Minx

Hi I wonder if anyone could help. My 7 year old son was diagnosed with ASD at 3 and Dyspraxia. He is in a main stream school with a full statement and teaching assistant. He still does not read and has only just been able to write his name. The school do not seem to be addressing his reading. I wondered if he is dylexic. How do we get a diagnosis for this or does he need a diagnosis and should he be having specialist teaching. I do not know what to do next. Minx

Hi Thanks for the advice. Adam has lunchtime cover on his statement but the school already provide more hours that he is entitiled to so I do not feel I could ask for lunchtime cover or they will take it off him later in the day.

Hi They offer nothing at Adam's school, but they have suggested observing, but they never want to address dinner time.

Thanks Helen

Hi Yes he would like to be part of games, but he has trouble understanding the games and his reactions are not quick enough. Then yesterday he said children are calling him names. He does have friends at school but I think he is choosing the wrong children to play with. I have spoke to his TA support today and she is going to keep an eye on it. Mandy

Hi My son Adam who is 7 and has ASD is having problems in the playground. He has no supervision at lunchtime and today I walked past the school at lunchtime and he was standing alone starring into space. I am not sure whether this is happening everyday. Anyone else having problems. He is in a mainstream school and the school do not seem to want to address this. Mandy

Hi Anyone been called to Jury Service. I have just received a summons and not sure whether I can be excused or not. Mandy with two autisitic sons one 7 and one 13.

Hi I just thought I would let you know of a positive thing. Both of my children Adam who is 6 and has ASD and Tom who is 13 and has high function ASD have joined the special olympics. This is an althletic group for special needs children. They have trained coaches and enter competions at their own level. They are enjoyed it greatly and it is helping my youngest sons mobility. Thanks Mandy

Hi Lisa I know how you feel. Do you get any support from his dad? I have two autisitic children one 6 and one 13. They both want constant help and I feel like I am being pulled in two. I do not get any support from my husband and he can not understand what it feels like and thinks I am over anxious. So join the club. I often feel like at breaking point, but I have to pick myself up and start all over again. Sorry if that is no comfort. Mandy

I know the feeling. My youngest who is 6 with ASD my husband jokingly said I bet you will not jump out of the window. My son then went upstairs and try to jump out of his window (luckly we stopping him in time). This was extremely stressful and it is hard at times to think a head. Mandy

Hi Josie Welcome to the forum. I have a 13 year old with high functioning autism also who is in mainstream high school with a statement and support. We still have problems, but things have improved. Mandy

Hi I have some really exciting news at last. My six year old son who has ASD and stilll does not write managed to write the first letter of his name Adam today. He is a mainstream school with full time support. This is really a step forward for him, as he does not write or read. It is so good to have a small step forward. Mandy

Hi I have a six year old. Luckly we have a swimming club at the local high school pool and Adam has lessons there. He started off with me in the water with him. Then he progressed to going in on his own. The teacher went in the water and a helper as well. They put an extra helper in the water because of Adam. He has now progressed to a higher group, and just uses the floats. His coordination is coming, but he has great difficulty understanding the instructions. He has got used to going now and does not pull his trunks off as soon as he gets out anymore. It is a relatively small class but I resisted from putting him in a 1-2-1 situation, as I feel he his progressing. Hope this helps. Mandy

Did you take your son out of his primary school? Did he attend a special school? I think this is something we will have to consider in the future. Mandy

Hi I do not mean to moan, but I have had another incident at school yesterday. My six year old son Adam who is six was found pushing another boy yesterday. As usual it was at dinnertime, when he has no supervision. The teacher spoke to me last night and put it down to his medication. I think this is just an excuse, as Adam only takes asthma medication. I mentioned it again today and told them it was not due to this and they said we will see. It looks like we are heading for trouble if he does anything else. I feel the school are blowing it out of proportion yet again. Mandy

Hi Staffordshire was not on the list, so I have sent mine off. Mandy

hi I know how you feel. We are lucky in our area we have good support groups. My youngest lad who is 6 goes to a whacky playclub and the adults get to meet and have a chat. I feel this has helped my enormously. I have had to give up work for my son and this is my only social occasion. Parents are very cruel and it has got to the stage where Adam does not get invited to parties. The parents in the playground at school go out of the way not to talk to me. I invite children to play with Adam after school, but he never gets one single invite back. In the school holidays he is very isolated apart from trips with our support group. I try not to let it bother me, but like you it all gets too much and you feel like escaping. Mandy

HI I too had a carers assessment done for myself and assessments done for both boys with AS. They told us we did not meet the criteria. We wrote a letter of complaint to Social Services Manager, listing the things we were not happy about and asking for all information on our boys. After a lot of fighting for our rights it was decided that we do meet the criteria now and have been offered 4 hours support a week from Mencap. We are awaiting for Mencap to reply to us. We had all the paperwork sent to us, but it was all typed up, which I think was not the original and has been editied. I suggest you try and complain, listing what you would like from them. If you do not get a reply chase it up. Also ask for all your paperwork back. Write to who is in charge of complaints. Once you have done this you should receive a letter back. They are given a certain amount of time to reply, in our case it was 2 weeks. Good Luck Mandy

HI I think he had actually made himself feel sick. I think really he has terrible trouble telling me how he is feeling and using illness as I way out.. Thanks Mandy

Hi If you son has been awarded full time TA support, then a specific TA should be assigned to your son. In my case my son was awarded full time support. A TA was advertised specifically for my son and has been present since he started in reception class. I have noticed however that this TA helps the rest of the class as well as my son. Therefore the whole class benefit from support because of my son and the question is whether he is getting the right level of support, but the TA is present in his class all the time. Mandy

Hi I suffer with my six year old son with sleep. He suffers with anxiety and worries continously about things. Especially should he have done anything exciting during the day, such as going to a party, beavers etc. He will not go to sleep. We have tried cutting out all stimulation before bed, such as TV, playstation etc. He has to have complete relaxation for a couple of hours before bed. This helps a bit, but we leave him in bed if he will not sleep and eventually he will go to sleep, but not always stays there. Sorry if that is not much help, but I do not think there is a total solution. Mandy

Hi I have one son was is 13 with dyslexia and HFA. My youngest son who is 6 and has classic autisim has just started putting numbers back to front and letters the wrong way round. It looks like he is going to be dyslexic as well. It just seems to be another blow and something else to worry about. Mandy

HI He was originally all for going to Scout Camp, but I think also a boy he does not get on with was made leader and is experienced at cooking. I think Tom's self esteem was low and he finds these type of tasks extremeley difficult. He is very laid back and likes everything done for him. The faking illness is quite worrying though. As I can not always tell whether he is genuinely ill or not. He uses this to get himself out of situations. I think we will have to look at coping strategies with him. Mandy

Hi Anybody out there suffer with their child faking illness. My 13 year old son, Tom who is HFA fakes illness to get out of going to school regularly. The last straw was on Friday, as he was supposed to be going to Scout Camp and did not want to go. We had encouraged him to go to improve his social skills. He has been to camp many times before, but this time they were going to look after themselves, i.e cooking themselves, puting up tents etc. Obviously Tom finds this extremely difficult. I had a phone call on Friday to say he was feeling sick at school. I do honestly believe he made himself sick, but the moment he heard that the camp was cancelled due to bad weather he made a complete recover. We did no punish him and are at a bit of loss what to do. Mandy

Hi I have two children with autism. My local playscheme took my 6 year old autistic son to the usual playscheme and he really enjoyed it. I am hoping to send him again this year. Mandy