I'm so glad I've found a forum for ideas and help - and I now know I'm not alone in dealing with ASD. My son who is 11 was diagnosed with Atypical Autism, ADD and Separation Anxiety when he was 9. He had a difficult birth, needed oxygen, slow to talk and was completely antisocial in his reception year - hitting and biting others, missing out on any educational learning; absolutely panicked by the bell and any loud noises. At the time, we thought we were bad parents - I'm a teacher - but I'd never come across a child like my son. I blamed myself and I still do..... not sure what for tho! As he became used to school, things started to settle a little - by the time he was year 4, he'd hated school but went...and he'd finally stopped hurting others regularly - just now and then. He struggles with fine motor skills and needed constant encouragement to do any work at school. No one suggested ASD .... his paed told me on his first visit that because he could look her in the eye he wasn't autistic!! However, things changed greatly when he reached 9 - a very close family member died - someone who treated my son like her own child. Since then he has greatly regressed. He is constantly worried I'm going to die and hardly lets me out of his sight. We rang CAMHS in absolute distress because my son said he didn't deserve to live and hated himself for being different - he only realised this when he reached 9/10. He is too scared to sleep and is on medication to help him and is poor with change - Christmas has been hard work. I managed to push for a diagnosis finally and got him 0.4 support in school. Only because I'm a teacher tho - it's not fair is it? He has since started high school which caused no end of problems - the only good thing is he is so exhausted when he comes home from adapting to the constant change, he is asleep quite quickly and I don't have to sit with him anymore! However, his behaviour at home is awful - he hurts his younger brother and shouts, swears and throws things when asked to do something he doesn't want to do - like having a shower! Having read other posts, I realise my problems with my son are no where as bad as others....but I just needed to talk to someone/thing! Thanks for reading my post! xx
