Mannify

Maybe you should undertake one

There's a scientific experiment in there somewhere, maybe even a thesis.

Fellow OUer! I have my last exam for BA (hons) Childhood and Youth on October 15th. The module is U212 Childhood. Which degree are you doing? I will be nervous, but I'm at the stage where, so long as I pass, the classification of the degree is pretty much written in stone now. Btw, I love the name Aeolienne, but how do you pronounce it?

Cool.

Awwwww! Lanzarote is one of our favorite places. We're besotted by Cesar Manrique and his architecture and sculptures. We haven't been for six years, but we just love it. http://www.google.co...iw=1024&bih=705 My son was only three when we last went six years ago, and he made us go around Cesar Manrique's house three times. So glad you had a great time

Maybe, but surely the sheer smelliness of those years warrants a degree of fear.

Where'd you go? Sounds wonderful.

Hmmm, I think they've evolved from a very Western model, too, which means that they would discriminate against cultures which value different skills.

Yes, and it's hard when you keep being offered generic advice which may or may not work, but which is probably more suited to typical kids. Even the advice you get from such as the NAS may not be relevant to your children, because each child is so unique. When my son was biting me a lot we got lots of advice, but ultimately any kind of sanctions actually cranked the behavior up and we found the best course of action was to react as little as possible. But that strategy got a lot of tuts from onlookers. With regard to your younger son, a diary might be a good idea (easier said than done for us busy mums, I know). But it will help to both help you see patterns which may help to understand his behavior better, and offer evidence if at any time you feel it may be worth pursuing investigation.

Hey, that's cool Lyndalou. A genius among us! How annoying of them to focus on IQ, without consideration of other things which may be far more important in terms of the support you might need, such as sensory or social issues. You're right, it has been no help to you, has it? Darkshine, hammered definitely doesn't count.

I think we all find my son's joyful arm-flapping infectious. Beyond that, though, there are other types of behaviour which we cannot immediately modify in my son, but which we do not want the other two to copy. Obviously, you have to feel comfortable with it, but for us our main strategy has been to be very open with all our children about autism. That way we have been able to explain which behaviours are associated with autism and are therefore not ok for the others to copy. I suppose your two year old might be a little young to understand, but I remember my daughter grasping the situation quite well at 3. It's surprising how well children can understand given the chance. I do think the self-knowledge has been good for my sons, too. If as they get older they can identify behavior which is autistic, it might help them to self-adjust to some extent.

Do you like knowing that, Special, or do you wish you didn't? I'm not just saying this, but you really work beyond your 'number' on this forum, so maybe IQ's not as relevant as people think

Yes, LancsLad! That number had immediate implications with regard to my son, which I still resent. I'm angry, tbh, that I had to know. Yet I did have to know, for the process to move forward.

And do you think it's a positive or negative thing in your life? I don't know mine officially, although I have some idea based on casual tests which tend to be roughly the same. I don't think I'd want an official thing done, though, because it might represent a ceiling. I remember when my son was given the child development equivalent of an IQ test, I really resented the imposition of knowing his IQ, even if it was involved in getting the education that was right for him. But even if someone scores a really high IQ, it's still a ceiling, isn't it? The flip-side, though, is my sister's experience. She's doing exceptionally well in Uni, although at primary school teachers did not rate her abilities particularly highly. For her, finding out her IQ in her teens was highly motivating and she's now fulfilling her academic dreams. And maybe discovering a lower than average IQ might have some motivational force in encouraging someone to achieve beyond the stark number. My feeling remains that it could potentially be demotivating, though. What d'ya reckon?

The teen years make me shudder. My kids are 9,7 and 4, so they'll all be teenagers together eventually.

When do you two play again?

My granny's explanations of things to my mum were to take her to a field of cattle and point to a cow, point to a bull and ask if she could see the difference. When mum affirmed that she could, granny said, 'well it's the same with humans' Nonetheless, she handed her a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover when she turned 13.

Oh, mind you, noone would know that that's what it was, would they?

Just do it on here then

Sounds worth resurrecting.

What's more, how can anything be that interesting?

100 posts, or 100 pages????? How can 100 pages possibly be possible?

What is the record, btw, so all us newbies know what we're aiming for?

Well, texting takes and eternity on my non-sensitive touch-screen phone, so in my case a text is probably a greater expression of effort. But yeah, see your point.