pookie170

Niki, there was a documentary on telly not long ago, on Jackie Jackson and her kids. (4 out of 6 are on the spectrum, and those 4 are all boys!!) Her youngest actually ate carpet underlay (also wallpaper for the paste!!) to get his gluten 'fix', so I'm assuming this could be common. This could be my boy. We have not tried the diet out yet, I'm on benefits (not through choice, I feel like a scrounger schemie type, thus I embark on college in a few months!!) and fear it could be expensive, though if I get DLA they might give me an allowance for special foods....not holding my breath though!!!

Yup, sounds like Caghal alright!!! To get his diagnosis, Frank and I went through gazillions of questionnaires. It felt like every time we went to the psychiatrist, we had another one to fill in. In fact, it didn't just FEEL that way, it WAS that way!!! She has only observed/spent time with Caghal on 3 occasions, but that was sufficient for her to say, 'Yes, he's on the spectrum!!' I thnik I'm going to ask for a referral to a child specialist in eating disorders. Caghal is soooooo thin and pale, I'm worried about him. He could and would take supplements, but as there's a questionmark hanging over their effectiveness, I'd much rather he could work through his problems with food. As to the P.E. thing, Caghal is v. clumsy but not dyspraxic (I made sure they checked this out, O.T.'s, psychiatrist, the lot!)& he absolutely abhors group activities. In fact, it was his complete refusal to take part in group activities at playgroup, aged 2, that really rang alarm bells as to possible ASD with me. I consider myself fortunate that we went into a fair bit of detail regarding autism during my childcare course, otherwise I would have thought him obstreporous instead! Thanks, Helen and Maria! By the way, 10 mins. sounds like a pretty tall order to finish your grub in to me!!! Esther x

ksasnic, you're a kindred spirit!! I have this problem with my son, too. The range of foods he will eat is very limited,caused by textures, I'm sure, and it's getting smaller all the time. His food of choice is fish. Trout, salmon, sea-bass, you name the fish, he'll eat it! Meat is a different matter, it's too chewy for him I think. I have to literally sit over him to get him to eat and trying new foods is usually pointless, as even if I get him to put it in his mouth, he either swiftly spits it back out or throws up!!!! Your son's school sounds a little...harsh, shall I say? Why, exactly, is he ostracised for eating a box of raisins? Unless I'm mistaken, they fall into the category of fruit, do they not? And why, if they're sooo very health conscious, do they reinforce the idea in kid's heads that sweets are marvellous things by dishing out confections as a reward for good work???? That's it, I'm fizzing now!!!! :frustrate: Do dieticians work, or would Caghal be better off seeing a specialist, do you all think? Like ksasnic, I'm floundering with Caghal's eating habits. He's so thin that if he has a gastro-intestinal illness (which he very frequently does- at least 7 times a year, and before school it was a monthly thing!!) he ends up looking like a victim of starvation! It really upset his last classroom assistant, he looked so ill and emaciated on return to school. Help!! Esther x

Hi all! Dave, I think an advocacy service might be of use to you. I don't know if you get help from social work, but they, too could be of use. I know that in exceptional circumstances, the DSS can tweak the signing on process, but as it's unique to every case, I suggest you talk to them regarding your problem. This is where an advocacy service would be very useful! Also, don't forget citizen's advice, they can inform you of your rights and/or put you in touch with a service that will help. If you type advocacy into your computers' search engine thingy (not very technical, sorry if I get the blurb wrong! )you'll be able to get the contact details of one in your area. Hope this is of use to you, and good luck! You can't be expected to live on fresh air, and you're not the only person with this problem either! All the best, Esther x

Hi Maria, I'm sure it was Robin Williams that said he used humour as a defence against bullies at school..I think because it's the last reaction the bullies expect, it throws them. "Laugh and the world laughs with you..." as they say. It's tough to do though! I think everyone here will have experienced this with their kids. I know I've seen other kids deliberatly do things to wind Caghal up so that he does something naughty and gets into trouble. His teachers were great about it though, they knew which kids to watch out for and made sure it wasn't Caghal that got into trouble. I just hope he gets on better at his new school. I'm dreading a repeat performance of "Could you come and collect Caghal, please, he's having a bad day..." It's keeping me awake at nights!!! Good luck! Esther x

Ooohh, Maria, I'm fizzing on behalf of your boy! The one thing I would not tolerate when I worked with kids was this sort of teasing, although that's a really mild word when you consider how it makes our kids feel!! Maybe you should get your son -it's Leon, isn't it?- to react to the name calling in a way the other kids are not expecting...not in a confrontational way... If it was me, I'd probably tell him to say "Hasta la vista, baby!" or something when they come up with 'Germinator', but you never know if that would make it worse for him. As long as he knows he has every right to be proud of his roots, he'll be fine! Tell him he has a 26 year old woman in awe. I wish I could speak two languages, he's obviously a very clever and intelligent chap. Maybe he should enlighten his tormentors, and tell them that Hitler was actually Austrian!!!(As is Arnold Schwarzenegger, I believe. Don't they teach their kids anything???) Tell him that I ,at least think he sounds like a very cool dude! Esther x

I've started Caghal on fish oil, but as they apparently take 4 months to show effect, I can't tell if they're working or not. Also, on advice, I started him on a Jan De Vries product, called 'Calming Child Essence'. It's pants, frankly. Tastes vile and hasn't worked on m'boy at all, though I am going to go back to the psychologist and query ADD/ADHD type thing again-one minute, he's Mr. Cool, the next he's a rampaging ball of high-pitched destruction!!! Short of that, a wee nip of whisky might do the trick..(for me, not him!!! ) Esther x

Hi all! I believe my son's Asperger's to be genetic in origin. I'm positive his Dad's an aspie too, and in retrospect, my list-loving, people shy and wonderful Dad may have been too! Also, so many AS kids are boys, and as far as I know, the 'Y' chromosome carries a lot less genetic info than the 'X'. As they only have one 'X', even if it only had a carrier trait, they would become autistic. My understanding is only rudimentary at the moment, hopefully that'll change in September when I go to college, but I think I've got it right- enlighten away if I'm not! My boy, Caghal, reached all his milestones on target or before, his vocabulary and speech has always been excellent, and he knew 5 colours by 18 months. But I know he's always been an aspie, he sat in the middle of a roomful of people at 9 months and completely blanked everyone to play with some wheeled toys, an obsession that has never went away! His cousin, of the same age, was Captain Sociable. I recall feeling very uneasy about the difference at the time! Ah, dear old hindsight strikes again!! However, I also think that environmental factors play a part. We live in an area with quite a large industrial focus, also a petrol refinery and several chemical plants nearby too. The incidence of things like Multiple Sclerosis (another one that strikes close with me, my Dad had it) are above the norm here, and I'm sure theses industries have a lot to do with it. Maybe one day, we'll know, but for now, I'm just concentrating on Caghal....perhaps one day, I'll get to be one of the scientists involved in the discovering...(God help you all! ) Esther x

Hello to everyone!! My name is Esther, I'm 26 and a single parent to the two lights of my life, Caghal(pronounced KA-hal, gaelic, confuses everyone, wish we'd called him John now!! ) and Elijah. Both are boys, aged 7 and 1 respectively, and Caghal has Aspergers syndrome. We live near Stirling, Scotland. Don't know about everyone else, but we've had a really hard time getting help for our boy(Dad's still very involved, thank heavens!!) Nursery in particular was a nightmare- halfway through, we asked about holding school off for a year because of Caghal's then undiagnosed problems, were told that they wouldn't support our request to the education authority, then a 3 wks before summer hols. were told that the Nursery thought he wouldn't cope with school!!!!! As you can tell, that still irks me somewhat!!! Anyway, things are rolling a bit more smoothly now, hopefully he'll have a place at a specialist unit by this autumn-I think they'll put him into P2 again as this year in mainstream ed. has not went very well. These problems aside, he's a great kid!!(MOST of the time!! ) Elijah seems to be developing in a textbook manner... by Hoki, I hope that continues! He's a brilliant wee pudding! Me, I'm starting college in Sept, doing applied biological sciences but for now am a stay-at-home Mum...and that's about it, really! Hope to chat often, Esther x