call me jaded

Forgive me, for this is going to come across a little blunt. It doesn't really matter what the ratio is IMHO, because what you need to know is if it's a problem for your child. So unless you send the test you'll never know. I also recommend that you phone the ARU if you get inconclusive results, because they can only send out positive results that are within a Standard Deviation (i.e. 95% certain of being right - it's a long time since I studied statistics, think that's right). Put it this way, they can tell you more over the phone. Hope this doesn't offend.

GMC not yet decided whether this is gross misconduct. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4679113.stm

The logistics of the school run and getting home to meet my son's bus mean I have to borrow a car if mine is off the road for any reason.

My husband (bless) cannot understand why I've turned down a trip to the open air pool this evening with all the kids except the ASD one. Could be because I spent all day yesterday with them (including ASD lad) watching his team come third in a football tournament. I call it time off for good behaviour.

If it were me (and it's not) I would stop. I say this because: 1. he could be getting an opioid hit (he's happier). My son is happier for a while and then withdraws. I recognise the manic quality to the happiness now. 2. the diarrhea (*dire rear*). Nearly always dietary related (or swimming) with my son. 3. the wee wee. My 6 y/o NT daughter wets the bed on dairy products. Not a big fan of soya either. We only do the soya yoghurts. Have you ever tried rice milk?

No, they don't have the right, but it's an option. I would ask for an undertaking in writing that your son will not have to miss an academic year at some point, because all you need is for the ed psych to move on and you may have to start negotiating again.

My son's been very 'off' too. I'm putting it down to a major dietary infringement (my fault) and hayfever. We've stopped doing anything new until he settles again.

Agreed it is a pain. The Pics for PECS CD is �35. I normally add a couple of things like this to birthday and Christmas lists as there are only so many DVDs he can watch.

Now for a question I'd never thought I'd ask pre kids: Any news on the poop front, pim?

It's totally ludicrous that you cannot access this and they are suggesting you buy your own. They will have paid for a User Licence, but the program will not be in use 24/7. What about asking the school if you can come in and print off the symbols you need?[i did this years ago and they asked me to send them in a list of what I wanted]. I would even go so far as to ask them to put the reasons for a refusal in writing. Then I would take it to your Director of Education and ask how this problem can be overcome, within the remit of Every Child Matters. If that doesn't work I'd make a fuss with the SLT and get sharing resources written into the IEP/statement. Sometimes it's a case of educating the educators.

What about putting a bit in his soya milk?

Have you looked at the TEACHH resources in toilet training? They have lots of suggestions. I put a link to the TEACHH website under resources. FWIW I, too, think it's not feeling the need to go. For my son I think it was connected to his abnormal pain response (he just didn't feel any). This in turn I suspect is connected to the food allergy/intolerence difficulties: he was in constant discomfortand and couldn't differentiate what different pains meant. Aaaanyhooo, that's just my considered if alternative opinion.

I would appeal this. First of you need to ask for a copy of the school's Exclusion policy and check that they have actually followed all of the procedures set down in it. Then you need to see if they have been dicriminatory. Have a look at this: http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2099930 I would ask whether the staff involved have had autism-specific training. If so, how much and what did it consist of. There was a case reported in the TES about a year ago which is almost identical except the condition was ADHD. The family won their appeal. I have a copy of the cutting on my PC. If you PM your email address to me I will pass it on to you.

I've seen this in Sainsbury's but never had the nerve to try it. Let me know how you get on

Bombs have been an ever-present threat for the past 30 years or so. I remember hearing a bomb go off very loudly nearby way back in the 90's and was trapped inside a building for the best part of the day/night whilst they were looking for a strongly suspected 'secondary'. The office I used to work in had a notice board at the security desk which told you which state of alert the city was in. I am, however, thinking of all those who are waiting for loved ones. My husband isn't home yet but we've been in contact all day. Who was it that said, 'Don't let the b@ggers get you down'?

It's almost (but not quite) as if nothing has happened here in West London. The tube is shut, but it feels just like a strike day. People walking down to the mainline station with gritty determination to get home. Not panicky at all. I think it is much harder to watch from a distance. Had loads of phone calls today. Overseas calls are having trouble getting through. My heart goes out to anyone still waiting for news.

Anybody else follow this comic strip? http://www.ucomics.com/clearbluewater/2005/07/06/

Malika You need to contact the National Autistic Society advocacy for education service. They have links with a firm of solicitors (Clifford Chance, I think) who can give further help.

I think he's doing fine. Even the dreaded Maxwell felt sorry for him (or was he using him to gain alcohol?) I guarantee someone will take on the role of his protector.

he he Took my daughter shopping with me the day we bought the pancake mix.

My NT 4 y/o has graduated from wooden train sets to model villages made from Lego. We took him to Bekonscot model village in Beaconsfield and he loved it. I had to google model villages and some kind soul has got village buildings to download and colour in and cut out, so they went round the train track first. Then he had some road from Father Christmas/ELC and just lately a Fire Station from Lego. There are millions of Lego collector websites and we are working our way through them and holding out for a trip to Legoland 'if he is a very good boy' some time during the school holidays. Great, says, Liz. So now we can trip over Lego as well as the trains. Slightly less expensive than 'big boys train sets' which he will have to be much older to appreciate anyway. He has his eye on a garden railway when he's a man. Think he's going to be a softie southerner Fred Dibnah.

My 11 y/o son does this. He also empties every CD, video, DVD from the case and destroys the case, including ripping out the paper insert and tearing that. He also empties book shelves (did this at the weekend), throwing books down one at a time, spent a time emptying out drawers which was thankfully short-lived. Don't know what is at the root of this but I suspect visual processing problems: too much info to take in, words moving on the page or some other 'visual dyslexia' type problem, so he removes the stimulus. I suspect he feels quite ill/dizzy at all the visual stimulus. When he entered a large room he used to crouch down to cope. We have removed everything from bedroom his apart from a bed (!), chest of drawers and a TV, ancient video player and five or six tapes (no cases). He is happy with it like this. With books we managed to confine the ripping to magazines only. I'm not sure how we managed this. I know for a while we had very few books because I got tried of putting them all back on the shelves every night after he went to bed. We have a cupboard at the top of our stairs which is full of books we want to keep, the rest has gone to charity. We have a small shelf of books in our 'playroom' and it is these that he emptied over the floor. My daughter has her special books tucked away in a couple of shoe boxes. It has taught her to look after things she treasures. During the period without books I made him a photo album story book about his day and it really became his treasured possession. It was an A4 display folder and really quite robust. We read it every evening. So no solution from us, other than remove the stimulation.

I ahven't been able to watch much but think the housemates have all cottoned on apart from Vanessa.

On the bread, even I can do the Orgran mixes that you throw into a breadmaker. The tomato and basil one is even quite nice. Their apple and cinnamon pancakes are bluuuurghhh, though. My local Tesco has these in their organic dry goods isle. I also find that if I take the trouble to find a customer suggestion card and fill it out, two weeks later what I've asked for is on the shelves.

My son had his annual shearing at the weekend - we chase him around the kitchen with a pair of clippers. We are fortunate that he has very curly hair. My non verbal child has managed to tell school that we did it on Sunday, which is nice because now I know for sure that he understands the days of the week.