snowman

Hi Brooke, I have a 6 yo asd son who used to be aggressive and controlling. Things have improved a lot over the last 8 months. We do a part time Sonrise program (and don't lock the playroom door). I'm not trying to suggest its the answer to everything but if you could be with your son regularly for 1 hour each day on a 1 to 1 "joining" (following his lead) in play / whatever he wants to do basis, you might find things calm down. The idea is to give him some control in his life. He may then be more open to discussion of his behaviour at other times. You don't need a special playroom but somewhere quiet where he can't be interrupted. Please don't anyone be offended - I'm not being patronising (and I'm not a Sonrise evangelist). All the other points about reward charts and consequences are very valid. Tessa.

This is a very controversial subject so please hold fire whilst I put my 2p in. We have been doing Sonrise with our son since nov 2005 and I think it works. He has hfa and is home educated. He is much less controlling and more outgoing with people at our home. Still shy away from home but he is greatly affected by sid. There are free introductory lectures in the UK and a free 25min call - if you prepare questions they give you useful techniques to try. The startup course is expensive (�1,300 for 5 days) but very helpful. I had always thought I was very accepting of ds but startup really makes you examine your feelings (and they do not force you to do this in public). Those on low incomes can be funded by the Caudwell trust. Yes the talk of a cure and the hard sell is offputting but I have found it greatly improves my communication with ds. We are booked for the intensive next year and are using all our savings. I don't look on it as a magic cure, more training of us parents to grow with ds. We do Sonrise part time as I also home ed our 2 other kids. We have 7 volunteers who love playing with ds. I would recommend anyone to go to one of the free lectures coming up in the UK and have an open mind. As for whether Raun was autistic / not - that's irrelevant to us.

What Ian Jordan said is very important. My 6 yo son has hfa and sid and we are working on getting him assessed "orthoscopically"(sp?). He's very shy of new people so this may take time. We had an appt with Ian Jordan and I found that I could see faces properly (for the first time in my life) when I looked through a coloured filter. I've always had problems recognising people I'd only met briefly. I had never realised that other people could see a whole face in 1 look - I had to keep rapidly looking at different bits (l eye then r eye then mouth then back to l eye...) to guage expressions. The same applies when I look at a clock face (I had to look at both hands separately until I tried the filter). It also improved reading of fine print and distance/speed judging of traffic. The weird thing is it also affected my perception of fluorescent light flicker, sound, music, balance, pressure, smell, taste and temperature. I will be interested to know if my son sees things as I do and whether other kids on the spectrum do. Re an iep for sid - we home educate as ds was failed by "school action plus" (a misnomer). Its quite easy to put together your own provision at home - "The out of sync child has fun - activities for kids with sensory integration dysfunction" by Carol Stock Kranowitz has lots of ideas which you/school can tailor to your child's requirements.