katieboo

Hi all,i recently joined this forum and have had some good advice ,im just wondering what peoples views are on this,my son who is 5 (6 in june) is suspected to have a ASD ,curently undergoing accessments, he likes to lick objects and peoples faces usually just people close to him,this isnt a problem to us as we are used to it,recently i had a call from his teacher (the school were part of his refferal so know all about him) to tell me that during playtime he went up to a year 6 girl so im assuming shes 10,lifted up her skirt and was licking her knee ,obviously the dinner ladies sorted the situation out and informed his teacher,when asked why he did it,his reply was she wouldnt play with me,they had a talk to him ,telling him that this child wouldnt of wanted him to do that and she would of felt embarrassed etc, now my problem is do i tell him licking is wrong in all circumstances so he doesnt do it ,even though i know its a sensory thing,all ive tryed telling him at the moment is that its ok at home but not to do it to other people,am i doing the right thing? Just wish i had a diagnosis so i could have more advice on how to deal with situations. We have found out recently that his sister who turned 7 last week will be having eye surgeory (has a squint) and from the odd bit of conversation i have managed to get out of him hes worried about it,he asked me is she going to die,sincd he has known about the opp his behaviour in school has worsened again (had some good weeks lately) Itrg needing to know the correct way to deal with things ie,when his vivid imagionation starts up with things like my house in the clouds etc and my teddies are real do i say dont be silly no there not or do i just go with him as to what he believes etc,completly at a loss with it all ,just want to do right by him,when hes getting upset that he doesnt want to go school because he 'struggles' feel so sorry for him ,just wish i could get inside his head. On another note,he really struggles with writing and his reading is around 3 letter words ie mum dad etc(words he sees alott) but in his homework when i ask him to read his spellings he said he couldnt ,but when i asked him to point to each of the ten words as i read them in a different order he got every one of them right.how does he do this if he cant read them,i suspect maybe hes dyslexic as he still writes letters and numbers back to front but is great when using a keyboard. Any advice would be greatly apreciated. Kath

thankyou for your replies ,ive recieved a letter,The social difficulties assesment group are reviewing his case on monday as they feel he may have a ASD,their going to discuss whats next,im so glad that they havnt just put him on a waiting list they have put him as a priorty .atleast the people in the know agree with us from what they have read,ive been able to write down more info on my son 16pages to be percise lol,and the school have delivered it in person to the team to make sure they get it .thanks again

thanks mc and lynda for your replies,im in the northwest of england,we come under merseyside.i had a call from my sons teacher yesterday,she had some questions from one of the ladies who sits on the panel,she was asking me about my sons eyesight as he wears glasses and has a slight squint.the teacher seems to think these questions have come off the back of the panel meeting,she asked me how long he has had glasses,did his squint come on all of a sudden etc,hes had both since he was 15months old,the way she put it to me implied that they think maybe his lack of eye contact is due to his eye sight.i informed her that due to having lived like that since he was tiny that hes well adapted and i really dont think its the reason why,although obviously i what my son to be 'normal' i hate that term ,i also am now panicking that they will try to blame other things for his behaivour ie his eyesight ,his speach not being as clear as it maybe should be for his age,i know in my heart that things arnt quite 'right' on taking him to school this morn,he picked up a small piece of ice ,when i told him to put it down due to obvious reasons why he couldnt take it in to school he got angry and then upset saying icey ,my icey hes my friend,its little things like that they need to know about,i have a diary of things he has said and done which i hope ill have chance to tell them about before they make a decision.thanks again for your replies.kath

thanks suze.il have a read.kath

hi all, my son who is suspected to have an asd ,licks objects,example,over christmas when he walked into my mums house ,on seeing her christmas tree he ran over to it and started licking and kissing the baubles,also yesterday ,taking him into school (we went down to the door with him due to the snow) they had some large boxes in the reception area ,before he went into the hall he ran to the boxes he started sniffing and licking them,does anyone know why a child who maybe on the spectrum licks things? he doesnt do it all the timep,personaly i think it was maybe because he was a little stressed with the snow disruption to his usual pattern and routine entering school,he also has to lick peoples faces when he kisses them.thanks in advance for any replies.kath

hi all, was just wondering from people who have had a diagnosis, how long it took to be diagnosed . weve only just started this journey with our son (ive introduced myself on another thread) the stage we are up to is...in short:teachers and ourselves suspect he may have an asd,forms are filled in,forms sent to center, two months later the center tell the teacher they hadnt recieved the refferal,we complete again,re send,after badgering the lady in charge of school age refferals (my son is 5,yr1) by email,recieve a voicemail from her saying that my son's refferal was on the agenda to go in font of a panel on tuesday 15th ,ive not heard anything as of yet,just would like to know whats suposed to happen next,do they inform me as whats going to happen?do they actually inform you of maybe a school visit to assess my son? just feel very in the dark as to what will happen next,what do the professionals on the referral panel actually discuss ,do they just agree from what they may read that he needs futher investigation? im very grateful for any information.thanks kath

hi all, thank you for your replies, soda, at what age did you start the proces with your little girl how long roughly from the start to the diagnosis was it?,the sensory cushion sounds really like that could help.thanks jeanneA and hello trekster thankyou for the welcome.kath

thankyou both to your replies,that sounds like a good idea about the timer.from researching on the net i have started using different things like if hes playing i will say 20 minutes untill we have to go to school,bed etc ,10 minutes 5 minutes etc but i supose if i had a timer that i could set he could visually see the time lessoning rather than me shouting it out,i have made changes such as more simple comands,getting down to his level etc,myself and their father seperated almost 3yrs ago and are divorced but everyone is on board (grandparents too) with all trying to follow the same rules,routines etc so thats good.i have noticed his behaviour in school has improved since he started the iep so maybe alot was due to fustration,my little boy still wets the bed at night (has never had a dry night) so wears pullups for bed on advice from the gp as he reckons its better for his self esteme rather than having the embarrasment of wetting his bed(when we have tryed him in the past he started to not wake me up but go to his drawer ,change his own pj bottoms and lie on top of quilt) even though the little monkey hardly ever gets himself dressed when asked to lol.but i couldnt have him sleeping on a wet bed so went back to the pullups ,hes even had a kidney scan(he had a dilated kidney when in the womb)so we wondered if the two where related but that came back fine.he can dribble a bit during the day and can become a bit smelly but thats getting better.ive just started now to consentrate on the positives and what things he can do rather than what he cant ie hes great with jigsaws and can build lego models exactly as they are on the box or some from memory.school have been great ,if he doesnt something naughty in school they threaten him with loosing playtime as even the threat of going to see the head teacher didnt bother him (he wud enjoy goin to see her) so this seems to be working well.hes left handed and struggles with 'finger spaces' so they have made him a laminated finger to help him which i thinks brilliant.im just annoyed that we first sent his refferal off the begining of october,when the teacher rang the center to enquire where we were up to they said they hadnt recieved it and it all had to be done again this was just before xmas so i feel we could of been a bit futher along now .thankyou again for your replies it helps so much reading these things.

hi all,my name is kath and im mummy to a 5.5yr old boy who is suspected to be on the autistic spectrum by myself and his teachers,we have started the process and i know we have along way to go,his case has been put before a panel today and im just waiting to hear what will happen next .my son started an iep at the start of this school year and has one on one help in a mainstream school, my son is very immature for his age,yesterday it was his teddys birthday and we had to do a little party for it.he reffers to his teddies as his babies and believes they are real,hes struggles with writing(unless he can copy) and can only read the odd 3 letter words.hes good at numbers though. he has very bad temper tantrums and can get very agressive,hes acted this way in school,hitting out,pushing children who are in his way or if he feels they are not standing correctly or sitting 'right' at carpet time,hes thrown sand in childrens faces and pulled a little girls hair through the railings and wouldnt let go,we had to collect him one day as he tryed to cut his nose off with scissors as a 'cool trick'.he wont sit for any length of time during listening time and just fidgets,even peeling wall paper off the classroom wall. he doesnt make alot of eye contact only briefly if you tell him to.ie he is doing something,ie watching tv or playing you have to physically touch him and say his name for him to listen to you (hearing test shows good hearing) he is fine when hes doing what he wants,try to take him away from that and all hell breaks loose,calling people stupid ,idiot,ugly mummy and shutup,he has a very high pain threshold,when he hurts himself he asks am i cracked or bleeding before he reacts.his sister(only 16mths older) gets very fustrated with him.its a shame,shes clever,well rounded and a loving little girl.my little boy can be tickled and end up in fits of laughter almost like alot younger child.he doesnt have much sypmpathy for others only on rare occasions,he sets up his toys but doesnt play with them,you cant move them as thats were they are suposed to go.he makes alot of loud noises when bashing his toys around he doesnt role play with them.he will use imaginitive play with his sister but usually by doin what she says and if he does sugest something it has to be his way or agen all hell brakes loose which usually ends with him ruining what their playing and banging slamming doors,hitting out etc, he does seem to behave in public but i feel thats because hes out his comfort zone,he sometimes flaps,walks on tiptoes (not always) and has to avoid cracks on the pavement,he has been known to lick objects,kiss things like stones,sticks. ive always thought something wasnt quite right ,in reception they tried to put it down to his age(one of the youngest in the class) two days into yr1 they finally told me they think he may have a asd,feel annoyed,guilty,anger ,my every waking minute is spent thinking,researching etc.ive been reading on here and have found it very useful. does anyone have any thoughts on my little boys behaivour,i could go on and on with the things he says and does but id be here forever lol.he tells some great stories bout his house in the sky and the friends he has there ?? any advice would be greatly apreciated