elainem

I despair. Carole, at least she now has your support. Elaine

Hi Have found out today that my ds teacher/senco is leaving at Easter. I feel as though I am totally over-reacting but feel absolutely distraught. She is amazing, my ds had her last year and this year. She is a truly fabulous support to us and I feel silly to say I can't cope without her. I hadn't realised just what an impact she has had on our lives and can't stop weeping at the thought of her going. I feel frightened and vulnerable about her going and I think my dh is totally peed off by my reaction, crying all over the place. I know there is nothing anyone can say but just need to write down how wretched it has made me feel. I feel as if she is really the only other person in the world who truly understands my ds. Elaine

hi shaz yes I watch it when I can - I work mon tue wed evening but try to catch it on the other nights. i leave the kids to to it and have half an hour peace. very simple formula but efffective. Elaine

WWW.STARFALL.COM heard about it on this site actually, think it was Baddad my kids love it

Hi, I was interested in a vacancy but as I will have to pay b4 and after school fees was trying to work out salary, I spoke to school admin but wondered what anyone here thought. I know term time posts have to be pro rata to the number of weeks and hours worked. This post was 26.25 hours which covered the school day less breaks so to calc the salary she was using 37 hours as a full time equivalent to perform the calculation - but that seemed wrong to me. Does anyone know what the full time basic hours are for a TA. I know the money isn't brilliant but this calculation seems to be making it even lower. Any help appreciated - I hope that makes sense.

am a parent helper in my twin ds's class. work with all the children, mainstream. would love to retrain as a TA but kids are off ill so often I couldn't be reliable so have to work in the evening. Maybe when they are a little older (5 now) things might be a bit more stable. Elaine

with the pencil problems, has your child been assessed by an OT. My ASD ds is also very dyspraxic and has a poor pencil grip. However we are seeing small progressive steps. He has a handwriting prog recommended by his OT in his statement - OT came into school to train his teacher and TA - it's called handwriting without tears and concentrates on capital letters. I was worried that this would be confusing as in phonics they work on lower case, but he is doing well with this programme, It is very multi sensory. Elaine ps sorry should have said he is also in reception

HI it IS tricky I agree, we have twin boys aged 5. M has dx of ASD and he has needed this dx to access the help he receives. We suspect J may some traits of AS but at this time a dx would make no difference. We are going to play by ear and just keep any eye on. If we feel a dx is needed to get support etc then we will have him assessed (the offer is there from psychiatrist). I guess you have to ask whether a dx would be helpful. Best wishes Elaine

Hi, have just spent a fairly traumatic 4 days in DLP with twin ds age 5, one ASD (M). (query AS the other!! (J). M was totally traumatised by all the characters and they were in abudance in our hotel. So much so that the stress seemed to emphasise his sensory issues to do with smell - so the slightest thing would set him off gagging and being sick - cigarrete smoke, some food smells. Honestly I felt like we were some kind of side show, my ds chucking up all over the show- It was a really beautiful hotel and there he is honking up all over the corridors, the restaurant floor!!! I have only just learned that stress can emphasise the SID and need no further evidence now! NEVER go to Cafe Mickey with your ASD child - it feels like every character imagineable is in there and then at one point they belt out really loud funky music and all the characters start to dance, all the staff jump on tables etc and all the diners join. M nearly died of fright, I was trying to join in with some half-hearted clapping and boogeying to encourage J who cast his eyes downwards and tried to make himself as small as possible and mumbled erm erm I need to collect my autpgraphs. Singing and dancing by parents in our house is strictly forbidden in fact probably forbidden for anyone, anywhere. I know we should not laugh but we had to or else we would have howled. On the plus side, coped very well with queues, didn't need to ask for the blue pass. Went on lots of rides, some scary but coped well. LOVED the Star Tours ride. Coped amazingly with flying and lots of waiting. So, very glad to be home so now I can try to have a rest! Elaine

totally agree with Jen, think your son is probably has tactile sensitivy. Has he ever been assessed by an occupational therapist. Elaine

Hi I thought the problem was that most opticians don't have the kind of specialist knowledge to use colour to change sensory problems. It is a shame Ian is so far away but then my ds is a bit young for the assessments right now anyway. However, Ian has given me lots of advice via PM and also over the phone re using the Optim eyes lamp (which isn't costing us anything for now as we have on approval whilst see if get results). I think Ian is concerned to make sure that we get the right kind of assessments, that other not specialist opticians might be unable to provide. I know not everyone can afford the fees and that's why we shouldn't have to pay, should be on NHS. We already pay for OT and that's enough Elaine

lorry, you are very sweet taking the time to do that for me - this site never ceases to amaze me by people's kindness, thank you. thank you to all who replied. I also checked with Air France and you can take milk with you

HI, I don't know if anyone can help, it sounds a bit pathetic but really quite important to us. We are visitng Disneyland Paris next week and I have mailed them regarding some food issues as my asd ds is very picky due to SID. Their dietician is on holiday at the moment. I am particularly interested in the milk in France. My ds drinks only milk, water, milkshakes and hot chocolate, coffee. i have heard the milk is of the UHT variety and I am trying to find out if it is possible to get straightforward semi-skimmed pasteurised. DS has been quite ill recently and his sensory profile has changed so he is eating very little and we are giving him build up drinks which again are made from milk, I am worried if it it's the wrong kind of milk he will not tolerate the taste. Does anyone know if you can get 'normal' milk in DLP. I would take me own but I sure not allowed to take milk out of the UK? TIA Elaine

we have just painted a huge cardboard box that the kids are using as a car - multi-couloured like a hoob-mobile. they also like to use the internet (they are 5) - www.starfall.co.uk or cbeebies or nickjr. Elaine

That is excellent news. Ian is indeed a very kind and committed man. He has been helping us over the last few weeks. My ds is a bit young to be assessed by Ian so he suggested an Optim Eyes lamp, which we have on approval at the moment. We saw some initally very promising results in food sensitivities with the colour blue but unfortunately my ds has been unwell with a virus that seems to exacerbate his taste/smell/texture sensitivies (other children at school reported a change in their's too with this virus). So the intial positive results now seem to have vanished. It's really tricky as the lamp is quite expensive so don't want to buy unless we know it is having an impact. Anyhow, the co sellling the lamp has been amazingly helpful and are allowing us to keep for a further month. Really hoping to see the results return. It was amazing, he had a definate preference for blue and said food tasted bad with green! After just a couple of goes he ate 3 or 4 foods that he had previously been unable to tolerate. Thank you Ian Elaine

that's why I work crappy hours and always get stick at work for being part time - they don't get why I am at home during the day when kids at school. things is my AS ds is off so much with illness due to low immunity that if I worked in the day they would sack me within 6 months!! My hours mean it doesn't make any difference in school hols I am always there in the day. It's not nice though, some of the full time workers can be a quite hostile about p/t - but they should try it - part time hours equals part time pay. off me soap box now Elainex

I'm sure I read somewhere that he has now had a dx of Autism. Think it was in OK mag

it's even funnier 'cos my lad looks JUST like one of the those kids, big blue eyes and mop of blonde hair..... Elaine

Witsend, that is so funny and I cannot believe it my ds came in to my bedroom today and "mum, I've got something to tell you, I'm dead". How funny that they would both say that! He also told me he was leaving to go and live in Switzerland!!! Elaine

good luck

we always use the Haven sites, some of it is a bit overwhelming for my ds but we just avoid the bits he doesn't like. is great as so many activities included and usually near a beach. different levels of accomodation to suit all budgets. can I just add if anyone interested we paid for ours in part with Tesco deals voucher (4x the value of your tesco vouchers) really good deal - and if you get your shopping delivered there are some great money off shopping codes on money saving expert - I save about ?10 each week. sorry to sidetrack just as lots of us are skint thought it might help.

we're getting some real howlers from my 5 y old asd ds - he can't distinguish from fact and fiction everything he says is "when I was an old man........" or "in the olden days......" or the best "when I was a young man I lost both my legs." WHAT?? He has us in stitches, thing is I say is that real or pretend and he says real!!!! Elaine

I have twin boys aged 5. One has ASD (high functioning) is statmented and in Mainstream Reception. One is NT (?) so far, but keeping a very close eye on him. Elaine

I can only share our experience with our 5 year old twin boys on of whom is dx ASD (high functioning). Both boys had the MMR as babies and I do not think that there was any link between this and my ds ASD. However I did not give them the booster as was very worried that would cause a deterioration. I still don't know if that was the right decision and I feel angry that as parents we are in this position with so much uncertainty around this vaccine. Sorry I know that's not much help but just wanted you to know you're not on your own having to make this decision. You can only do your best. Elainex

hi not just drastic but discriminatory. they must make reasonable adjustments for this child. sounds like the dark ages - keep her at home indeed! Elaine