Tylers-mum

Aww, he's a gem! T always says that he loves me more than I love him (I have learnt the hard way not to argue him on that one! LOL) and he says every morning that I am beautiful!! Now if only that were true!

Ask my son what he did in school today or where he went for an outing yesterday and h'll almost certainly answer with an 'I don't know'. Leave him to his own devises and he'll talk about what happened when we went to America last Summer or when he went to the beach with my firends twin boys when he was only a year old. Like your dd, he can remember snippets but not acctually the whole event but the things he comes out with still surprises me to this day. He then gets frustrated that I can't seem to recall something when he asks questions about something that happened months or even years ago!

I think there will be a lot of people here who have had the same misfortune unfortunately! I have been asking my son's teacher who'll be having him next year and she said it was changing all the time, they were told one day and it changed the next. We finally knew for sure yesterday, 2 days before end of term! What's getting me is that T has not yet met this teacher and everyone I have asked, has never heard of her so just my luck now is that she'll be a brand new teacher starting in Sept who has no idea of T's issues etc and how T is going to cope with new teacher and with starting juniors is beyond me! (((HUGS))) to you Liz.

I'm gonna book my normal 6wk holiday in the local mental hospital. Free padded room, meds (who needs alcohol??), food and hunky men to waiter on my every need (I hope! ), what else could a woman ask for eh! Seriously, I have 2 day trips organised but other than that, I'll be tearing my hair out. If T continues the way he has behaved these passed few days then he'll be staying for a 6wk holiday in the local children's home! He breaks up on Thursday so 4 more days of tranquility and heaven but after that...who knows!

Hope the school and LEA get their acts togther and sort this put soon. T had his school trip last Friday which was a trip to a near enough local farm. He didn't want to go and I can't blame him! He opted to go to the cinema to watch Over The Hedge and we had a great time. He really enjoyed it and it is quite funny. Hope you all enjoy it.

Yep, holding my hand wayyy up in the sky for this one. I have zero help from family and friends b/c they just treat him as an NT child and expect him to behave as such! Uhhh Duh! As for help, try contacting the Health and Disability Team at your local Social Services. They sort out respite and breaks all year round.

Thanks Tez. Will certainly be asking his teacher about it. I feel his spelling is age appropriate for verbal spelling but when transferring that to paper as you say, I don't think his spelling is up to par. Thanks for your help Tez.

Whiteboards aren't used in school yet but they will be more used when he starts Juniors in September. As for copying from books, I don't know although I will test him on this at some point today. What am I looking for?? I know that if I write the words he needs to write, say in a birthday card, then I have to write them in big writing and one thing at a time. Say, he can wriyte 'Happy Birthday' for example but if I then wrote what he needs to write under there, then he wouldn't be able to do that. He has to write the Happy Birthday' first and then I have to write From T under that for him to then copy. Know what I mean??

Always thought that T's spelling was up to par with his age of 7yrs old. His reading skills are great even slightly advanced for his age. Lastnight he brought down an educational toy from his room that he can press letters on to spell out words of his choice but this toy only allows for 3 letter words (he has had it for some years now). He was trying to spell out Dog, Cat, You, but spelt them Dod, Cac and Yoe as well as a few other words too but those are the ones I remember. I corrected him with the correct spelling b/c he was getting frustrated that this toy didn't know these words b/c it didn't read the word as it does with correct spellings. Asked him this morning (without the toy) to spell out verbally Dog, Cat and You which he did so without any problems so I asked him why he couldn't spell it on the toy lastnight and his reply was 'B/c it was hard'. Verbally he can spell out words correctly such as Look, You, No, Bed, The, etc etc. I've just had him spell them outloud as I typed but he can't spell 'Here', 'Then' or There' which he is able to read in books. His handwroting is HUGE and his teacher says that that will always be his case b/c he should be able to write smaller now at his age. I dunno what to think of this?? I'm lost?? Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this is please?? I dunno what to think.

Had an appointment with T's Pead on the 7th Sept which is our regular 3 - 4 monthly appointments. Got a letter in the post today cancelling that appointment and rearranging it for the 11th Sept but this time it is with his regular Pead AND the Child Psychiatrist. Called the hospital to query why this was done and she called me back saying that the Pead had requested a joint appointment with the Child Psych. During our last appointment with the Pead I had requested that they reassess T for ADHD and asked that she look again at the Connors questionnaires b/c I really do believe he has ADHD. From what the Peads secretary told me on the phone today, looks like I'll finally be finding out whether he has it or not but given the Child Psych is going to be there who is very experienced in ADHD (although I personally CANNOT stand the woman! LOL), my guess is that they are possibly going to dx him. Onlt time will tell but 2 more months???

Way to go Phas!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You go girl!!!

stressedmum - I soo wish there was a book like that. I did see a dictionary for Autistics but dunno if that's any good. Gonne call CAMHS tomorrow b/c I need help, I can't go on like this.

jb - Only the school but he doesn't ask questions there. I ask him when he's come home from school and is asking questions which he's obviously picked up in school and I ask him why he hasn't asked his teacher, he says he don't know. Makes we wonder just how much he is actually learning there.

Thanks cmuir and jb.

T (7, HFA) is asking constant questions about meanings of words. Everything he hears he asks what it means such as 'Sorry', Whatever', 'Ready', 'Gasp', 'Get set', 'Oh No', 'No way', etc etc etc etc. Everything he hears on the TV or what someone says to me, he asks me what it means. My head is gonna blow. I try to think of how best to explain the meanings of these words but it's CONSTANT now. It's not like a question here and there, it's all the time! I'm gonna snap soon b/c I can't take much more of this. Makes me realise just how bad his understand of verbal words are!

Report him to the police b/c he is sooo not who he claimed to be. Good on you for spotting the no-gooder!

Paula. So glad things are picking up for both you and your son. Unfortunately, you aren't the first and you won't be the last. I went through similar things with my son. He was 2yrs old when Social Services removed my son from me for 6long weeks over the Christmas period. I then had to fight tooth and nail to win him back and once that was achieved, I had a further 4yr battle to get him referred for ASD testing. He was finally dx HFA in Nov '05 but the battles don't end there. They are ongoing and there is always something that needs to be fought for to give our kids their just deserves. As the saying goes, 'Special kids are only given to special Mum's'. Hang in there hun and go for the jugular if you have the strength to!

Will be thinking of you hun. All the very best Karen. Keep us posted ok. TM x

T was assessed for ADHD and both I and the school were given a 'Connors Questionnaire' to fill in. As for the ASD assessment, I think I had already supplied the hospital with enough info so saved them having to do it. LOL I found questionnaires online which I personally gave to the school and I fill the same ones in also (so given the docs the views of both parent and school). After that I handed them all into his Pead who finally agreed to refer him for assessment. He was seen by the Autism Team once but I was seen by them alone after that and they sent someone into school to observe him. It was based on my forms and that of the observation that finally led to his HFA dx after 4yrs of fighting.

Just seen this book on Amazon. It's not yet released but just by reading the info on it, it sounds like Tyler to a tee. Will be ordering it when it's released. Do you understand me?

Last year T could not sit with his class without his LSA. This year he sat with his class on their allocated mats and did so without support! I was soo proud of him for just managing that!. He ran 2 of the races, a running race and a teddy bear race (had to pick the bear up half way through the run). He came last on both races which upset him and no amount of reassuring and saying that it's the taking part that matters most, helped ease his upset. I hate it when he runs in competition with NT kids.

T didn't want to go on this years school trip neither, of all places, his was/is to a farm and he hates smells and dirt (germs) so I decided it best to keep him home. Had a word with his class teacher and she said he isn't the only one not going so that made me a bit happier. Instead, T and I are going for a nice day out to the cinema which he chose and to McD. Hope your son's class teacher is as shockingly reassuring as T's was. <'>

lil me - Nope, this was the second time. The first time was 2yrs ago.

My special needs health visitor helped me fill in forms for the Family Fund last Tuesday during her visit. Today (8 days later) I get a cheque for a holiday allowance and will be getting an Argos card with 21days for a trampoline for T. I wasn't expecting to hear from them until at least Christmas time! LOL Did put in for clothes for T and a tumble dryer too but they weren't able to help with them. I'm off to write a letter to thank them and with that time scale, it has to be a record right!!