LisaKaz75

A friend was advised to put the pull ups over the pants. Then you are not soiling clothes, they can feel the wetness against their skin (where are pull up takes it away) and it can contain whats happening Much easier to wash just knickers rather than other bottoms everytime We are currently following a plan (put in place with continence nurse) with my nearly 4 year old, where he is only given drinks at meals and snack times. Then 10 minutes later put on the toilet. The plan is that as thirsty will drink lots and lots and get that feeling of a full bladder, then the relief of emptying it We have had some success and its harder to do in good weather and tend to find am giving extra drinks! Hope you have success! LisaKaz

thanks again Ed psych, SALT all involved and are in appendix. They are surprised that they are mentioned in part 2 but not mentioned in part 3. Getting this resolved Also picking through appendices as ed psych mentioned danger awareness and Leo trying to run off (thinks its a game!) this has not been specifically mentioned in part 3 and I think it ought to be Getting some help from childrens centre and lady who used to be a teacher who is now on the other side (as it were) on Friday and this gives time to contact LEA with the things that need adding As I say the things are all mentioned in part 2 and the many appendices, but are missing in the legal bit in part 3 thanks again LisaKaz

thabks for the advice and have gone through and can see gaps and sonme things need to be more specified in part 3! so thanks for that! However, as Leo does not start school till September 2012, it is making it so difficult to specify. The change in him in the last 4 moths since he started getting 15 hours support at nursery is huge, and I can not see how we can be that specific in hours when in hoensty we dont know yet? Any suggestions?

thanka all for you responses Leo has been awarded 15 hours next year as still in preschool and then 32.5 (full time) hours in primary school we and ed psych have chosen main stream school as a preferred option as Leo learns a lot by repetition and the school here are very varied for special needs, and there are concerns that Leo could learn worse behaviour / language there I agree about having all one to one, however it is specified that the one to one support must give Leo space to work with his peers, encourage Leo to interact with them and also them to interact with him. The statment specifies education and non education support At the school that we have chosen for Leo, all children have regular one to one time, so Leo would not seem different than the nor,. what has been suggested is that Leo will need some addtional help with what is going to happen next Initially, we are pleased with what has been suggested, as I feel initially there will be trial and error. Perhaps a special schoolo would be better, perhaps a different mainstream school?? but our initial meetings, visits of school and staff suggest that this is the best place to start Thanks all LisaKaz x

Leo is 3 and currently at preschool. He attends 15 hours a week and at the moment the preschool gets funding for one to one support for all 15 hours We are currently going through the statement process, requested by LEA (due to the fact he gets 15 hours) Next school year, he is still at preschool and been assured that the 15 hours will stand How many hours can we expect for him for primary school. The view at this stage is that he will attend a main stream school, with plenty of one to one support. This has been backed by us, Ed psych, current SENCO Is it likely he will get all his hours. Will the support just be for educational stuff, or for the none educational support he needs too? How many hours does your child receive? LisaKaz

I agree that an early diagnosis is important But in the case of my son at age 1 things seemed ok, it was from 2 that the gaps appeared. We pushed quite early and he was diagnosed just after his 3rd birthday Perhaps it should not be a given age, but on set criteria and analysis of parent, HV and GP

not sure which baby tv channel he watched on sky, but my son watched channel 623 This has some really good programmes that Leo learnt lots from. There are programmes on numbers, colours, food, etc.. Particular favourites are Louis World, numbers party, colours and shapes and bath tubbbies Leo loves these and has learnt some of the programmes off by heart. I am not saying that this is the best thing as often he talks as the programmes, but we have used some of this to our advantage now LisaKaz

i put that Leo could not express himself verbally and would drag us to what he wanted and point/ grunt I explained that often it was still unclear what he wanted and that it was often frustrating for him I also used this as a way to say that we would say "want drink", "want car" etc.. to show that we were trying to help him, and that this was time consuming and took a lot of time during the day Hope that helps LisaKaz

has your son been referred for any speech therapy at 2.5 our son spoke very little, but at 3.5 has a lot of words, but does not really speak any sentences He can put 2 words together - e.g want drink We found speech therapy was really beneficial LisaKaz

hi started receiving DLA for my 3 year old son in January He does not receive the highest rate However, the key thing seemed to be to stress the things that we different between him and his peers. The things i stressed were danger awareness (running off, not coming back) not responding when called does not eat or drink without being prompted Still in nappies Puts everything in his mouth Still use reins for walking Can not ask for things, leads to frustration and outbursts that put himself at risk. (head banging -even concrete) I used examples both at home and using situations at nursery (where he needs his one to one worker) When we were awarded it seemed to be the toilet training and lack of communication that got it for us. The evening thing about waking and waking early was not taken into account hope this helps

its not a familiar term, but used to work in a shoe shop!! LisaKaz

Think the term that shoes retailers use here is "high top" shoes or boots If you search on the web there are a few options Hope this helps LisaKaz

Today have taken my 3 year old son for a preschool eye test. This is offered to all children in my area at between 3 and 3.5 years of age Leo is autistic and mainly struggles with comprehension and communication and there lies the problem We managed to do the test for the squint, where he looks at dots and sees 3 things, although he did not name them he pointed immediately at all 3, so that ruled issues out Where it got stuck was where she hold up a letter getting smaller and smaller and he is expected to hold up the same letter. He is not expected to name the letter though he can one or two, but he is meant to select the matching letter from a pile next to him while wearing kiddies sunglasses with one eye blacked out! Well where do I start! He did not like the glasses, and i could not get him to understand what he was needed to do. The lady carrying out the tests was lovely and kept saying its like pairs or snap, but we just are not at that point with him She has suggested that we give him 6 months and see if we can play some of these types of game at home and try again, but that when his letter comes, if he still does not understand to postpone again I am not overly worried about his eyesight, but has anyone any different experiences. or do we just say if he cant understand the test that we dont test?? LisaKaz

From what I know its tested via a blood test and its to do with a missing/ incomplete gene My 3 year old was tested for it when we were going through diagnosis and was clear It kind of helps rule out a medical reason for some of the traits that can be associated with autism LisaKaz

I must admit that I know a lot of people seem to have been refused My son is 3 and has just been awarded, I just painted the blackest picture. I did not lie, or expand and all could be backed up through the nursery/ paediatrician I made sure that all the things that you would expect a child his age to do, that Leo can not do I repeated them over and over in all the sections that they were relevant to. So in Leos case I stressed. Lack of awareness that wet/dry, no danger awareness, running off when out and about, unsteady on his feet due to being on tiptoe all the time, putting foreign objects in his mouth. The thing that seemed to have got it for us was his lack of toileting skills, backed up by his continence nurse. I was told that if/when he is trained it is unlikely he will be eligible at this age, but would be looked at again against other criteria Definitely appeal. Can you ask if there is something in particular he failed on? LisaKaz

My 3 year old is never hungry and very rarely drinks, I think he does not get the feeling of hunger or thirst Re water infection I suffered for years, and I try to drink dilute cranberry (water/ soda water) or I take a cranberry pill from health store, and it has made a huge difference LisaKaz

thanks Justine Even if its something worth considering in the future, then its worth making a note of LisaKaz

Hi we have been awarded middle rate carer allowance for Leo (age 3), this is mainly due to lack of awareness of bodily functions and needing constant cleaning and nappy changing etc.. I have now applied for carers allowance. I do not work, or claim anything, I am a stay at home mum, as was made redundant when had Leo and due to his behaviour never got him settled into a playgroup/ nursery till now. Someone said that there may be other thing we are entitled to (I dont just mean money) she thought we may get help with nappies, and also mentioned loft insulation?? Is anyone aware of this? or other things? LisaKaz

Leo (age 3), has started his 15 hours a week funded hours in preschool. He has individual pupil funding, that means that he has one to one support for all the hours that he is there Due to the fact that we have been awarded this funding the LEA are looking to get a statement for him next and an Ed Psych visit has been arranged for Leo at the pre-school setting on 7th Feb. They are starting with Leo at 12pm and asked for us parents to arrive at 2.30. What will happen during this time. Will they just watch him in the nursery? or do they do one to one stuff with him? I am worried as Leo never takes well to someone that he does not know. Therefore if she asks him to do something, he may well ignore her. Can I ask for his one to one teacher or SENCO to be with him during any one to one session. He would respond much better to either of them Any info would be greatly received LisaKaz

thanks Its all happened so quickly. His pre-school is so on the ball! Only had diagnosis recently, so was unsure what was for the best

Leo is 3 (diagnosed on autistic spectrum) and gets his 15 hours funding for preschool from January. We have found out today, that he has been awarded 15 hours a week, individual pupil funding This means that he will have a dedicated key worker all the time he is at preschool. However, we made such a strong case for him to have this that they want to look at carrying out a statement. Should I be worried about this?? or will this help him in the long term LisaKaz

Hi all and thanks for your responses!! Leo is an only child (I lost 4 previous pregnancies), and that is another consideration, I want someone to be there for him as well as me and my husband. I dont mean a carer just someone. i am an only so I feel pressure of parents etc.. and would love Leo to have someone to share this with Realistically, we have had a tough 6 years! We got married, I had an ectopic, a miscarriage and another ectopic, then hit rock bottom. I had gone from a high of marriage to low of loss of fertility. Leo is our world! but we only received diagnosis a few weeks ago and my head is spinning!! I just feel its changed our plans and may be it should not have done Sorry am rambling. but its lovely that you all get the question and can share your feelings Thanks LisaKaz

Not sure if this post is going to come across well, but to say in advance I do not wish to offend anyone There is kind of two strands to this post. Am desperate for another child Leo (now 3 diagnosed autistic) is the 2nd child from 4 IVF attempts. I would love one last chance to give a sibling, but A) am frightened of coping if I had another autistic child and worried about Leo coping with a little person in his space I see from posts on here that many of you have more than 1 child with ASD how do you cope?? honestly And how do your children cope? Do they ignore their siblings or interact with them? I know this is a very personal question, but it is driving me and my husband mad. We have even thought of trying to adopt a child in a few years, where they are older and can understand Leo more and perhaps rule out the risk of another child with ASD Any thoughts welcome LisaKaz x

Hi Karen IPF is indivudual pupil funding. At the moment Leo does 6 hours a week at a mainstream preschool. he goes up to 15 hours in January, and the nursery are applying for one to one funding for him! The nursery give as much one to one time as they can, but feel he would benefit from someone watching what he is doing and then trying to gauge interest and interact with him. At the moment, he stays on the periphery of whats going on and we hope that a key worker will help him integrate LisaKaz

Hi all Well Leo (age 3) had his assessment last week and we were told there that Leo was on the autistic spectrum and that he was somewhere midway on the spectrum. We were a little surprised by this as we were always led to believe he was at lower end. She said that the test (that we had not stayed in) had not gone all well. Some things he did and others he did not. he basically loses focus, gets attached to a specific toy and would not move on She had collated info from others in the multidisciplinary team that work with him, and felt that yes it may seem a little pessimistic, to put him midway, but she wants to get as much support for him now, while he still has 18 months at preschool. She said she hoped that he would slide down the scale as his speech and development come on, she would love to say she has it wrong So thats where we are at. We have a panel on 15th Dec for IPF and will have to see what comes from that! thanks all LisaKazx