hi,everybody

[jacquelineh1468]

hi,everybody i have just joined.I am a mum of two children my daughter 12 and my son 10.I have had problems with my son since birth and i just knew something wasent right,he was diagnosed with hypotonia at about 7 months old but i still was not satisfied.After years of pestering he was seen at cahms and diagnosed with adhd and medicated at the age of 6.At the age of 9 he had a complete meltdown and after having years of bullying would not attend school,after almost a year of councelling he is now attending school for 3 full days and is being educated on a one to one basis.About 4 months ago his psychiatrist told me that she thought he had asd.He has just recently had a ados test i am just waiting for the results.Does anyone know what will happen if it comes back that he has asd

[A and A]

hi,everybody i have just joined.I am a mum of two children my daughter 12 and my son 10.I have had problems with my son since birth and i just knew something wasent right,he was diagnosed with hypotonia at about 7 months old but i still was not satisfied.After years of pestering he was seen at cahms and diagnosed with adhd and medicated at the age of 6.At the age of 9 he had a complete meltdown and after having years of bullying would not attend school,after almost a year of councelling he is now attending school for 3 full days and is being educated on a one to one basis.About 4 months ago his psychiatrist told me that she thought he had asd.He has just recently had a ados test i am just waiting for the results.Does anyone know what will happen if it comes back that he has asd

 

 

Hi there we only joined a few days ago we have 2 lovely children aged 5 and 2 and we are waiting for an appointment for our 2 year old as he is showing signs of ASD which was picked up on by Liams nursery and then i spoke to the health visitor a few times but she said he is slow at developing but we knew there was more to it than that so we took Liam to our Gp and he has referred liam to see if he has got ASD at first we thought he was deaf as he never answers you when u call him but he has had 2 hearing tests and his hearing is fine so we are just playing a waiting game, sorry i don't know what happens when the tests come back as having ASD as we haven't got that far. When they tested your son for ASD what was involved.

 

take care

A and A

[Karen A]

Hi jacquelineh Welcome to the Forum.

 

We have Ben who is 10 and has AS and J who is 13.Ben was dx a few months ago.He originally had a dx of dyspraxia.

 

If following the ADOS for your son a diagnosis of ASD is made the support offered may depend on what is currently provided.If your son has a Statement of SEN then the new diagnosis should be added to the Statement.Educational support should also be reviewed to see whether it is appropriate.So you might want to consider whether a specialist school with experience in ASD might be more suitable than the current placement.Alternatively if the current school are coping well and are able to support a child with ASD then perhaps a Specialist teacher from ASD outreach might provide some input.The teacher might advise regarding how the school could support your son regarding ASD.The teacher might also provide some individual support in school.

 

These are all very general ideas.It is difficult to be specific because although all children with ASD have some SEN that are broadly the same there is a wide variation in the sort of provision that might be needed.Ben is supported in a mainstream school.He has a TA to support him but he is able to manage in a mainstream environment and is accademically at the same level as his peers.Some children with ASD need a level and type of support that can only be provided in Specialist Provision because of the various needs that they have.

Does your son have a Statement of SEN ?

What sort of school is he at currently and is the one to one support helpful ?

Karen.

Edited May 15, 2009 by Karen A

[Karen A]

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1068&a=3359

This link might be helpful.It details the various sorts of educational provision available.It also explains some of the things that might help support a child with ASD in school.

[Karen A]

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1766

This might be useful too.

[Diane]

Welcome to the forum. i think you will find lots of help and support here.

[Sally44]

I don't know what up to date assessments have been done with your son.

But it might be worth asking for a Statutory Assessment from the LEA towards a Statement.

That would involve professionals like school, SALT, EP etc assessing and writing reports on your son.

That should give you a much clearer and up to date idea of what his strengths and weaknesses are.

And that should give you a clearer idea of what type of school environment is best for him.

For example, your son may appear to have typical language skills. But on assessment by a SALT it might be found that he has moderate or severe difficulties with expressive, or receptive language, or comprehension, or auditory processing difficulties, or short term memory difficulties etc. Those difficulties will have a big impact on his ability to access the curriculum in whole class situations. The SALT should also observe and assess his social interaction and social communication skills. Does he want to play with others, can he initiate conversation/play, can he join in etc. If your child has any kind of speech disorder that should be noted by the SALT eg. disordered speech, echolalia, pronoun reversal, problems with semantics or pragmatics etc. In our area a child with a speech disorder cannot be discharged from SALT because a speech disorder is for life. But if you don't have a disorder or your child's speech difficulties are called a 'delay' you are automatically discharged from SALT at secondary age unless you attend a special needs or enhanced resource school. So that might be worth looking into.

This is only my personal view. But if you have a child that wants to interact with his peers and has the ability to be taught some basic social skills, and they are also around the same level academically as their peers and they don't have issues with bullying. Then getting appropriate support in mainstream may be the better route. (however remember there can be big differences between different mainstream schools regarding experience and expertise with ASDs).

If, he has other mental health, anxiety, difficulties and also finds it hard to socialise or join in. Has a tendency to be bullied because of how he sounds, walks, talks etc. Has learning difficulties as well such as dyslexia, or difficulties with concepts and therefore is not at the same level academically as his peers. And he is also self aware and has poor self esteem as he recognises he is different and is not performing on the same level as his peers. Then I would seriously consider whether the current environment is capable of addressing the child's needs, and a more supportive environment where all the staff have experience and expertise in ASDs might be better.

However to get a SEN place you need a Statement, and then you need to find a school with an empty place, which is not easy.

I'd advise you to go and visit a number of schools to see what they are like and how they meet the needs of pupils like your child. See what the entry criteria and peer group is like. I found it similar to house hunting. You just get a good feeling about a certain school which you don't get with the others. For example, I phoned to try to make an appointment to look around one school and asked if they had any SEN children, particularly those with ASDs. I was told "oh no, don't worry, we don't have any children like that". Needless to say, I didn't proceed to make an appointment. Admittedly I was only speaking with the receptionist. But she totally put me off by her attitude, which I felt must be a reflection on the schools overall attitude.

[jacquelineh1468]

Hi there we only joined a few days ago we have 2 lovely children aged 5 and 2 and we are waiting for an appointment for our 2 year old as he is showing signs of ASD which was picked up on by Liams nursery and then i spoke to the health visitor a few times but she said he is slow at developing but we knew there was more to it than that so we took Liam to our Gp and he has referred liam to see if he has got ASD at first we thought he was deaf as he never answers you when u call him but he has had 2 hearing tests and his hearing is fine so we are just playing a waiting game, sorry i don't know what happens when the tests come back as having ASD as we haven't got that far. When they tested your son for ASD what was involved.

 

take care

A and A

hi a and a,ty for your message i had exactly the same problem with my son with the hearing tests and he is developmentally delayed.I think the ados test that they do on your son will be different as daniel is quite alot older than liam.Firstly i was asked quite alot of questions by daniels psychiatrist regarding behaviours and all about his ocd and anxiety as he suffers with both greatly.The ados test is done in a room with a windowthat the child cant see the person on the other side but they can see them.You will probably be asked if they can film it.I am not quite sure what happens during the test as i was not allowed in the room but according to my son it is nothing to worry about and from what he has told me it is a play and observe test.The test lasts for approx 1 hour

I hope this helps you.Good luck with your son.JACQUELINEH1468

[jacquelineh1468]

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1068&a=3359

This link might be helpful.It details the various sorts of educational provision available.It also explains some of the things that might help support a child with ASD in school.

Hi,karen A,ty for your messages of support my son Daniel has not been statemented as of yet,he is attending mainstream school and was working at year 2 level and he is in year 5.Since having the one to one he has advanced a year which just went to prove that he needs the one to one.To be honest i have always thought that daniel has dyspraxia as he is slow to develop,clumsy,struggles to use a knife and fork and has problems with fine motor skills.Are all these things symptoms of asd

Good luck to you and your family.Jacquelineh1468