A and A

How about knuckling down and getting on with it instead of looking for excuses not to do it? Too many people look for excuses and then give up. I know because i'm one of them. Do what you really want and do it now or regret it like millions of others! Anthony

K is capable of making choices, he can choose to participate or not to, no body else should miss out just because K refuses to participate. It might sound harsh, but you shouldn't let K stop you doing the things that you and the rest of the family enjoy. Anthony

I think DB was just offering his help and advise, and the fact sawjd has posted here looking for advise on things to get K from just playing games indoors suggest K is manipulating the family. They should definitely not just do the things that keep k happy. Why should everything be about helping you? Every family has the problem of trying to please everybody when they go on an outing, it's rarely possible. The hypersensitivity thing is overused excused not to try and do anything about it, the same way autism used as an excuse for bad behavior. Anthony

Hi all just had a very interesting conversation with a nurse from my gp surgery yesterday asking us to make a appointment for Liam to have his mmr2 and dpt jab I told her we were not allowing Liam to have his mmr2 but were happy for Liam to have the dpt jab which I was told by another nurse that this was not possible as it was a combined injection, the nurse yesterday said that the jabs are single not joint so we are going ahead with it on Friday, so keep fighting for what you want and don't always accept what you are told first time round. A and A

Exactly ! I'm quite sure that some children diagnosed with ASD have developed their speech and language quicker than the average child.

I'd say taking everything seriously is more a female trait, men seem to be much more into a laugh and joke. Most of us are just big kids after all! Anthony

Hi there we have a 3 year old ds who frequently wakes each night and is uncovered when he does wake so we have had it suggested to us to try a weighted blanket , but we are not sure where we can buy these from. If anyone could let us know we would very much appreciate it. A and A

Hi there we have thought about Melatonin but are unsure if it will work for Liam as we don't have a problem getting Liam to sleep at bedtime the problem we have is that he wakes at least once or twice a night and needs us to help him get back to sleep. What kind of affect does the Melatonin have on your son, does he sleep all night when he has had a dose of Melatonin or does he still wake during the night. Sorry for all the questions A and A

Hi there this all sounds so familiar to us as we have a 3 year old boy with autism, he will not settle at night till at 8.30pm at the earliest but is asleep most nights within 20 minutes and then gets carried to bed he has just stopped sleeping in a cot and now is sleeping on a mattress on the floor as his bed is to high and unsafe for him so following chats with hv the floor was suggested as a safety reason. The problem we have is that he wakes frequently during the night at least twice a night and he has to be brought downstairs to get him back to sleep as he makes to much noise upstairs and disturbs his brother. We are both now physically exhausted from having little sleep and disturbed nights any help or suggestions would be great to hear from you all. Anna A and A

Hi there we are meeting with our SEN tomorrow to discuss the adjustments we want making to our sons final statement, we are discussing how liams needs are going to be met and how the funding works as he is to start a mainstream nursery in a school in September and continue at a nursery in a school for children with additional needs and how his need for speech therapy is going to be maintained as there currently no speech and language therapists in Suffolk or Norfolk at the moment due to maternity leave and long term sickness, just getting a little uptight and stressed as it seems we have been waiting a lifetime to get to this stage even though we haven't, has anyone else had experience of this and the feelings. Anna from A and A

Hi there regarding tattoos I have plenty 9 to be exact but the one that I chose to have done recently was shortly after our son Liam was diagnosed with Autism last October it is a rainbow which represents Liam and there are 3 stars at the top of the rainbow which represent myself, Liam's dad and Liam's brother Joshua. This is the only tattoo of mine that has a real meaning. Anna A and A

Hi there Lisa, how are you what you say sounds so like what we went through with our son Liam he was a healthy happy baby when born by elective c section and continued to follow all the milestones and was well on the way to speaking and then I took Liam to the doctors for his MMR and thats when we lost the Liam that we knew and loved he went totally silent not even making any laughing sounds and all eye contact went as did being cuddled and comforted and showed no interest in toys and other people including family members and his 5 year old brother who desperately wants to play and talk with Liam so we as Liam's mum and dad feel that the MMR was to blame so have refused for Liam to have the second one as we are scared that he will regress even more. Would love to hear form you Take Care Anna from A AND A

Hi with regards to your previous message we do have empathy and we are not judging others and as far as knowing what Autism is like we do know as our child was diagnosed with Autism 2 days b4 his 3rd birthday and his is autism is real to us as he is a child with no speech and very little interest in anything but Tv or Food and yes we have tearful moments as well. So i think you are teh one that needs to show some empathy to others as well. Anna from AA

I guess "real" was the wrong choice of word, no offence was intended. Baddad is on similar lines to what i was i thinking. The point was, that every thing we see and hear about autism these days is all at at one end of the spectrum, a spectrum that seems to be getting increasingly larger. Not so long ago most peoples idea of autism was "The Rain Man" or worse, now thats changing because everything we hear in the news is Aspergers Syndrome. Lets not forget those on the autistic spectrum who's difficulties are much greater.

I don't know about anyone else, but i was expecting David Walliams to pop out and join the the driving instructor. So now with all these programs about autism, showing us how it is for people with Aspergers and High Functioning Autism; How about showing what it's like for families living with real Autism!

After reading this, it seams the term Aspergers only stuck around because parents would rather their child had Aspergers Syndrome instead of autism.

The fact is who ever becomes the government will have to make cuts every where, if they are ever going to get the deficit down. It seems to me the Tories are the only ones who actually admit this. Hard time are coming who ever gets into to power, be prepared!! oh and how many governments have actually stuck to there pre election manifesto or promises?

hi that should have said our 3 year old child sorry guys its been along day. A and A

Hi there we have received a proposed statement for our 3 child son with autism, we have since returned this with amendments that we would like making is there a time limit that the LA have to respond to this to. A and A

Hello there we have a 3 year old autistic son that is due for the following jabs mmr2, tetanus booster 1,polio booster 1, pert booster 1, dip booster 1. We are not happy for Liam to have the mmr2 as we feel that was the trigger for his autism. I phoned my gp yesterday and spoke with the nurse about Liam not having the mmr2 and she said they are combined injections its all or nothing, but I have since spoke to my Hv and she said they are 2 seperate injections so he can have the others but not the mmr2, the nurse was objecting to this and said if thats what we wanted we had to go private and she was very anti against the research that Doctor Wakefield had done. Have any other parents avoided giving the mmr2 and only allowed the other jabs to be given. A and A

Hi there thank u for the reply Julie what ages are your children and what schools do they go to. We are going to look at Chapel Road School in Attleborough on Wednesday to see what we think of it and for Liam to spend sometime in the different class settings. Where in Suffolk do you live. Do you have transport provided for the children to get to school. Hope to hear from you soon Anna from A and A

Hi all we have a 3 year old son with a asd diagnosis we have since received a proposed statement of special educational needs for Liam. We currently live in Suffolk and we are moving to Norfolk on the 4th of March. We would like to hear from anyone who has had dealings with the norfolk Local Authority. A and A

It makes me wonder how a person can feel that everything is so far out of control, that murder is their only way to solve their problems. I believe i will never reach that kind of breaking point. But still, seemingly normal people kill or kill themselves. What do you think it will take for you to reach that point? Do you think in the past that she thought she would be be able to kill one of her own children?

Surely the fact that it has been reported by so many that their child's regression started around the time of receiving the MMR warrants proper and in depth research? Until that is undertaken the doubt will always be there for many parents. I didn't have any doubts about the vaccine 3 years ago, thought it was a load of hyped up rubbish, didnt have any concerns about my son receiving it. My views have changed now, although i'm not total convinced the MMR caused our sons autism, i still would like extensive research done. Then one day we could forget about MMR one way or another and then move research into other possible causes.

I would say genetics play a part in autism, but only as far as it's something that appears more in male genes rather than female. As there is no one from either side of our family's that have anything that could be related to ASD. I firmly believe it is triggered by something, our son was developing fine until sometime between a year and a 18 months, when he went silent and only ever made verbal sounds when he was in distress. I'm not sure what that thing could be, most likely there are multiple causes and thats why i think it's so difficult for anyone to come up with real reasons why it happens. Possibly linked to allergies. People having dangerous allergic reactions have dramatically increased in numbers over the last 20 years and so have the number of ASD diagnosis. So for now i will have to vote other.