LittleRae

Hi Smiley Have you tried the Karvol plug-ins? you can put it in the room an hour or so before he goes to bed, and then take it out if necessary Hope he's feeling better A

Hi Just been reading 'How to Help Your Autistic Spectrum Child: Practical Ways to Make Family Life Run More Smoothly' by Jackie Brealy. It's a really easy read full of practical ideas - available from Amazon A

Happy Birthday!

Don't have much to add. First thing is I think it's crazy to have homework on weekends. Our school (not UK) gives homework Monday to Thursday, but none on Fridays - thank God! Guidelines are laid down by the school for how long each class must spend on homework (my DS almost 11 spends 45 minutes MAXIMUM per night). This is still Primary school. I have recently started a timetable at home to cover tasks. I don't use time limits, but he can see that he comes in, begins homework immediately (literally from the door to kitchen table and start!) so he doesn't get distracted. In the meantime I start his lunch, so he takes a break for that, then straight back to homework. I try to prevent problems from occurring, such as, if I see that he has more than 5 Maths problem, I will write them into his exercise book for him, so he's not frustrated before he begins. When he was younger I would put a sweet/grape at the end of each line of writing he had to do. Once 45 minutes is up, we stop. His teacher agrees with this. On his timetable he can see that he has an activity which follows homework, which sometimes spurs him on. One afternoon each week he also has OT. I have agreed on that day with the teacher that he does no homework. This work is more important and he is frustrated if he does not have time for TV, computer, etc. We find it works well. If there is something 'vitally important' we've agreed he will do it in class either that day or the day after, but so far there's been nothing Hope that helps. Good luck A

Hi Bikergal Don't know of any other games, but my son is almost 11, very bright. I know his school also plays it with kids up to 12 (last year of primary school here) A

Hi Hedders To make it fun, try the 'Socially Speaking' game. You can get it here http://www.tts-group.co.uk/Product.aspx?ci...ref=TTSPR595745 My son uses it at school and this way the whole family or other friends can join in too A

Hi Alli Sorry to hear what you're going through. We've had some small measure of success with getting out in the mornings - my son is almost 11. I'm sure a lot of it won't work with a 15 year old, but may give you some ideas. What I did was to get everyone up half an hour earlier in the mornings. We now get up at 7, to leave the house shortly after 8.30. Then I made a list of the things he needed to do each morning. I call him at 7 & make sure he gets up, then after that just remind him of the list. The quicker he does everything, the more time there is to play the computer before school. It's just been going a week now, but touch wood, it's made a huge improvement - and he still gets in his half hour shower. The thing is, I'm wandering the house, wondering what I should be doing! With school, he should surely be entitled to an SNA? I know it's a little different with Primary, but I just handed in the diagnosis and he immediately got 5 hours resource a week. When a few problems arose at school, the school applied for the SNA. If you go onto the Dept of Ed website, you should find details of your Area SENO (Sp Ed Needs Officer). The other thing, would you post this on Aspire? Lots going on there right now and I'm sure someone with a teen could point you in the right direction. Have you contacted CAMHS? I would keep at them - let them know that the other kids are affected. Have you tried OT privately? Not cheap, we drive from Navan to Swords each week (for 18 mths now) but we have made huge strides with Sensory Problems. Hope you get some help soon A

3 metres!!! (and i think he fell that distance!) oh well, it is monday morning

Congratulations & well done

An emotional time for you. Well done Adam

The Neil That's fabulous. It gives lots of information without overloading. You should be very proud. I'd be very surprised if this does not make a difference to your colleagues. Well done A

Have to applaud D's teacher this year. In her words she's 'not hung up on homework' I've often written notes in his journal to explain that he had spent the required 90 minutes but had only had time to complete half the work. Once I asked him what comment she had made: 'nice handwriting D!' lol And during the regular Friday tests, he often only gets half the maths done. Instead of like last year, when he'd get 10/20 done and get 50%, this year's teacher marks him 10/10. Now that's the attitude I like! A

Definitiely my philosophy & I do my best to live up to it everyday....

Mel <'> <'> <'> <'> Would you consider getting an advocate to contact SS on your behalf? Someone who knows you. Thinking of you A

Hi Della I'm in Ireland. Do you want to PM me the name of the Irish Psychologist & I'll see if I can find out anything about him/her? A

Hi Lindy-Lou Heard about this a few years ago when I was reading up on AS, post diagnosis. Don't know if I believe in it... for more info try these: http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2002-12...ws/feature.html http://skepdic.com/indigo.html Good luck A

A useful book for your son & his college tutors might be 'Succeeding in College with Asperger Syndrome A student guide' by John Harpur, Maria Lawlor and Michael Fitzgerald. Available on Amazon. Also if you look up the oasis website, they have some useful articles 'PREPARING TO BE NERDY WHERE NERDY CAN BE COOL: COLLEGE PLANNING FOR THE HIGH FUNCTIONING STUDENT WITH AUTISM' by Lars Perner, Ph.D. http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/

Thanks for that Good paper BTW A

Are there fewer papers than previously advertised? Or will these come later?

Guess that could include all of us lol! Was very impressed by this conference last time - looking forward to it

Happy Birthday Daisy. Hope it's a good one!

Hi LizC I agree with Daisy's suggestion. My DS who is 10 has always been a nightmare getting out in the morning. This school year I wake him at 7am, giving him 90 minutes before we have to leave the house. Once he is showered and dressed he plays his computer, has breakfast & plays some more computer before we have to leave. It's made an amazing difference - he has been on time for school every morning now for 3 weeks. This is the first time this has happened in 3-4 years... I find he's calmer & if things do go wrong we have lots of time for him to calm down - I usually let him know 10 minutes in advance of when we will leave and this seems to work well. Good luck A

Have always heard no nuts until at least 5. The earlier you try them, the greater the likelihood of developing allergies. A

Hi Karen Hope this doesn't come out the wrong way, but here goes.... I think you have to treat each child separately and do what is best for each. OK it would be easier to have them together, but if you only had your elder child to consider, what decision would you make regarding his future? I know we always seem to put our AS children first as they find it so much harder, but I often have to step back and say to myself, 'don't forget about NT child - she won't raise/educate herself'... Sorry, hope this doesn't come across as preachy... I think in something as important as this decision, you have to disregard what may happen in 3 years. After all, a super-duper ASD specific school may open at the end of your road ( ) - would you still be happy with where you sent your elder son? Good luck - tough decision A

<'> <'> <'> Sometimes the unknown is more scary than reality. If you don't check it out, you'll always be worrying. If it comes to the worst, you'll cope. <'> <'> A