elainem

Hi, my 5 yr old twins did their 2nd nativity today. Last year ASD one was taken out of church as so distressed and Nt (??) one was very anxious. This year they both participated. ASD one in the practice was v miffed not to be given a line and asked for one. Don't know if he was given one but he said one anyway Both of them were amazing. I wiped away the odd tear and tried to retain my composure. When I got home I could hardly breathe from holding it all in. I just cried and cired from the sheer joy of it. My dh said - I thought you were happy!! Well I am, and then some. I am sorry to brag, but honest to god I never thought I would see the day. Our kids are amazing. Elainex

fabulous, well done Char We have ours tomorrow so fingers crossed Elaine

everyone comments on my ds's looks. amazing huge blue eyes and a big mop of floppy white blonde hair. just the other day an old lady stopped him when with my mum she he'd been kissed by the angels Elaine

Hi, the major realisation for me is how fragile my son's world is. We seem often to be tootling along quite nicely and then the tiniest thing will cause a major disruption to his (and ours) life. It is as though he is permanently teetering on the brink. It reminded me that it is very easy to fall into complacency around our children and forget to do some of the things they need eg visual timetable, prep etc Elaine

Hi when my ds was assessed EP observed him at play and in various nursery situations and came back a second time to do a battery of cognitive tests, she also met me to discuss ds. she then compiled a comprehensive report. Elaine

ooohhhh thanks, my ds has terrible pencil grip - I will give a try. Elaine

Hi Elun, this is huge dilema for me, so I know how you feel. I work as an Employment Law Advisor on a telephone advice service. It is a 24 hour service so I work 3 evenings (12 hours in total) and pick up a morning extra hours when I can. I find the job stressful and would love to do something else even for less money (current role is fairly well paid) but the hours would always be a problem. At least with this job I don't have to phone in sick when the kids are ill (often with ASD one who seems to have no immunity!), or we have an appt, or even just had a cr*p time getting them to school etc. I don't know what the answer is - I have balanced my work and family life but at some cost - I am constantly stressed through work - (and we all have enough stress just coping with family life!). I will be interested to read others replies. ps the other thing of course is that we are always skint as I work so few hours, would love to do more but just can't cope on top of everything else. Hope you find a workable solution Elainex

happy birthday Elaine

last day for delivery in our area is 22/12 I have just completed my order and all the delivery slots are now gone. I just did an old order and will go in and amend during that week, just wanted to get slot booked. If you shop on-line probably need to do it quickly for that Xmas date. Elaine

sorry you are in this situation. sounds likely he could have been dared. my ds is often egged on to do things by 'friends'. My ds is also pretty good once things have been spelled out. Perhaps your son did not explicitly know he was wrong. It would not occur to me to say to my son he should not steal, I would expect him to just know, but why should he? Often we have to say every little thing. I would bet he will be fine now he realises. Try not to worry.... Elaine

hello to all newbies this is an excellent non-judgemental forum. Elainex

it is heartbreaking and we have similar experiences. the saddest thing for me is that our ds's twin brother is such a fairweather friend. (twns aged 5). play together beautifully at home but at school ASD twin gets totally sidelined and NT twin play with his NT friends. I find it very difficult trying to balance the needs of both children. in fact I don't think I have yet found a balance. I find I drink a lot of wine and cry a lot (sorry I am being a bit flippant although actually it is failry true ) Elaine

sorry about the typos didn't know how to edit

I am not sure if I am on the right track here but here goes. Our twin ds are now 5 one has ASD, not been placed on the specturm by Psych but not deemed to be HFA - I would say somewhere around the mild to middle of the functioning end if such a thing exists. We got dx at 4.5 and had know ourselves some time before. However even before our own awareness we always know something and I always had a sense that it was important to give my ds as many experiences as I could, because I felt that he needed the experience to know these things were ok. Not making lot of sense. Ok, for instance last year we went to the Xmas market in Manchester - loads of sensory input esp noise and smell. My ds was distraught - but my other ds was distraught at the thought of going home. So we walked round and I held ds close and reassured him. Only helped a bit. We then walked up the road to Exchange square where there was hige ferris wheel. Ds could not walk past it or even look at it. This year he asked to do it all again, so we did. The marker was still a bit scary for him but much better and he WENT ON the ferris wheel and had a great time. Sometimes I wonder if I am doing the right thing because I do push him out of his comfort zone, not too far and I am always there to reassure. In every instance I have done this it has paid dividends, maybe not straight away. I firmly beleive my ds has to be challenged to some extent, if he wasn't he would be in his safe little cocoon at home. Not sure if this is the sort of thing you meant Elaine

Simon, this has been a very difficult subject and I think you have written a very honest, fair and balanced reply. I would have taken about 3 weeks to write what you have. At the end of the day all we can feel is compassion. Elainex

I would also def say go for the swimming here. explain to the ot and ask him or her to rearrange. your ds loves to swim and that is enough reason in itself apart from the fact that whatever they do in ot I would not have thought would match the skill/ability swimming needs in terms of co-ordination and strengthening of shoulder/arm/leg muscles. Elaine

Carole, thanks for the info about the flu jab. def feel I did the right thing now, not allowing it. Elaine

I have read many peices about children who have regressed after the booster MMr. My ASD son age 5 had the MMR and I do not beleive that caused his ASD due to his poor development prior. However I did not allow the booster and I am not going to give him any other vaccines. He has low immunity and I would love him to have flu jab but am even scared of that. Elaine

money saving expert has loads of codes I always look there first www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk

don't know if it would help but my twins 5 (one ASD other NT?) are both awful eaters - have improved slightly by involvement in the planning and preparing and shopping for food. (particularly chopping of raw veg. can't claim a huge improvement but a little. they also like smoothies of fruit they would not normally touch eg banana. also we talk a lot about nutrition and what we get from certain foods. I have heard you have to give a food 17 times b4 it's accepted. Just pop a bit of whatever on his plate - we try this - sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't but it's worth a try. Often the food can't even be tolerated on the plate

if you wanted to order online but worried about the delivery charge I have been very lucky lately and obtaining on-line discount codes to get money off - offsets the delivery charge and a bit more. this is for tesco. here is the link if your interested http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=92862. can't promise it will work but I have never had a code rejected. i do still go to the store from time to time but really love on-line shopping. Elaine

Hi welcome to the forum, you are in the right place The diagnosis process can take a while. My son was 4.5 - having first raised our concerns when he was 2.5 years. While we were waiting we just proceeded as though he had ASD. Elaine

enter my dirty bedroom cupboard dowcn

http://www.hope-education.co.uk/webapp/wcs...earchResultView try this link. it's for a toy called Popoids, great for imaginationa and motor skills. my two played with since about aged 2. Elaine

have a really great time you deserve it elainex