call me jaded

Our parents group must be making progress if we get invites like this. No agenda Not on anyone's expenses Just a chat and some work we had huge input into won an award last week.

Strike out profound and it's a bit more accurate.

Did we watch the same film? lol. I got the message that you too could have a child that can type if you spend lots of money on therapy. Must watch again.

Facilitated communication BD. I didn't hear the word 'cure' BD, think you might have made a bit of a leap there. I saw one very proud dad who had been through a rollercoaster of emotions and a journalist doing his best to expose that! Trapped inside a non-functioning body makes a very good storyline in a Daily Mail kind of way. I also assumed there was a bit of slick editing becasue the actual process would be very slow. It's obviously a frequently expressed doubt as there's a page on her site called And YES I can type on my own with some film of her doing it. My other thought was that it was probably not the therapy other than a motivator had been found. You don't need an expensive SLT to do that. However I could identify entirely with the sensory overload description. We definitely live with that. When he was younger I couldn't touch him at all, he flinched; he has this thing about large open halls - he can't actually stay in them; and supermarkets make him lie down, can predict quite accurately how long he'll last - can we do a pint of milk, or will we be able to get some baked beans too. Overall it seemed like the kind of autism we live with - all the comments about not sitting up or walking when she was young rang true, and many other remarks. It wouldn't surpise me in the least if DS could learn to type - we're on the edge of that I think. Debating whether I could use home made chocolate brownies as the motivator

We have summer uni called Go for It here arranged by the youth service at the council - activities from 5 years to about 25 years. We are signing up.

See very many similarities to my DS, although he's not so hyper nowadays. He cannot use a remote to change over the TV channel but this year he just started using i-player completely out of the blue and will find exactly what he wants on it. It has made my life so much easier. Have plans for the summer with an i-pad. Maybe I should withhold food

You can take control of this a little and write frequesting statutory assessment. Draft letter from the IPSEA website: In the first bit I would put something like 'needs arising from a diagnosis of autism (and anything else) following multidisciplinary assessment on [whatever the date was], copy report enclosed. In the second part quote the phrase from the report that says his needs are complex and hard to identify, plus anything about the type of support they say he will need. HTH

lol Kez! I personally think that ADHD is a life-long condition but that adults find coping mechanisms, some of them legal, quite a few of them not. Having observed it close up (DS has it) I think that being permanently in a hyped up state must be awful. One of the very first break thorughs I had was to connect red food colouring with DS's attention span. He could really only look at something for a couple of seconds and nursery was using pink milk as a reward. He is now totally additive-free in his diet and it makes a HUGE difference. Something I wouldn't have believed unless I'd seen it with my own eyes. What we do is based on the Feingold diet, lots of info on the Hyperactive Children's Support Group website.

Lolly - it probably wasn't what the man said but the tone of it that was scarey. Have a good screammmmmmm! It's great stress relief!!!

I knew it was something of the sort. Can you also take on board that someone with a different opinion to yours isn't calling you a liar? There is no absolute proof either way, though I like your attempts to get some evidence for your case. 'Night Kez!

Que? This is what I wrote: Didn't mention numbers at all. Putting my Mod hat on now - can you all please be more careful when posting to make sure any comments made about other posters are accurate? It would save so much of the disharmony that seems to be rife here at the moment.

Adults with ADHD tend to self-medicate - smoking, normally and then on to substance abuse. I used to work with someone very very successful at what he did who used cocaine in a similar way to children being prescribed Ritalin. He went into the Priory for addiction and came out on, yes you've guessed it, Ritalin!

Well I haven't re-read it but I thought you communicated well on the thread yesterday. Hope you will reconsider and stay.

Thank you mumble I will read that properly later. Think I will close the thread now as trampolining lessons beckon.

I'm all for that!

[my bold] BD have a look at Post #20 in this thread. You seem just a little smug. I'm sure you will. I'm uncertain whether you think I've taken your comments as a personal attack. Just to let you know that the thought didn't cross my mind. I've not really bothered to say this before but I find distinctions between HFA and LFA bizarre. Autism is autism. Yes, we agree. This is a very complex sentence! My own experience of what is labelled LFA is that there is no motivation to learn. DS knows that he shouldn't take off his clothes, but no sanction or reward outweighs the fact that he does not want to be in the doctor's surgery. It's quite high level thinking to realise that he will achieve his desired outcome by doing something he knows will result in me removing him. Various teachers have commented to me over the years that he is 'clever'. There are some wonderful sweeping statements about LFA on this forum and I do wish people would desist. I doubt though that I'll point out every single case as it gets a little boring. Choose to pretend or have not yet got the skills to work out what's going on? How can you judge? Having crested my own particular learning curve I can get to the root of most difficulties fairly swiftly, but crikey it was really tough getting all the way up here. Sure. Most sensible thing you've said for ages. I'm done on this thread...

Equally I find the suggestion that 'low functioning' children are somehow excused inappropriate behaviours quite patronising. Inappropriate behaviour is just that. And the triggers may be the same in HFA as in LFA.

. Hi mumble. This was the comment that made me 'lump' you with BD. Both BD and yourself seem to be saying that you have been successful in dealing with challenging behaviour. I haven't.

Oh and fingers crossed for us on Tuesday morning at the GP. We struggled many times and I eventually said to my GP that there's just something about the building he doesn't like. He said he doesn't like the building either and he put a note on DS's file so that he goes in virtually straight after he arrives. We sometimes do the consultation in the car park though

I've just started reading this thread - can't imagine why I didn't before - and I just want to say to J's mum that I have been a total failure in dealing with some of my own son's challenging behaviours. This has not been through want of trying. I have been there in the library when he takes his clothes off. I have been there in the doctors surgery as he throws himself on the floor. And not as a toddler, either. At 16 he can and would do these things. The difficulty is, that once a behaviour has been learnt it cannot be unlearnt. Luckily for Baddad and mumble and all those other clever people they have found a way to motivate their ASD people to want to change those behaviours. There is nothing that provides a sufficient incentive to my son for him change his behaviour. Nothing. This does not mean that I ignore how he behaves. It is always work-in-progress. It does not mean that I find excuses for his behaviour either. He has behaviours that are not acceptable. Other than drugging him there is little I can do. I don't drug him. I avoid triggers for the behaviours whenever possible and plan our escape route for whenever it's not. I do not believe have failed to address the behaviours. I have made many attempts and for the sake of my own sanity had to accept that he is someone with severe communication difficulties and has difficulties regarding his environment that I connot even begin to imagine. In the absence of being able to say, 'Mum, this room is making me dizzy' he will lie down, take his clothes off or anything else he can think of that will get him removed from the place he does not want to be. The end result is of course that the challenging behaviour 'wins'. That's not a problem for me. I needed to learn and listen to what was being communicated. I have taken a different parenting route and allowed my son's opinion to be heard and respected it for what it is - a desire not to do something. It doesn't mean I'm a pushover either. My son and I have mutual respect for each other and tantrums are few and far between. My son's family (me and the rest of us) are the people who have to live with him, nobody else. I am completely at ease with how we deal with it. Text book techniques did not work. Anyone suggesting that they will if applied consistently enough judst hasn't had my experience, that is all. As Baddad is at pains to always point out that I don't know you or yours so can't comment. I just wanted to say I'm a 'bad parent' and content to be one.

ABBA when worse for alcohol I'm ashamed to say. Black Sabbath reminds me of my youth and we have several friends who (still) play in bands. I'm a big fan of live performance and DH gets lots of tickets through his job so I would go see just about anyone. Close to my heart are the Little Noise concerts run by Mencap. Seen lots of breakthrough artists there. A big record producer lives around the corner from my office. Nearly fell over myself seeing Mick Jaggar going in there once. (He's tall!)

I think we are saying the same thing AIUI mobility needs are additional care needs when out and about. DLA was conceived in response to physical care needs. It was later adapted to include some quite crude measurements of learning disability but this was definitely an afterthought. Here's the link to the NAS web page that talks about IQ and DLA

You could always get higher rate mobility without higher rate care if you are unable to walk. If you can walk but refuse to or are unaware of danger then you must qualify for higher rate care first. to qualify for higher rate care the child must need caring for during the night. There is caselaw that looks at DLA and IQ. DLA must not base a decision on IQ alone. We have had a paediatrician report as evidence of 'mental impairment' (the DLA term) and that has been successful. Will look up the exact case later.

Well it's tough at the top. So far I have moved a couple of threads and merged a couple more and nearly closed one. Seeing as I'm never far from here anyway it's not exactly been arduous. I did miss you and wonder what you were up to. Glad it was something as productive as gardening.

We have been joking about sleeping outside. I've been painting and decorating today, stopped before the football. DH thinks I've wasted the best day of the year.