bid

Hi Simon Totally agree with you that ASBOs shouldn't be given to Autistic people, or anyone with learning difficulties for that matter. Bid

Hi Lucas Autistics may very well have a valid reason for everything they do, but what happens if the thing they are doing is unpleasant or dangerous to another person? Bid

OK, I'm really hoping I don't offend anyone... I read to page 12 of 15 on this site, and agree that many of the views expressed were unpleasant and in some cases downright offensive But, and I realise I'm sticking my neck out here...I felt there were some valid points made in this thread. I don't think it helps to view anti-social behaviour by Autistic people (or anyone with Special Needs) as somehow 'excusable' because of the disability. Within my son's Special School and the residential unit where I work there are very clear boundaries for what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, with sanctions and strategies in place for unacceptable behaviour. I was left wondering about two examples quoted in the TES site, although of course we don't know the full stories: the AS lad who got an ASBO for staring over the fence at his neighbours, and the Care Home resident who repeatedly called out at neighbours in their garden. Had the parents raised the fence, tried Social Stories, etc to reinforce that this wasn't acceptable behaviour? Did the care staff divert, otherwise occupy their client, try Social Stories, etc?? I don't think ASBOs are appropriate for people with Special Needs. But excusing anti-social behaviour on the grounds of disability is, in my opinion, both collusion with that behaviour and a restriction of that person's independence by assuming that they are unable to modify their behaviour, implying that they don't have the ability to learn. Hope you see what I'm trying to say, and I hope I haven't caused offence! Bid

Just ask The Jester about the things he has heard said in schools! Bid

Hi My 4 year old (middle of assessments...) has a very restricted diet. He also has severe (life-threatening) allergies to all dairy and egg. He goes to a specialist allergy clinic, and earlier on in the year when he was weighed he had put on only 1.2kg in weight in a whole year! We have great problems getting him to eat a balanced diet because he won't eat so many foods He was given an uber-supplement by the hospital dietician, which he refuses to take...it did look horrible I must say! Does anyone know of any 'build-you-up' shakes we could try...the sort of powders you add to (soya) milk?? It would need to be dairy and egg-free...and taste nice! He does love his soya milk, so I just thought this might be a wayof getting extra calories into him. Yesterday we got a letter from the hospital cancelling his appointment in Jan and rescheduling it for June!! I'll give the dietician a ring too, but though they are very nice, they don't seem to ever really come up with anything that helps! Thanks! Bid

What lovely news Joe's Gran! So pleased for you all <'> Bid

Kathryn! I've never noiced any spots!! If you want to see a bad complexion just look at me!!! I think my spots are linked to PCOS, but that's another story! As for teenage lads...Helen, does your son actually USE the medicated wipes, etc? I religiously provide my son with these things, which generally he ignores! But he did have a spate of using them after Christmas (New Years Resolution and all that...) and I did see a big difference. Of course he's back to not using them now... Bidx

MOM, <'> <'> <'> Bidx

Wow! fascinating posts by both Zemanski and Nellie! My 4 year old who is still undergoing assessments, so no dx yet, is very different from Auriel. Auriel has ADHD too, so was always a rushing about little boy who wanted friends and has maintained a group of 3 or so from the age of 10ish. He has all the typical things...toe walking, poor eye contact, stims, etc, etc...Desperate to 'fit in' at school, but melt-down city at home before he left mainstream. D. on the other hand doesn't have ADHD at all, and is very self-contained. He isn't frightened or shy with other children, and does interact with them a little but seems to have no desire to participate fully and he is very definite about what he does and doesn't want to do in a social context. He seems happy to watch. He also has lovely, appropriate eye contact, although with us it can be too intense sometimes. As yet, no melt-downs... More, please!! Bid

Hi Tez I would buy the ACE handbook. I found it invaluable...everything you need to know is in one place, it also includes examples of draft letters you might need to write, and even lists of the relevant legal Acts in case you want to quote them/look things up, etc. I found it very reassuring to have! Good luck...please PM me if I can help as my son was Statemented last year around his 15th birthday, when he was signed off school because of mental health problems caused by school. Bid

Hi Desperate <'> The fact remains that your LEA has a legal duty to educate Neil Have you looked at ASD specific schools? Nellie is right, many of them go up to 19. Your Connexions Team will have a Special Needs Connexions Advisor. Ours was brilliant. You could also try this site www.natspec.org.uk, which has a list of Special Colleges. Have a look, you'll be amazed at what's out there. They are funded through the Learning Skills Council, not LEAs. Neil has every right to a suitable, supportive education...keep fighting! Take care, Bidx

Hi Julia, Your LEA has a legal duty to educate your son. They aren't allowed to just say you've got to do it yourself! You should contact IPSEA or the NAS as soon as possible for professional and legal advice. Good luck! Bid

Hi That's just brilliant news! Well done for not giving up! Bid

Hi pim I'm the same LEA as you, so feel free to PM me for any info. My son got his Statement last year, although he's a lot older than your's!! At the risk of dropping a friend 'in it' , Kathryn is also the same LEA, and more importantly the same quadrant team as you (they do seem to differ ). Good luck...most of all, don't listen to any negative comments. My son was 14 when he got his Statement, and 3 months later he was at a residential special school...all of which I was variously told we would never get!! Sadly, certainly for my area, the Parent Partnership person was not very good...I got all my advice and support from this forum, so you're in the right place! Bid

<'> Viper <'> This is just awful...are you going to Tribunal to appeal? When Auriel was 8 we were refused a Stat Ass, and I bitterly regret not going to appeal Thinking of you, Bidx

<'> desperate <'> I'm so, so sorry this has happened Thinking of you all <'> Bidx

(to the tune of Wondeerrr Womaaannnn...) Just as The Female Inquisitor grabs at the skulking figure's ear with her maribou-trimmed rubber-gloved hand, said figure lurches off and she is left grasping at thin air! Where is 'The Jester' off to now she muses, narrowing her eyes (although this is rather difficult because of her botoxed forehead ).She actually looks as though she's got a rather nasty squint So...'The Jester' seems to be furtling around in Captain Commando's supposedly secret cupboard...how The Female Inquisitor , Blue Rinse Woman, ASM Woman, Supersec, Delete Woman (well, all the other Super Dudes actually ) had laughed one rainy afternoon when they had gone through his drawers! Surely 'The Jester' wasn't after Captain Commando's stash of National Geographic magazines hidden under a pile of bri-nylon Y-fronts?? The hunched figure continues to root around in the cupboard before shuffling off to the BatLoo To The Female Inquisitor's horror the next thing she knows is that 'The Jester' has whipped off his trousers Before she can avert her gaze, his 'Young Ones' vintage pants are going the same way!! As a tremendous explosion rips through the BatCave, The Female Inquisitor swoons, her last thoughts being...'That wasn't The Jester because where was his cheeky buttock tattoo?' followed by 'Now that's what I call a f**t!!' Tune in next time, gentle readers...what is the fate of Captain Commando? And what is The Jester's 'cheeky buttock tattoo'?? (Answers on a postcard, please...) Bid I'm waiting, Bads...

Me: 'My bum is so large!' Jester: 'Yes, but not in a bad way!!'

We were very lucky with Connexions. His ordinary Connexions Advisor at his mainstream school first told me about Special FE Colleges for AS, which I didn't even know existed. She also put me in contact with the Special Needs Connexions Advisor. The SN Connexions woman was just brilliant! He was out of school and she visited us at home, and then wrote an excellent report about the meeting. I included this in our evidence for the Stat Ass. She also knew the LEA Out of County Placement Officer professionally, who asked for Auriel's paperwork even before we had the Stat Ass. They talked between themselves and came up with the placement that my son now attends. This is a special residential school for AS, which has an associated FE Special College for AS. I honestly don't know what we would have done without our SN Connexions Advisor. Bid

Hev <'> Well done! So pleased for you both! <'> Bid

Brilliant! Well done Annie!! Bid <'>

Hi Tez <'> From Year 9 things started to really deteriorate with my son, as the expectations and academic work changed within school. Around this time his self-harm really exploded, as did his vocal and motor tics (to such a degree that his specialist felt he also had borderline Tourettes too). The only solution we were offered was Sertraline, which in desperation we accepted. It briefly improved things, but very quickly made little difference. Again we were just told to increase the dose. My son was constantly having time off school with genuine headaches, nausea and dizzy spells. His challenging behaviour at home, especially towards his sisters, exploded out of control. In May last year, Year 10, I found he had slashed his legs with a craft knife. He never went back to his school. I took him to the GP the following day, who in conjunction with his two consultants signed him off school on mental health grounds. He had a complete breakdown, regressed emotionally and deteriorated physically. He didn't have a Statement, but with the support and advice of this wonderful forum I ignored all the LEA people who told me it was too late, and managed to get a Statement when he was just 15. Slowly over the summer he started to improve, and we decided to take him off all medication. Again the only help we were offered was Risperidrone in addition to Sertraline. When he stopped taking the meds there were no ill-effects at all. In November he was lucky enough to start at a wonderful residential school for AS. He hasn't looked back! He no longer self-harms, his out of control challenging behaviour has stopped, and he is confident and loving his life at school. He still has his moments, of course, but we feel he has got his future back. I wish I'd had the confidence to take him out of school earlier than I did, as I knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do. Looking back I feel very strongly that mainstream school destroyed the happy little boy I had before he went there. We feel so strongly about this that we're considering HE for our youngest (4), who is in the middle of assessments. Trust your instincts, Tez. Bid <'> <'> From the age of 6 my son began to say he hated himself and that he wished he was dead On the journey home from his initial visit to his AS school, for the first time since that age, he said 'Mum, I do love me' . I knew then that this school was the right place for him.

Hi This is just my opinion, and I do hope I don't upset anyone. My son was on various medication from the age of 8 until he was 15. I look back now and I see that he was essentially being medicated so that he could 'cope' in the mainstream environment. Finally even the medication couldn't help him 'cope' any longer and he had a breakdown through the stress of struggling in the mainstream environment. He came out of school almost a year ago, and then over the summer holiday we took the decision to take him off all the meds. Now he is at a special school for AS he doesn't need any medication, because the environment is no longer causing him acute distress. He no longer self-harms and his challenging behaviour has almost disappeared. The only solution we were ever offered for him was medication. What he needed was a different environment that understood AS. I would say now that of the meds he was on, Ritalin did have a positive effect, because it gave him a 'mental breathing space' when he was a little boy so that he could access behavioural therapy. He had two different meds for anxiety and stress, and was offered another last summer. I would say none of these really helped. When they didn't make a sustained difference, we were just offered a higher dose or additional meds. As I say, this is just our experience, and I do hope I haven't offended anyone. I know the agony of being given no help other than the offer of meds <'> Bid <'>

Hi Hope nobody thinks I'm being picky, but I think it's important to realise that a food allergy is very different from a food intolerance. Very different things happen in the body. The two terms aren't interchangeable. A true food allergy involves a rapid release of histamine by the body and allergic tissue swelling. In severe cases of allergy all the major functions of the body basically shut down, known as Anaphylaxis, and this is potentially fatal. With food intolerance the immune system isn't involved, and it isn't usually life-threatening, although the symptomns can be unpleasant (abdo pains, etc). It can also vary with the amount of food eaten. Food allergies are diagnosed by skin-prick tests and RAST blood tests. With food intolerance, there aren't any reliable blood or skin tests. Diagnosis is based on elimination and observation. For example, you can have a gluten intolerance, but this is very different to a true gluten allergy, which is coeliac disease. Sorry to be preachy, and I'm not 'dissing' the question of food intolerance and the role it may play in ASDs, just wanted to set the record straight! Bid If anyone is interested there is a very long and at times quite nasty discussion about Autism and allergies on the Jamie Oliver website...reveals interesting insights into Allergy Induced Autism!

Mmm... That sounds different. When Auriel was little there was a system used to help children with Dyspraxia to write. This involved using a joined, cursive script straight away, as the child didn't have to keep putting the pen off and on the page (if you see what I mean!). Don't know if that's still going, but there might be something on the link to The Dyspraxia Foundation. Bid