Stella63

Hi Just wondered if anyone is going to this conference on 6th October. The subject is ASD and related conditions. Iam very late booking for it as I thought I had booked it before the summer hols!! whoops!! Its at Guildford university. The link is www.mugsy.org/2007conference. Stella x

Good for you shortcake!! I have been in that situation so many times with OJ over the last year but NEVER thought to say why are you excluding him - that is brilliant! I reached the point where I challenged them that they weren't meeting his needs ( this was after we got the statement). I asked for a network meeting with all the multi professional team saying to the head, who was a complete waste of space, if you can't meet his needs on a day to day basis I need to put him somewhere else. It was a battle every day and I am so glad he is finished there. Although he is finding it tough at secondary school it is infinitely better than the c***p he had to put up with at primary school. Keep fighting and be reassured that we are all behind you. Stella x

Hi Just had to share this as it a first for me. Bit of background - OJ had a nervous breakdown in yr5 and was gradually reintegrated back in yr6. He discovered that he could sing and would sing to anyone. All his teachers and TA's told him he would get a solo in the yr6 leavers production but when they cast the parts he was offered a role in a crowd scene - he had some serious meltdowns because of this and refused to have anything to do with it. Two weeks in at secondary school (and it has not been without its problems but I will save that for another post), after 2 private singing lessons he has been offered a solo song in the school concert!!! He is beside himself and I'm busy buying up tissues - he is singing the song Where is Love? from the film Oliver which always makes me cry!!! He has also made a friend! He was so upset in the first few days as the other boys seemed to all be friends very quickly and OJ couldn't see that at that stage it was a very superficial friendship - but he has bonded with a boy who shares his interests in Pokemon and fantasy. So thats my proud mummy moment - I know that this feeling of euphoria won'tl last but at the moment I am holding onto it for as long as possible!! Stella x

Hi Lynden I would be really interested in knowing how the course is as I am booked to do same or similar in November. 4 days of lectures and then a 6000 word dissitation. Then you do 2nd module which I think is work based and then another dissitation. Is yours being run by Sheffield Uni? Love to hear from you. Stella x

Hi Can't remember about buggies but they are really good with disability issues. As Madme says get your exit pass but remember to take some paperwork with a diagnosis on it or dla letter. Have fun!!! Stella x

Hi Thanks so much for all the support <'> <'> OJ came out of school saying it was a 'living hell'. My stomach just dropped. He was shouted out for being last out of the changing rooms after swimming and the PE teacher who shouted is also his form tutor so now he hates him! OJ does fixate on the negative so have been trying to get some positive out of him and he admitted that his DT lesson was good but he said he hasn't made any friends today. Had to explain that it takes time to get to know new people and he has to give it time. I will be talking to my senco about the form tutors attitude - trouble is the PE staff are a law unto themselves - no mercy and all that - anyway I will persevere and keep him positive. Glad to know I have people around me who understand. Stella x

Hi Clare <'> <'> <'> I truly sympathise and understand how you're feeling. OJ could only cope in yr6 with his TA taking him into school every morning. He has gone for his first day at secondary school and I am having constant palpitations! He has to go swimming today, as a fun activity. He loves swimming and can swim well but he is overweight and very self conscious, he can't do his tie up yet, and all his clothes feel really uncomfortable and scratchy. He won't manage on his own under all that stress and I dread him coming home saying he hates school and we get back into the school refusal thing. The fact that I work in his Learning support dept and can influence members of staff to a certain extent doesn't make me feel any less worried! Lets compare notes later Stella x

Meant to also say the London Eye Mystery is a good read, didn't give it to OJ to read as it was a signed hard back edition, borrowed from school library. I didn't want the responsibility of him spoiling it but when he starts secondary school this week he can borrow it himself. Stella x

Hi, I started reading the 'Curious Incident' and OJ, who NEVER reads, started reading over my shoulder and then took the book away from me and read the whole thing - I was totally amazed! I suggested getting him the Kathy Hoopman books about an ASD boy and he said he wasn't interested because they weren't written by someone with Aspergers. I then had to explain that the author of 'Curious Incident' wasn't Christopher, it was an author writing in the first person. OJ was very disappointed about this and felt cheated! However I ordered 3 books by Kathy Hoopman for our holiday and he finished them after the 3rd day. Shame there aren't any more! If anyone knows of any similar, please let me know. Stella x

Wonderful

Hi I have had the same problems with Prozac for OJ. He is seen by a psychiatrist at hospital but it is a pain to keep going back there for repeat prescriptions so he wrote to my GP to ask if he could prescribe it. He was very iffy at first at it was out of his knowledge and experience but after a couple of letters between the two (instigated by me of course!!). He agreed but I have problems with the pharmacists, they phone the GP before prescribing and this is the same a year later! Still, at least he is getting it and it does go some way to keeping him sane! Stella x

Gown

Hi Both me and my dh are lefthanded and both boys are righthanded! The one thing that springs to mind is DON'T get them to use a lefthanded mouse on computer. If they learn with normal righthanded one the benefits are huge, using the phone whilst on computer, writing things down etc. This is one area where we lefthanders have an advantage!! I have got to teach OJ how to tie shoelaces and do up a tie before september. Any ideas how to do this when he is righthanded and I am lefthanded???? Stella x

Eyed

Time

Sparkle

Dove

Hi Tally, well done. I agree with Pearl and I think I am an NT person (with a few question marks)! I only ever had 2 friends at school and they hated each other which made things very difficult for me! I fell out with my 'best' friend at age 21 when she didn't tell me she had got engaged - I thought this was a really important thing she should have shared with me but she chose not to. It took 15 years to get back in touch, unfortunately due to my mums funeral. We are friends again but haven't talked about what happened back then. The relationship is good but not as close as it could be. Stella x

Hi We have also been many times especially during the very long dinosaur phase, for 2 boys it was many years long!! Last year I took oJ as a treat after his Tourettes diagnosis. He was in his Giant Squid phase and had seen somewhere that they had one at the museum. When we asked we were invited to go on a tour of the Darwin Centre, just around the corner where they keep millions of species of animals. it was totally amazing and OJ got to see a full size giant squid in a huge tank (pickled, not alive!). He was on a high for months after. Stella x

Hi There is a fantastic folder you can download from www.autismtoolkit.com. It is designed for ASD children for the transition to a new school. I am filling it in with OJ at the moment. Hope it helps. Stella x

hi Clare If you get dla at middle or higher rate you qualify for ca. phone up the dla and ask for a form. Its much easier to fill out than the dla!!!! Good luck Stella x

Loin

hi Joe I have some Dr Who cards I might be able to send you. I go on holiday to Spain on 18th August to 1st september so will have to be in touch when we are back. I will get my mum to pm my hotmail address. Where are you going in Greece we went to Crete last year and I am half Greek! Bye Oliver

Dear Joe My name is Oliver and I am 11 and I am a boy. I've got Tourettes and Aspergers and I am also moving up to secondary but only 1 person I know is going there and all the rest are going to different schools. I would like to be your penpal cos it sounds cool!! Oliver ps - do you like fantasy, pokemon or yu-gi-oh?

Hi Di, I definitely think you are being fobbed off and I agree with Pumpkinpie that it is all to do with funding etc. Have CAMHS actually seen your son, if so have they put anything in writing about his needs? I didn't use the PP when I was going through the statementing process and it certainly seems as if they are not acting on your behalf. I was lucky that the school and the team who attended the first network meeting for OJ were all in agreement that he needed the statement to be able to cope with being in school and it strikes me that your situation is very similar. If your son has been missing lessons because he cannot cope with them, the school have an obligation to provide support. There is not enough money in the Action Plus budget to deal with this as they changed the funding last April and you need to push for a statement. I guess the problem now is that school is closed for the summer but first day back you should request a network meeting with senco, ed psych, Camhs and anyone else the school can get on board and try and work together to get a statement. On the question of anxiety and Aspergers, yes there is definitely a connection. OJ has been on Prozac since last september to help with this and it has made him less anxious although it has not gone away. Trouble is for him anxiety is also part of Tourettes and OCB so he has a triple whammy!!! Hope this helps <'> Stella x