candy

My son was dx a week after his 2nd birthday. If my HV had taken me seriously when I expressed concern at the 12 months check it could have been 18 months. Someone with a better knowledge of ASD's would have picked it up then as looking back it was glaringly obvious. He is now 5 and non verbal (and georgous )

LOL Helen I worked on a phoneline doing tarot card readings for a bit to bring in some extra cash but to be honest I hated it. I taught myself to "read" the cards when I was a student, years ago and it was my party piece but I don't really believe in it myself! I'm just quite a good judge of character. Some of the people phoning clearly needed medical help and I felt others could make bad decisions based on things I'd said. Paid quite well tho' Think you'd have to have quite a strong stomach for the adult chat lines too

I found your post very interesting Jaded, my son is age 5, non verbal and his communication is similar. His school don't teach sign/makaton preferring PECs too, we don't use it at home because my son associates it with school. When we've tried at home he posts all the symbols under the fridge He also communicates by putting our hands on or towards the things he wants or by leading us to something. Like your son he has surprisingly few rages. My son enjoys playing games on the computer and leapster some of which involve word matching etc I'd always assumed he was just memorising but possibly he is reading or will be able to as he gets older

Rackety's might be what you are looking for Shona http://www.racketys.com/index.htm

Hi Carole We're from Yorkshire and for the last 2 years have taken our kids to Northumberland for our summer holidays. We actually stumbled across the park you mention by accident too when we were driving home from the sea life centre in Tynemouth which my NT daughter (6) loved but my autistic son (5) didn't - he prefers outdoors to in! You are right it is a fantastic free park- the play equipment was brilliant too and both my kids loved it. We were so impressed that I wanted to write into my local paper to point it out as a model for good parks for kids that could be implemented nationwide. If it had had some wheelchair friendly roundabouts and swings it would have been perfect. I loved the way the play areas were enclosed and that they had smaller versions of the bigger roundabouts for the younger kids. The kids were having so much fun in the water fountains it was lovely to watch. Well worth a visit

Thanks all Baddad the OT was sent from social services and they will pay for the modifications. This is a means tested thing so we might not get funded for everything (although we are low income at the moment). My son's school harassed soc servs on our behalf because my son recently had a nasty accident related to this jumping (he also broke an arm last year) and the waiting list to see an OT in our area is up to a year if it's not thought of as urgent

LOL waccoe! No ornaments or plants left whatsoever. Thanks for you replies. What I meant was I'm scared he will fall through an upstairs window by either smashing through it (although they are double glazed) from inside to out or from attempting to climb out. He is non verbal and totally lacks any sense of danger Baddad what do you mean by staggering battens? That sounds like it might be thing we're after

Does anyone have a problem with their child climbing onto windowsills to jump off? We had an OT round today to assess our new house but all she could offer for the windows was some reinforced plastic stuff that strengthens the window. I would prefer him being blocked off completely so he can't climb up onto the sills at all. The OT said usually anything you put up they just pull down. Wondered if this was a concern for anyone else and if anyone had found a successful way to deal with it. Thanks

Hi Victoria we got the full mobility component for our son, i stressed the terms "severely mentally impaired" and "severe behavioral problems". You may have seen this already but scroll down for NAS advice http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=300&a=3330

Did you quote the reference number you were given the first time you applied as I think this speeds things up? We just got our second grant from them and it took a while because I had forgotten to quote that number. We were also told that each time you apply you are eligible for less. We got holiday money and a new washing machine this time but as we were eligible for less we couldn't get the washer/driers they offer

Hi Victoria My son has tip toe walked since he started walking (he's now 5). Like your boy he has amazing calf muscles and body builder thighs He was given piedro boots (boots with a weighted metal plate in) at age 2 to try to bring his feet down. They haven't really worked just made his legs stronger. He now has a pair that are weighted and have a strap inside them to bring the foot down. He only wears them at school as not surprisingly he hates them. I was told that it could cause him problems in the future something to do with his hips but to be honest his calf muscles are so stretched it's now uncomfortable for him to put his feet flat as sarah jane describes. Most kids seem to grow out of this but my boy hasn't. Haven't come across many others who have this problem long term either. A physio sees my son at school too re this.

Don't apolgise Geekgirl I found your post very informative and I'm sure others did too. Keep posting

I think the claims on the Generation Rescue site need to be read with caution. Maybe I'll be proved wrong but I personally would be very careful about this.

LOL at Loulou Me too. We mix the melatonin into milkshake. Feel like a baddie emptying those little capsules into his drink Don't think melatonin has a taste big mamma (might try one tonight ). My son is incredibly food faddy but we manage to get it down him

Totally agree Lucas. The title of this prog is pants