic (because I didn't rate his jnr Drs and nobody seemed to be taking my ASD worries seriously) and it was the 2nd Dr who made the therapy referrals. Now Dr we saw today seems to think he will get copy of S&LT report which he won't because it will go to other Dr nor has he had anything from school as it has probably gone to other Dr too. Feel mighty guilty now- do I 'fess up' and tell them I went somewhere else for a 2nd opinion and where do I go from here? Dr No.2 told me at her clinic in Jan that I would have to choose between their clinic and the one I went to today. It was my intention to cancel further appts at todays clinic but have now got some renewed faith in them and now DS has been prescribed meds I have to go back regularly so can't cancel. Anyone else had a similar situation? I thought I was doing what was in DS best interests (i.e 2nd opinion) but I don't want them to think I am playing them off against each other particularly as Dr 1 (Hospital clinic) is pushing down the meds route and Dr 2 (Community Clinic) the intervention route. Sorry this is long and rambling- probably trying to organise my thoughts.

Nice to see it's not just us shoe shopping and the dentist have to be at the top of our list of most stressful but neccesary visits. He is small for his age and his feet only seem to grow about once a year so at least I can put it off for a while now. Bid, I empathise entirely- I love shoes too S x

Hi Made the mistake of sending Dad shoe shopping with DS at the weekend. Of course he won't wear the shoes because they aren't like his last pair and they 'feel funny'. Luckily Clarks still do the same shoes as his last pair (surprised at this as it was Sep 08 I bought them) so have managed to swap them for an identical pair. Just wondering now whether I should buy another few pairs in bigger sizes, although at £32 a pair this will be expensive Anyone else done a similar thing or know if you can order older stock once they are no longer in shops ? S x

Wow didn't know these existed, wish I had known about them a couple of years ago. My DS is not too bad at the moment but this is useful to know just in case he regresses.

I have the same problem with my 5 yr old and seatbelts. Lost count of the times I've looked in the rearview mirror and seen him on the parcel shelf! He seems to go through phases where he does it all the time then we can have a few months where he is reasonably ok. He was probably at his worst at 3/4 yrs when he first grew out of a 5 point harness seat. I don't have any advice really, I tried all the gadgets I could find but he is a super problem solver so got them all off in about 5mins. The only thing I have done really is stop the car until he puts it back on- this tends to make quick journeys drag on for hours though. I also asked his teacher to give the class a talk about seatbelt safety, this may have had some impact as he takes more notice at school. I did once consider a special needs car seat, they are the only ones that do 5 points harness for 3yrs plus but they cost £100s and as DH pointed out, he will probably just work out how to undo it. Good luck with finding a solution. Sx

Arrgh!!! Not laughing now Have just got back from another search for DS who took off on another of his missions without telling anyone. One minute in the garden, next minute gone. Found him eventually after driving around the village and friends and neighbours out looking too. Turned out he had gone searching for the homes of two classmates (he has no idea where they live so how he thought he would find them I don't know???) Was missing over an hour in total and from various eye witnesses it seems he has been all over the place. How do I get through to him this is not acceptable, he is not the slightest bit remorseful or troubled by it. I have been trying to get him to understand why it is wrong but he just has a ###### answer for everything (beginning to think it was better when he didn't speak). He is grounded until weekend now, for all the good it will do. It's our wedding anniversary today too, so much for a romantic evening together, we are both just really stressed out now. He on the other hand is chilled out in bed with his sunglasses on (he likes wearing them even in the dark ) Thank god for wine Sx

It is not beyond DS to fib either, he is quite fond of fabricating stories, particularly stories that have no real point. Last week he told me a lengthy tale about how his teacher was giving out chewing gum for those good at maths (which is him), I am sure she wasn't as chewing gum isn't generally thought to be an appropriate thing for 5 yr olds but with hindsight the purpose of this story was probably an attempt to legitimise CG which is not allowed in our house LOL.