Kathryn Report post Posted October 18, 2006 Hi Nicola, Welcome to the forum. Your daughter sounds a bit like mine in her areas of expertise, isn't it great to have children who can help us negotiate the hi - tech world we live in! Look forward to reading your posts - please ask if there's anything you need to know Kathryn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nic m Report post Posted October 19, 2006 hi kathryn, thanks for the welcome yes it it wonderful and at times like this i feel blessed.Nicola Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted October 19, 2006 Hi Nicola, Huge welcome to the forum. I've found it so supportive Take care x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smiley Report post Posted October 19, 2006 Hello to all the new members .......... My little boy is sitting next to me......... He loves the smilies ....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dooday24 Report post Posted October 19, 2006 hello and welcome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted October 21, 2006 A warm welcome to all new members. Nellie xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loupin Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Hi I'm new to this site but have made a couple of posts already this week! I can't believe how useful this site has become to me in such a short space of time! I have 3 gorgeous boys 6,4 & 2. My eldest boy has ASD, Semmantic Pragmmatic disorder & a learning difficulty. He is wonderful and tries so hard to fit into this odd world of ours. He was diagnosed privately at 5yrs and since then our local CASBAT team have confirmed the diagnosis and added a bit more! My middle boy had a heart condition which was corrected this year he is very sweet and fairly patient with his brothers ever changing moods, and no3 is cute! It was watching my other 2 sons develop that made me really wake up to no1 sons problems. I stay at home now as i couldnt juggle work and the boys. No1 couldn't cope in child care and no2 was too physically unstable. I have been married for 6yrs and the boys dad is very supportive and thankfully understands my stress levels at the end of the day(although does still moan about his empty sock drawer!!). He takes over some evenings which gives me the space to get to the gym and recharge! Im so glad ive found this site as i now know that there are more mums out there going through the same stuff and that what i experiance is real and not all in my head. Thanks for reading my ramble! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Big warm welcome Loupin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Welcome to the forum loupin I'm pleased you find the site useful, any questions just ask. Nellie xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caren Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Hello and welcome Really not got much advice to offer but hope you get some help Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted October 24, 2006 Hi Loupin welcome.I was so pleased to find I am not alone in having OH who moans about empty sock drawer-despite my having given up work due to our boys [ben 8 Aspeger traits and DCD and J 10]. Karen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallow Report post Posted October 24, 2006 <'> Hi Loupin, we have empty sock drawer syndrome in our house too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawny67 Report post Posted November 12, 2006 hi im dawn, mum of 6. have an 8 year old with aspergers and a 2 year old with severe global development delay and asd. also have 4 daughters. michaela 20, katie 18, beccy 6 and rhianna 4. have two grandsons called leo and dylan. im 38, married to lee and have a happy but busy life! pleased to meet you xxxxxxxxx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nic m Report post Posted November 12, 2006 Hi Dawny67 welcome. Nicola Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted November 12, 2006 Big warm welcome Dawn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scout Report post Posted November 12, 2006 Hi I am new to this forum today and, although I have posted messages here and there, I haven't introduced myself. I have a husband and 3 sons aged 4, 5 and 6. My husband and I believe he has Asperger,s our 6 yr old has just been verbally diagnosed although not formalised yet. It was us rather than school that asked for assessments. I went to the GP about once a year from when C was born as I knew he was different. As a babe, he screamed or slept but nothing inbetween, at 2 he did not have 3 clear words and yet could do a 40 piece puzzle. 6 months later, at almost 3, he had full language, fantasctic vocab and everyone said what a bright boy. But we knew he handled things differently and saw the world differently and was quite literal. Schools have thought him incredibly able and such a conformist as he loves structure and rules but he has always had a class of 12 and therefore has had lots of stimulation and attention. His current teacher recognises that he is a bit off the wall and socially immature although at the same time very academically able. We would not have him any other way. His honesty, excitability and sense of fun are so endearing and he has never, ever been malicious, hurtful or spiteful and loves everyone. He justs gets in such a pickle sometimes and overreacts to both good and bad things that happen. More soon, tired now S Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted November 12, 2006 Hi Sancha, I've replied to one of your posts, but welcome officially! I hope you find the forum a great source of support and information, Kathryn x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nic m Report post Posted November 12, 2006 Hi, Sancha welcome to the forum. Nicola Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted November 14, 2006 Hi Sancha welcome to the forum.We have Ben age 8 - DCD and Social Communication Difficulties.Ben is also very bright but your description of off the wall would fit him at times too. Karen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted November 14, 2006 big welcome Sancha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tash Report post Posted November 20, 2006 Hello Time to take the plunge and introduce myself as I have been reading loads over the past few days. I'm Tash live on the south coast and mum to 4 gorgeous children. Our youngest Tara who was 3 in September was diagnosed ASD last Wednesday. We have known for a while really but as she was so young we waited. In July the health visitor referred her to the paediatrician and she was seen in a joint communication clinic with paed and SALT on 22nd August. Was then seen at home and at playschool by speech and language and back to clinic last week. Luckily because she is a September birthday we still have 5 whole terms before she starts school so some pressure is taken off there. She is at a fantastic small playschool who have dealt with similar children before so they know the procedure and indeed many of the professionals involved as well. My other children are a girl E who is nearly 15, a boy K 11 and a girl M who is 6 who are all wonderful with their little sister. Tara is the most adorable, cuddly, and infuriating child you could hope for. She has virtually no verbal communication although she can speak on a need basis- i.e. drink, apple. She is not potty trained and shows no signs of being so which drives me batty at times but she is in the most part a contented child who does her own thing, loves Dora the explorer and Peppa Pig and bizarrely loves supermarket shopping (gets excited at the mention of Tescos). Thank you for your help already - that you have given without knowing it!! Tash xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted November 20, 2006 A big warm welcome to all of our new members Annie xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nic m Report post Posted November 20, 2006 Hi Tash, welcome your daughter sounds lovely. Nicola Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squenge Report post Posted November 21, 2006 Hi, just wanted to introduce myself-I am Leila, my son Ben is now 10 and a half, we live with Bens dad Simon and two mad labradors-Busta and Chewie. (Black boy and yellow girl) Ben has just finally been given a formal diagnosis this summer, about time too! I was asking the health visitor questions since he was about 2, because he did not talk like other kids the same age, just screamed at me. (Among various other things, an obsession with washing machines and spinning things and more...) They just told me he was fine and that all kids do things at their own pace, when I persisted I was referred to a doctor who told me that he could not be autistic because he loved cuddles and gave eye contact. He went to pre-school at the age of about 3, they almost immediately noticed he had problems-I think the fact that he was still in nappies and reguarly flooded their toilets by chucking the chalks & pens down there had a great deal to do with that! Because they could not deal with him, at their insistence he was statemented and then placed into a special needs school, but then within a year began a placement in a mainstream school and this soon progressed to attending the mainstream school fulltime. (Apparently he was one of the first children to do this, he was their "guinea-pig"...not that we knew that until this year.) We were assured that he had one-to-one assistance, as he had funding from the LEA-allocated through his statement. Over the next few years we were almost constantly querying the whereabouts of the one-to-one, as there were many incidents that made us very unhappy, Ben was getting told off of he couldn't finish his worksheets and made to stay in at playtime-he was being dominated by two girls that totally isolated him from the other children and much, much more. We were always assured that he had the help he needed. We had a meeting in December where we finally discovered that the school had been recieving 22 HOURS PER WEEK funding for a one-to-one helper for Ben, but couldn't account for even one minute of that-we were so disgusted! The lady from the LEA was very cross that they had even been recieving funding when Ben had never had any assessment for a diagnosis, so she asked for him to be referred for assessment. The school agreed that they would arrange for an assistant to come in to help Ben. This of course never happened. I finally snapped in February this year, when Ben came home saying that two girls had been touching him inappropriately, and that he still had no helper, so I removed him from the school and refused to let him go back. Of course the school tried to frighten me and told me that I would be reported to the education welfare officer and could be fined etc etc, but no way was I sending him back! Because I stuck to my guns, the ed.psych that came to visit us recommended that he might be able to go straught into middle school as he had been held back a year in primary due to his learning delays-he has moved on so much academically that there is no reason to keep him back anymore. This suited us fine!! Because of this Ben finally had an assessment, the psychologist said that he is one of the worst cases she has ever seen, because he is so literal. When they were doing the assessment (they play and draw and do sorting games), she put her head in her hands and said to the assistant: "My god, how frustrating and confusing it must be..." , she looked very sad for Ben. When she talked to us afterwards, she explained that she feels Ben will probably have quite a troubled adolescence because of the problems he has with processing information, and also that he is extremely intelligent. The conclusion of the assessment that was that he has Aspergers, and also ADD. We were told that because of his early language delay, the diagnosis must come under the heading of "High-functioning Autism" rather than Aspergers-but it is basically Asperger Syndrome. She explained that Ben is extremely comforming, and that is why the school got away with ignoring his needs, because he just smiles and nods when they ask him if he is getting on okay-despite the fact that he doesn't understand what they are saying, so they could pretend that he was fine even thought they knew he wasn't. We had started to wonder if we were just terrible parents and that maybe he was just being a little so-and-so, because he always was/is very well behaved at school and then when he comes home he lets rip and will hit us and himself, throw wobblers and generally be hectic! The doctor assured us that it is simply because he is so conforming at school, and he can let go with us because he feels safe and spends all day conforming, so when he gets home he can relax and be himself. It was more than just getting a "label" for Ben, it was so reassuring to hear that we are not the problem and that Ben is not just naughty-because we had started to really question our sanity somewhat. We are not bad parents-WOOHOO! I could have hugged her to be honest. He gets along very well in his new school, we have had a few problems with a couple of kids that have taken advantage of him by "borrowing" money from him at school discos/fetes and stuff, but we managed to get that sorted out. Most of the kids are quite protective towards him, and willingly help him out if he needs some assistance with finding his way around or understanding the work he has to do, he also has a one-to-one helper too. That's basically our story, I have tried to keep it fairly short but not managed very well, apologies for the length! We have run the gamut of obsessions over the years, from washing machines and anything that spins-including toilets(because when they flush, the water spins!)-Cbeebies, Terminator, Flags, Maps, Dinosaurs, Harry Potter, movies/film-making, Jaws, insects, extreme weather, and many more! Currently we are on extreme weather and insects/bugs-he has 5 stick insects that totally fascinate him, and some "Sea-monkey"-triops. He has also developed an obsession with freddy from nightmare on elm street and keeps badgering me to let him watch the films-um, I DON'T THINK SO!! I don't know where this one has come from and it does bother me a bit, but I just hope it will pass like some of the others have. He keeps trying to sneak looks at trailers on the internet, but we are ever-watchful and usually manage to nip that one in the bud before he can start the trailer.....I have told him that I wouldn't like to watch freddy films even when he's 18 because they are gross, but that just seems to make him more keen-aagh! I'm really pleased to have found this site, I visited briefly some time ago, but had no diagnosis so almost felt like I had no right to be here. It was very interesting reading some of the posts and I thought it would be a good idea to come back-glad I did. I actually read something the other day that someone had posted about their child being diagnosed with Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder, googled it because I have never heard of it, and it sounded like Ben to a t! I think that Autism, Aspergers and S.P.D are all fairly closely related though aren't they, so bound to be similarities between them. Extremely interesting reading. Anyway, that's us, so hello! And more apologies for making this post even longer! Leila Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nic m Report post Posted November 21, 2006 HI squenge welcome to the forum glad youare getting help at last. Nic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted November 21, 2006 Hi Leila, nice to meet ya ~ Mel ~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted November 21, 2006 Hi squenge, Welcome to the forum, glad you found us and decided to join. Great to hear things are working out for your son at last after your battles with the last school. Kathryn x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted November 21, 2006 Big, warm welcome Leila and Tash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gilly123 Report post Posted November 24, 2006 Hi all Son recently diagnosed with Aspergers Have two other children 15 and 6 wks - son is 9 Dont really know where to go from here - so much information!!! Any ideas will be appreciated Gillian xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted November 25, 2006 Hi Giily I am glad you found the forum.Don't worry there is lots of information to take in but you have come to a great place.The people here are very knowledgable and always willing to help.I have learned so much since I joined. wecome Karen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted November 26, 2006 Welcome to the forum Gillian. I've found this place invaluable. Look forward to reading your posts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jemimap Report post Posted November 29, 2006 Hi - just wanted to say hello and introduce me & mine. I'm mum to 3 kids, a 9 year old boy with HFA and 2 girls aged 7 and 2. Can I ask some advice straight away or should that go somewhere else??? It's just that I've really had it with this one. My boy has always found younger children difficult to handle, I think due to their noise and unpredictable behaviour. He gets on with his 7 yr old sister most of the time but he just can't tolerate our youngest. She dotes on him and follows him around all the time and this really winds him up. He's verbally quite nasty to her which I find really hard to handle. I try to help but I can't be dealing with this all the time and do everything else as well. Like now. I'm trying to cook tea, youngest is screaming for help with some toy, boyo has shut himself in his room to escape and middly is amusing herself quietly but always gets neglected this way. And because I jump every time the youngest shouts, her behaviour just gets worse. I'm exhausted. Any advice will be appreciated. Going now. Dinner's burning. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted November 29, 2006 A warm welcome to all our new members Jemimap - If you copy and paste your post onto your own thread I'm sure you will get more replies. Hope this helps. I'd better go, my dinner's burning too Annie xx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jemimap Report post Posted November 29, 2006 Thanks Annie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunnyme Report post Posted November 30, 2006 Hello! I'm new here and would like to introduce myself. My name's Libby, I'm 34 and have a lovable but quirky eight year old son called Josh, who has Aspergers Syndrome and dyspraxia. He goes to our local primary school and is on school action plus. He is very intelligent and loves practical activities but has problems with written work and having to concentrate for long periods. His handwriting is a big concern and he is given opportunities to use the computer for some written work, like spellings and projects. We are currently querying dyslexia. He gets bored very quickly in lessons and will switch off and curl up under the table when he's had enough. He is also extremely sensitive to criticism and 'goes off on one' if he gets told off. He is very unsettled this year at school Josh has a phobia about Doctor Who. Doctor Who cards are big at school at the moment but Josh gets really upset when he sees children with them. He was sent home sick on two occasions because he threw up after lunch. I later found out it was seeing these cards and hearing children talk about them that made him physically sick. When adverts for Dr Who come on TV, he runs from the room with his hands over his ears and won't come back in for ages. He is also scared of sea slugs. He's never seen a sea slug but has got this idea in his head that they might get him while he is on the toilet or in bed. He keeps coming up to ask me to check his back for slugs! Josh likes routine. He is happy when he knows what is happening and gets anxious if the routine has to change. He used to hate going into town but I started drawing a map of shops we needed to go to and list the items we needed then let him read the map for me so he felt in control. This worked a treat! I now prepare a visual map or list wherever we go so he can visualise what will happen. He doesn't like surprises. Current concerns for Josh are his numerous anxieties, sleep difficulties and fussy eating. I could write an essay really but I'm getting tired and my husband is begging me to make him a cuppa! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted December 1, 2006 Hi sunnyme, Welcome to the forum, glad you found us. I'm sure you'll find lots of support here: many of us will identify with the problems you describe. Kathryn x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallow Report post Posted December 1, 2006 Hello sunnyme, and also everyone else who have joined recently! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UltraMum Report post Posted December 1, 2006 Hello everyone - I haven't visited this thread for a while - great to see so many new people Welcome one and all! <'> <'> <'> Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shamu Report post Posted December 5, 2006 Hello I'm new to this forum and thought I'd introduce myself. I have a 3 year old (yesterday!) son who is currently undergoing the (lengthy) assessment process for a probable autistic spectrum disorder. I have a conflict of interests as I am currently on maternity leave from my job as a trainee community paediatrician - you can imagine how difficult I'm finding this James is an amazing little boy but his behaviour has changed dramatically over the last year - he was ahead of all his peers in language and communication and one of the most sociable, bright toddlers I've met. Since around March he has gradually withdrawn into his own world and become a confused but content little boy. Some of this has conicided with the arrival of his baby sister but the feeling is that this is more than just a reaction to his ousting from position no 1..... I will no doubt be posting for some advice on how to deal with a lot of the problems we're facing - it's ironic that despite my training etc I am still in a no mans land at the moment..... Shamu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted December 6, 2006 Hi Shamu, Welcome to the forum. Stay around, you'll get lots of support and hopefully a few answers too. Kathryn x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
