denise2

We were in exactly the same situation and the school we were at felt that our son was controlling them, but he was really just trying to cope. We de-registered him and started teaching him at home. Once he had de-schooled he was able to explain to us that he was living in a state of fear 99% of the time. Everything was noisy and his senses were totally over stimulated. He told us that within 10 minutes of the teacher starting the lesson it was as if she was talking in a foreign language and he could not hear or understand what she was saying. He eventually became school phobic and he has been home schooled ever since. He is now a totally different child. Obviously this is not the option for everyone, but it seems it was the only option for us and it's working out well. Good Luck Denise 2

We home educate our 11 year old AS son, we were terrified at first, but it's the best thing we've ever done. Education Otherwise is a must and a mine of information. Site is www.education otherwise.org.uk Ask away any questions that you want to know as I know there are a few of us that home educate on here. Denise 2

We use white chestnut for our son and I use the rescue remedy. I have found it really works and helps to calm my son when he has anxious thoughts. Denise 2

Our son has good days and bad days. I like to incorporate formal and autonomous learning as he cannot cope with too much formal learning. However if he goes off track and I need to encourage him we offer a reward related to his latest obsession to encourage him to get back into it. It's amazing how quickly the enthusiasm gets up if there is a reward at the end. The reward lasts until he's back into routine and then it's dropped. Our son is 11 and AS. Good Luck Denise 2

we were given some suggestions with this when our son was at school and we were having problems getting him out. Very basically it was using simplified direct instructions and information. An example might be. "Your feet to my feet. Your feet follow my feet to the car" etc. Hence leaving out the stress from confusion and misunderstanding which can lead to stress. We were also told to make it clear that we would be coming home again.e.g. " We are going to get in the car, drive to the post office, go into the post office and pay at the counter and then we will get back in the car and come home". We were told that often parents say " We won't be long" or " We're just going to the shops" but a lot of people do not make it clear they are coming back and this can be quite stressful for some children with rigid thinking to work this out themselves. I hope it helps, it's really hard when they refuse to go out, we still have this at times and it's really frustrating. Denise 2

we had a room built under the disabled facilities grant last year. the OT didn't hold out much hope however our child and family therapy centre sent a great letter detailing the neccessity. The grants people then came out to see us and confirmed it was a mandatory grant on a safety issue. The process started in January and the room was finished in October, so don't give up hope. Good Luck

We were discussing this today. My husband works in the day services for adults with learning difficulties and some of these people are autistic, we also have a son with AS. Our concern is that as they shut the day services many of these adults will be left with inappropriate support and care which will in turn lead to depression, meltdowns and behavioural problems. These adults will then be called a danger, when they were perfectly happy and no danger at all while being given the right support. P.S. my son agrees with you about a capital A for Autism!!

Our son used to wake our daughter in the night along with other difficulties to them sharing a room. We applied for a disabled facilities grant to have a room each and they both get a much better sleep now. Have you considered applying?

Melatonin worked from the start for us. The first night he took it, he was asleep within 15 minutes. When our son went through weeks of waking in the night we asked if we could give him another capsule and we were told no. It's best to speak to the paediatrician as at the start we were told we could up the dose if the initial dose was not working. I have been told however, that Melatonin does not work for everyone.

It depends what age range you are looking for. When our son was doing Primary school work we did @school, which is http://www.atschool.co.uk/ this site gave you a short lesson to do and then a worksheet at the end of each lesson, these could be printed off and kept, they also mark the worksheets on-line. When our son moved to secondary level we now use learnpremium. This is mega expensive to use if you go direct ( approx. ?300 per annum), however if you join education otherwise mebership of learn premium is ?25.00 per their year. However I think it has just been reduced to ?20.00 as we are half way through the year. Learn premium gives you lessons in various subjects with activities to try. I find a lot of them quite difficult, but fortunately our son wizzes through them without much help. Often a lesson on here leads on to other things. Learn Premium will give you a free trial if you contact them direct (see the website). there are loads of free resources on-line also if you have the time to look so you don't even need to subscribe to anything but we just find it easier. websites: http://www.learnthings.co.uk/Index/homepage.aspx http://www.education-otherwise.org.uk/ http://www.ngfl.gov.uk/index.jsp?sec=1&cat=0 Good Luck Denise 2

we started home schooling our 11 year old son with AS a year ago, he had developed school phobia and had many stress related illnesses including being on the brink of depression. He had low self esteem, cried all the time along with other illnesses and behavioural problems. he was seeing the paediatrican 2 monthly as his behaviour in there was terrible. The final straw was a 3 page letter from the school to our son's ex-psychologist detailing his behaviour problems and putting them down to me not forcing him to go to school on a regular basis. He never went back (February 2005). At the start I was terrified, our son is of above average intelligence but had stopped learning. For weeks he refused to even look at work as it reminded him of school, then as the new school year approached in September and his sister went back to school he decided he wanted to learn something so we joined an on-line school and started to do some national curriculum and we gradually got a file together to show the LEA when they came to visit in December. Well by the time the LEA came we had a small file of work, but I was also able to tell her that our son had now been moved to 6 monthly appointments at the hospital, was socialising well and was learning life skills, his behaviour while she was their was amazing, he proudly told her all about what he was learning and the only upset was when she mentioned school, the tears said it all and she agreed he had been damaged enough. She recognised that he was also very bright and told us not to bother sticking to the curriculum for his year age group ( year6). He now does year 7 and year 8 work again using on-line curriculum work, he has told me he is keen to sit his GCSE's and his A'levels and he can now see a future. we at last have our son back and although it is tiring and stressful it is not nearly as tiring and stressful as fighting the school and seeing it destroy our family. our only regret is that we did not know about this sooner. Specifically with regards to exams, I believe a child will only learn if they are happy, our son plans to take exams at home when he is ready however I believe if he had stayed at school he just wouldn't have had the will or the energy. Denise 2

I home school our 11 year old son, he has AS and had developed school phobia. Now he has been at home a year I don't think he will ever go back as he is so much healthier, happier, confident etc. The LEA that came to visit agreed he couldn't go back, so be careful as once you get into home schooling you see a very different side and I can imagine it would be difficult to persuade children it's in their best interest to go back to school!! Threats of EWOs were what pushed us to home educate but I now feel they did us a favour as we would never have discovered this other side to our son. I believe that when I de-registered our son I took his name off of the school he was attending and I can apply at any time to send him to the same or other schools and go on the waiting list if neccesary. Quite a good source of infomation is: http://www.education-otherwise.org.uk/ Your local parent partnership may also be able to help. Best of luck Denise 2

We have 2 children and are on a water meter. We have just received the reduced price (social tariff). To get this we had complete a form showing we are on a low income and had to show details of why we have a high water usage. Our son has Ezcema, AS and continence problems so we qualified.

Our son knew his alphabet in both phonic and name by 18 months old and he was reading at the age of 2. We asked our health visitor for help and we were told " If you don't stop teaching him you will have to pay for a private school as he won't fit in to mainstream". We weren't teaching him. All the way along we were blamed for being pushy parents so we eventually kept it to ourselves. Our son was eventually diagnosed AS just after his 9th birthday and it all fell into place. he is 11 now and home educated and couldn't be happier.

The character with AS has been on for years. When I first found out about him I checked it out before telling my AS son, it was very stereotypical so I decided not to show him as it makes him really angry. Here is a link to the NAS infomation on it: http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=303&a=3234 Denise2

The only thing I can think of is make sure he knows that he is going as well. Before my son's diagnosis we decided to move house and my son became very clingy. It took a while to work out that he thought we were going to move while he wasn't there and then he wouldn't be able to find us. We had just taken it for granted that he would know he was coming with us. Denise 2

Our son got his diagnosis from a paediatrician and a psychologist (seperatly) without even involving the school. We started home eductaing him last February and the paediatrician has now referred us to CAFTs and communication team as we don't have any links through the school anymore. It seems to me it depends on where you live as to what the criteria. I also think a diagnosis is essential our lives changed overnight from the diagnosis, suddenly everybody was so nice and helpful and I was no longer just a paranoid mum!!! My son also found it very strange how nice everybody was to him, instead of treating him like a badly behaved child. Before the diagnosis I am sure people thought it was our bad parenting but because a doctor now says he has AS they will accept that. Does Ben have a sibling or a friend he can be observed at home with? Or any groups he goes to? My son was never observed with other children but he was older than Ben ( just turned 9) and they could see quite clearly feom his behaviour and the answers he gave them, so he got his diagnosis quite easily. Good Luck Denise 2

Don't forget to ask your MP for help with the DLA also. When I was "in discussion" with the inland revenue over tax credits we went a bit off topic and I was told that the MP's have their own department at the DLA office and their turn around was only a week!! This was about May this year. Good Luck Denise 2

We are going through a similar problem like this at the moment. My son started vomiting yellow liquid mainly on waking about 4 weeks ago after 8 days a doctor diagnosed gastroenteritis. I was not happy with this so we went back and we were told that he most likely had an infection and he had antibiotics. The vomiting eased and then stopped, but as soon as the anti-biotics were stoped the vomiting yellow liquid came back. They have now put him on another week of antibiotics and will see what happens from then. He is also a very pale colour and sleeping a lot more. In fact we know he is not right as he is so compliant, almost as if he doesn't have the fight in him. He has also described tingling/itching on his skin so we will be back to the doctors Monday but I will bear this in mind. Denise 2

The circus is just visiting our town at the moment but apparently it tours the country. Denise 2

We started home educating our AS son in February and I agree with Carole's answers. We had our first visit from the LEA the other day and she was really friendly. She could see that my son is still very school phobic and said that she didn't think it was wise for him to go back to school for the forseeable future. As my son would have been in year 6 were working on the last year of key stage 2, but after looking at his work she suggested he went on to key stage 3. She also reasurred me that she was not interested in forcing our son back to school but helping us to provide the education he needs at home. Before her visit I just wanted her to come and then go away for another year. However she said she is going to send me details of some resources and then try and come back in 6 - 9 moths to see how he is getting on. I found it quite a positive experience, however I am aware that this is not always the case. Education otherwise and the forums associated with it are very good for information also. Good Luck Denise 2 www.education-otherwise.org.uk

We took our AS son to a circus workshop last weekend. He cannot cope with circus performances but as the workshop group was small ( 3 including him and his sister) he went in. All the circus performers were amazed at his ability to spin things including himself. They asked if he had been practising, what do you think? He really enjoyed it and felt a sense of achievement at the praise he received and he now wants to join them!!! Only the fear of heights and all dangers and costumes to overcome first Denise 2

I really liked it , it made me smile to myself quite often. There was one thing that stood out to me and that was the red stripe on Curtis' bedding, knowing his phobia I don't think it's a mistake us parents would get away with!! I'm sure a lot of people that did not have understanding of autism would have found it sad but I didn't feel sad at all at the end. I also smiled at the bit in the hospital as that day I had sat in a doctors waiting room with my AS son declaring to all " Do you think we'll get seen before Chritmas" and " I hope she speaks to me this time, I have Asperger's syndrome but I'm not stupid". Denise 2

Thanks for that, my AS son is now home educated and thinks this song says it all. Denise 2

Who did she apply to Lindy-lou?