Asperger DX

[Clarkie]

Hi Guys, been away for a while coz I needed to get my head together. Got the official diagnosis of "high functioning Autism" and Aspergers Any advice from anyone on how/what to say or how to approach this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this and hope to hear from anyone soon.

 

Clarkie xox

Edited March 17, 2006 by Clarkie

[Jericho]

<'> You've had a lot to deal with lately. There's only so much that you can be expected to do so try not to put yourself down. <'>

 

My boys are still very young so I'm sorry that I have no advice about what to say/do at the meeting. Best of luck with everything. R sounds lovely. xx

[Kathryn]

Hi Clarkie,

 

I'm glad you've finally got this dx as it will enable your son to get the right kind of support, although I expect it may take you some time to get your head around it. Good news about the multi agency meeting - it sounds as though you have a really good team there who are pushing for things to happen quickly. Good support from professionals who have expertise in ASD is really important when you are trying to get extra help, it took us months to get this!

 

You are right in focusing all your energies on your children now I think as you only have a certain amount of energy to give. It's a difficult time for both of you, and hopefully your husband will find the help he needs soon.

 

You probably want to discuss with the school about the amount of support they are able to give your son. Whether you want him to remain in his current school or go somewhere else, a statement is the obvious next step to getting the support he needs. Hopefully because of the obvious difficulties your son has already had at secondary school there should be some agreement about this, in which case either the school or yourselves would request a statutory assessment. I would emphasise at the meeting the stress the whole family is under because of this situation, just tell it like it is.

 

Write down the points you want to make, then you won't forget anything important and it may be a good idea to take someone with you for support and to take notes.

 

It's good that your son is in such a supportive and understanding place. Don't forget to look after yourself and to take some time out from all of this if you can.

 

K <'>

[Tez]

Hi,

 

Nothing really to add to Kathryn's comments but I'm really glad that you've got your son's dx. It's always a time of mixed emotions and certainly my husband and I dealt with it in different ways. I buried myself into researching and learning as much as possible and I needed to talk about it; whilst my husband needed time to bury his head and lick his wounds a bit before emerging to fight. Neither one of us was right or wrong, we just had different ways of grieving. Give yourself some time for the rawness of the diagnosis to disappear and I hope that things will be better for you and your husband.

 

Best of luck with your multi-agency meeting, I'll be thinking of you. Let us know how you get on.

[Suze]

Hi Clarkie hope things are better today.Glad you have a DX ......regarding your hubby I reacted like him when my son was DX. It came as a complete shock and during a terrible period when a few things in general had gone badly wrong.I have taken pills and they really helped(it took a huge amount of courage to admit to myself I needed too).But I wanted to mention as it may be relevant to your hubby that I" blamed " myself for my sons problems.I felt that I had made him the way he was and he was suffering because of it.The underlying reason for all this anxiety for me was because I read all I could on AS/ASD and realised I too was a lot like my son.There are AS traits etc that are very recogniseable in me.Your hubby might be blaming himself and might like me feel he played a part in your sons AS, he might even see it in himself.I saw a therapist who has helped me .........just wanted to say this as your hubby could be tormenting himself is he like your son and could he be wondering if he too is AS...I,m sorry if I,m burdening you with more worry as I realise you are dealing with so much at the moment but if there is any relation between your hubbys problems and mine I just thought this might help.Hope things are better for him soon, stay strong <'> <'> big hugs too you all.xxxxx.