zaman

Thanks for the responses, they were very helpful.

Hi I feel like I haven't been on here forever. I had a long conversation with my son's SALT today, and she made me realise that one of the main difficulties he has is around inference and deduction. For example in a piece of text he reads that a boy is pulling on mittens and a bobble hat, and picking up a shovel to go outside. Q: what season is it? What is he about to do? To some extent I can see the same problem in social situations where he doesn't understand what someone is getting at, but doesn't have the confidence to ask for an explanation, or to guess and get something 'wrong'. Does anyone have any strategies that they can share, or books that they can recommend please? Thanks

No need to apologise for highjacking the thread. I have found both your comments interesting. There was a second Comment is Free article on the subject by Sally Bercow. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...only-first-step I have to say, I only skim read what she said, and got quite caught up in the readers comments at the bottom. I then had to look up who she was (politico) as I had no idea. I found it hard to unpick what she was saying as a concerned parent, and what was political posturing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...and-with-autism I thought this was interesting.

My son had a pair of track suit bottoms that he wore whenever he wasn't in school uniform. Not only were they tatty beyond reason, but they were about 4" too short. His sister refused to walk down the street with him wearing them. So one day (I threw them away and told him I couldn't find them). I think his problem is not having the dexterity to do the button up on jeans as they tend to be stiff.

I have found Primark to be good for those as my son has the same problem. So I tend to buy armloads at a time so that he has a few. I've also bought a few pairs on sale in Tesco recently.

http://www.snotr.com/video/4667 What do people think of this? It was posted on another forum that I belong to and I can't get my head round it, so need some input from you. Thanks

The introduction of a medical assessment does worry me, as to me that sounds like it is just addressing physical disabilities. In my experience of getting my son diagnosed, very few medics understood what autism meant in practice.

I've only just watched it, as I'd intended to avoid it on the basis that I might find it all too cloying. Actually it was great, and I thought all the young people shown did themselves proud. I hope that they got something positive out of it.

Sorry - missed it due to the other big thing that happened last night on TV. Hopefully I'll catch one of the repeats. I so hope you can ride the crest of the wave and use the coverage to get him a grant or some form of funding for a place at dance school.

The milk of humanity, eh? At least the bus driver showed some compassion.

Hi as well as bursaries, there are charities that given grants for supporting children in private schools, for various reasons, including disability. I'm sure if you contacted the place that you are talking about they could supply you with the list.

Cool - he was great, we were rooting for him in our house. Something like the cost of ballet school would never have occurred to me to have been so prohibative. I hope he can pursue his dream.

Welcome to the forum. Was it your son that was in the Sky TV dance competition?

Try the first link I posted: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s5...Me_One_Year_On/

There is no need to get upset, I think that some members of the forum are taking issue with what they see as the potential of 'sensationalism' of the series, and the worry that it may be taking away from the inclusion of people with autism in mainstream TV. Having seen the Autistic Me one year on, I'm just happy to have a programme on TV which I felt dealt with the issues which autism can create really well. Until I actually see the driving school, I don't really think I can comment on if it is a good thing or not. But surely anything that dispells the myth of people with autism as all savants like Rainman must be a good thing.

Hi there is already a thread on this: http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...c=24077&hl=

I honestly thought your bit was great Special talent. I was particularly please that you have been introduced as a part of the programme, as it helped the gender balance. It was also really heartening for me as a mum to see a relationship developing. Although how on earth you are both going to cope with that distance and travel expense I don't know. Fingers crossed for you both. (I thought the programme was more than OK, but then if that was my child snogging on national TV I might think otherwise . . . ) Good luck - and keep us updated!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s5...Me_One_Year_On/ Sheer chance that I saw this last night. Really good programme, which went back to revisit the lives of the people shown last year. I wanted to phone Asda and berate them for letting Oli down so badly. The next programme which they advertised in their autism series was called 'the autistic driving school', it will be on Thursday 29 April at 9pm. Here is a link to the BBC3 site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/pages/autism/

Very interesting. We are indeed the angriest parents. We need to find a way of channeling the anger into making change happen.

Here's a toughie. Where do I know the new assistant from?

I thought he over did it a tad, hopefully he'll calm down into it. Agreed the eyeball was a bit lame - but thought the teeth on the prisoner was really scary.

Ditto. I wonder what will happen to my boy when he is an adult, and I'm not around, or too old to go and deal with thugs like this. There was a report on the BBC news about this case the other night, and it said that 22% of the people who called the police because of persistent problems with local thugs were disabled. What a sad indictment of British society.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8561513.stm "A 64-year-old man with learning difficulties has collapsed and died outside his home in Greater Manchester after years of abuse from youths." These stories make my blood boil. What does it tell us about humanity in our society?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8510240.stm