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Really I think that you need professional help to get to the bottom of this escalation - have you called his doctors for an emergency appoinntment

Personally I would be very wary of any so called professional who attempted to "diagnose" someone they had not even met

I thought that HFA was characterised by childhood language delays whereas AS was not

Sorry to hear that there has been a lot of problems in 2011 - although good that Sam's school situation has been resolved Can you catch up on the Uni course during the summer? I had to do this one year when I missed 5 weeks because of illness - I managed to get back on track by taking the exam I missed the week before Uni re-started

A couple of years ago the sterotype was "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime" - many people read the book and thought that the knew all about autism These days - who knows - probably Lisbeth Salander from the Millenium trilogy

I sent my family this link - called "Especially for Grandparents" http://asdrendrewolf.org/apovonautism/letter.php

9 is not an unusual age to start the process of puberty - in boys the average age of the first signs of puberty is age 9-14 I thought it was only classed as precocious puberty if the child was under 9 - ie 8 or less So age 9 would be within the normal range

OP is this an EP who you have paid for a private/independent report? In this case surely the EP will explain the reasoning behind their choice and why they disagree with the school that you had chosen? Sounds a complicated situation though with 3 conflicting choices

Usually the decision is not just based on ADOS - for us ADOS was just a smallpart of a process that included - physio assessment - psychologist assessment - paed assessment - OT assessment - SALT assessment - observations at school - home visit We were surrised that M actually fullfilled the criteria for autism (not Aspergers/HFA) on the basis of the test - however her final diagnosis was AS as a result of her results in the other asessment and observations

I saw this on the news - I think that the bit that is new is that they have actually identified differences in the brains of autistic people

One thing that I don't get - and that might concern me personally - is the exact nature of her relationship with the school as she is by her own admission not qualified as a play therapist - is she working with your son as a work experience placement as part of her training? Will her work be supervised in that case? - or have the school chosen her merely because she is unqualified and therefore very cheap I guess what I would be wondering is who will ensure the quality of the work done by this unqualified therapist when she is working alone at school with your son? I would be concerned given the rather judgmental statements she has made about autism

Does he have a medical certificate authorising his absence?

DD was given access to an alphasmart but did not get on with it at all - she didn't like only being able to see a few lines of work and a lack of versatility compared to a laptop - she also did not like it taking up space on her desk - espcially as her school used sloping desks In the end we went for a laptop - however school got an OT in to devise a hand training prgramme to improve her writing - they found that she pressed too hard when she wrote making writing exhausting and hard to read - this has done wonders and she handwrites mostly in class but types homework

My DD has done work experience twice at school once at a doggy daycare and at a riding stables It went really well both times although she was exhausted by a full day of physical exercise and work Perhaps you should speak to the school for more details

Could it be that this meeting is for the various agencies involved to argue about money and funding?

I guess the main issue for the LEA is perhaps not somuch the issueof transport - but perhaps being unwilling to have topay another LEA the full cost of a school place that they perhaps feel they could provide in one of theirown schools Hope it all works out

The balls in my child's ball blanket are heavier that ball pond balls and move around freely tomould to the child and aids relaxation and security - many children with autism like to be in confined spaces so this creates one in bed The balls are firm - not squashy at all and cannot be squashed - the child sleeps under the blanket like a normal duvet - we put ours in an ordinary duvet cover The blanket I have the balls move around freely -however there are some types where the balls are sewn into pockets

We were very lucky as we got one through the disability team OT and it did not cost us anything - we were also lucky that we got one of the really heavy ones (some are only weighted to a few lbs) whereas the one we got I can hardly lift but it made a huge difference (maybe 30lbs)

Does he have these types of behavioural issues at school? As I seem to remember on your other thread that he is doing well at school? Could it be that he needs more structure at home so he does not get so irritable and tired? I think that the nigh time computer has to go - it is very overstimulating for many AS kids and they are not going to get into a good routine and sleep pattern if the computer is available 24/7. Have had similar issues with DD and had to remove the computer for a week for her to understand that we meant business about the computer going off at bedtime Don't know what social services can offer - it seems to vary a lot between local authorities - there was a story about a seriously disabled, wheelchair bound 6 year old who needs 24 hour care in the news this week whose parents have to sleep in her room to monitor her breathing monitor who only get 3 hours help twice a week - so it is not easy at the moment with the cutbacks

Hi I really understand your frustration and situation - I think it is always difficult when there is a complicated history around the diagnosis as there are also so many differential diganoses and considerations of more than one diagnosis that must be considered before they reach a decision Also the fact that girls present slightly differently is also a factor My DD began showing clear symptoms at 2-3 yet we did not get a formal diagnosis until the age of 8 - there was the fact that my brother and 2 grandparents all died suddently within 18 months so the team wanted to look at grief and stress disorders - she also had a serious accident aged 4 which reduced her ability to write so all these things led to delays But hope that you soon get the answers you need

Really glad to hear that it is all finally sorted out after all of the trials and tribulations

Usually not When DD did ADOS they scheduled a follow up appointment for a week or two later as they have to avaluate all of the information against the criteria for ASD

I really understand that you absolutely have to have a social worker there - and it is bad that something wasn't arranged to make sure that someone else would be covering your case But bear in mind that many people - myself included - use the *on leave* message on the work e-mail to cover a wide variety *leave* situations including urgent and unplanned leave where I perhaps don't want all and sundry knowing my business - so it could also cover - sick leave - compassionate leave - when a relative is sick/dies - leave for sick children So it doesn't necessarily mean a planned holiday but could be something more urgent I guess for social workers there is no good time to take any type of leave

DD1 (now 14 AS/ADHD) had hardly written a sentence by the age of 11 and hated Alphasmart as you can only see a few lines of writing- however an OT devised her a hand training/hand writing programme and her writing improved dramatically and she now hand writes exams etc Apparently she was preeeing far to hard whick made writing very tiring for her

I think that this is why it is important to use a social story in connection with a specific skill or concrete situation - such as a change where the story contains specific and factual information However some school staff see them as a blanket way to improve *compliance* - personally I think they are inneffective when they are used to present the ASD child's personal opinions and likes/dislikes as somehow invalid - the type of story that says "if you don't like what we like you make us sad*.