Pre school child with possible Aspergers.

[jomum]

Hi, I'm a mother currently trying to find out more about Aspergers to help my 3 and a half year old son. He is markedly different to the other children at Nursery and shows some Aspergers traits. I am worried that when he starts school in September that he will be labelled as 'naughty' when he can't control his urges. He also has problems with toilet training. Is this common? I wsa wondering if anyone knows at what age they can test for Aspergers. Is 4 too young? The school are aware of my son's differences and are being very supportive in anticipation of him going there. Are there any other people who have recently gone through a similar experience? Thank you. Jo x

[melly]

Hi Jomum

 

My son is younger than yours, so I haven't been there to give you any first hand experience of the situ, tho many on this site can give you lots of info so hang on there!

 

Some questions tho...

 

Is your son seeing a peadiatrician?

 

Do the nursery support your veiw? (doesn't matter if they don't, but it would be interesting to know)

 

Have the nursery got you in touch with the special education needs department? ie a SENCO (Special ed needs co-ordinator)

 

Your child may be elidgable for a statement, which might lead to a bit of support in the new school.

 

Hope you get the support and answers you need from the site

 

Melly

[jomum]

Hi Jomum

 

Thanks Melly.

 

My son is not seeing a paediatrician. However, the Nursery principal acts as his SENCO and have referred us to a special needs support group where he has started going once a week. The Nursery have said that he's too young for the tests at the moment. I hope he is eligible for some kind of statement, but worry that we will be palmed off till he's older. Do you think I should contact the Health Visitor?

[Jill]

Hi Jomum

 

Ring your health visitor now. Your son is NOT too young to have an assessment - The Boy was dx last September and he wasn't 4 until this January. They actually started the whole process last February (so he was just 3) and it took until Sept to reach a formal dx (the process aint quick, so the sooner you start the better).

 

Not sure how it will progress via the HV as my son was started down the assessment route by his private nursery (they spotted some oddities in behaviour / development) they flagged the problems via our LEA, so the initial work was all around IEP's and SALT and then the big guns of Ed Psych's etc got involved.

 

I really would flag this now tho, you need something sorting as soon as poss, so you can then start down the lovely route of statementing too (we're just going through this now).

[Jill]

PS you do not need a dx to get a statement BTW - it helps, but isn't absolutely necessary. A child can need some extra help in school for lots of reasons

[jomum]

PS you do not need a dx to get a statement BTW - it helps, but isn't absolutely necessary. A child can need some extra help in school for lots of reasons

 

 

Thanks Jill, that's really useful. Can you clarify what dx, IEP and SALT are? I will definitely get the ball rolling now then I think. Our Nursery are only helpful to a certain extent. Jo x

[Jill]

Sorry - you get on these forums and find yourself dropping into the local lingo without even thinking about it!

 

dx = diagnosis

 

IEP = Individual Education Plan (a method of setting little targets for your child & monitoring progress)

 

SALT = Speech And Language Therapist.

[jomum]

[ Thanks Jill, that's very helpful. Jo x

[annie]

Hi Jo,

 

At the top of the screen, right hand side, you will see 'Jargon Buster'. You should find an explaination of everything there.

 

I'm sure Education, Health etc. invent them to try and baffle us .

 

Annie

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[jomum]

Hi Jo,

 

Oh, ta! Got to get to grips with it! Jo x

[darky]

hi there, my daughter is almost 7, shes been seeing a peadatrition since she was just 5. she went through a whole year of assessments and was labled pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified. it said in the report that it was felt she was too young to diagnose aspergers syndrome, but they may revise her diagnosis with time, when they can complete specific tests for her that they cannot do at this age. my son who is 9 has just been diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, he was old enough.

despite my daughter not having the apserger dx, she gets a whole heap of help in school and is on medication for attention deficit. the consultant tells us they treat the condition not the label. i would advise you going to the gp and asking for a referral. they may decide hes too young for a firm label, but the ball will be rolling, he will be seeing a consultant and hopefully his difficulties will be recognised and helped. you can still go for a statement of special educational needs if they feel its required, or you can request it yourself if you feel hes not going to get enough help, or you feel his needs cannot be met in mainstream school.

good luck! its a whole rollercoaster!!

[jomum]

Oh, thanks for that. I may go to the GP then for a referral. The school he is going to is very supportive so I think he will be ok. The head teacher has assured us that he will not be labelled as naughty but it would be good to get another opinion. I am finding that the Nursery tell me one thing, then my Mum says, oh, that's just his nature, there's nothing wrong with him. As you know, it's quite stressful living with it, so it would be good for someone to tell me it's not my fault he's like he is! Thanks for letting me know your experiences. That's been very helpful. Jo x

[melly]

Hi again,

 

my sons road to a diagnosis started at his 2 yr check with the health visitor.

 

I had a few minor (!that was then!!!) worries, but because they covered different areas, ie speech, eye sight, awkward gait, my Health visitor made a multi - disciplinary referal for him.

 

My understanding from her was that if there had been just one area of concern she would have done a single referal. Even if you have to go thro your GP for a referal it would be good to get the health visitor involved now, even if its just for a bit of support. Mine rang me and visited regularly in the early days, just to amke sure I was ok (ahhhhh!!!)

[jomum]

Hi again,

 

Oh that's good. I have already spoken to the Health Visitor about toilet training and told her he's started at the support group so she knows I have some concerns. I will definitely speak to her again soon then. Did yours have problems with toilet training? Jo x

[darky]

forgot to mention about tiolet training! my daughter actualy was pretty good, but ended up in nappies for a whole lot longer than she needed due to the fact that she smeared and ate her own poop yuk! a potty was a nightmare as she would sit,do a wee and then stand up and try drinking it!

[asereht]

Not much advice to give, my son is 15 and was dx at 13 but had problems from very young.So I would say ,contact your health visitor and gp now.We did this, but were fobbed off,a lot more is known about aspergers now though.I feel an early dx could have avoided a lot of problems for my son.

 

I live in Ireland so I don't know if it's the same but my daughter is training in early education and two children in the nursery where she is placed by college once a week are being assessed for aspergers /autism at the moment.They are not due to go to school until next year.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited March 16, 2006 by asereht

[jomum]

Yes, helpful thank you. All these replies are giving me more confidence to stand up for my son and get the ball rolling. I will go to the health visitor/gp feeling a little more confidence now. Jo x

[jomum]

I must say, I have been stressed out with the toilet training bits! When my son was younger, he put a crayon in his poo and smeared poo all over his toy garage. Today he did a poo on the floor and stamped it around the lounge in his wellies. He knows it makes me cross but doesn't understand why as he just figures I'll clear it up anyway. He's not a great fan of eye contact, and he thinks that if he feels happy doing something then everyone else will feel happy about it too! Oh well, I'm glad I've found this forum as it's making me feel a lot less alone! Thanks . Jo x

[Jill]

Late toilet training / fascination with poo / smearing are all fairly common aspects of the spectrum I think.

 

The Boy is 4 and is showing no signs of being ready to be trained. In fact, we spotted him "thrusting" the other day and so sat him on the loo quickly. We kept him entertained for about 15 mins & he was laughing away, quite happy to be sitting there. He got off the loo & nothing there, so we put a nappy back on and - you've guessed it - he finished his poo

 

We did this cos he's not verbal / has limited understanding of the spoken word, so we were hoping we could demonstrate what the loo is for. Well, he showed us didn't he?

 

We'll get there eventually. It's not something I stress about TBH. It just strengthens my case for getting him into a special school IMO. He's happy enough & that's all that counts.

[UltraMum]

You might like to check out Portage in your area - southwest link is here

 

(Link to all regions is here for those who want to check out their areas)

 

 

From above website:

 

Portage is a home-visiting educational service for pre-school children with additional support needs and their families. The first such scheme was developed in Portage, Wisconsin, USA in the early 1970's to meet the needs of the young children living in rural communities. Since its introduction in the UK, the success of the approach has lead to an increasing number of services being developed nationally. There are now 140 services registered with the National Portage Association in Britain.

 

The aim of Portage is to support the development of young children's play, communication and relationships and to encourage full participation in day to day life within the family and beyond the home. Portage services are committed to securing inclusion in the wider community for all children and families in their own right. Support offered through Portage is based on the principle that parents are the key figures in the care and development of their child and Portage aims to help parents to be confident in this role whatever their child's needs may be.

 

In order to do this the Portage Home Visitor works alongside parents offering practical help and ideas to:

• make learning fun for all the family;
• encourage a child's interests;
• and address problematic situations.

[melly]

Hi again Jo

 

Toilet training!!!!! he-he haven't even started! I plan him to be in nappies'till at least 7!

[kirstie]

Hi Jo,

My son was dx at 4. It does take a while to get to there but stick to your guns and demand your son is referred. Most of us here will tell you that we all acted on gut instinct and fought for a diagnosis.

Also, have you thought about deferring your son from school for a year? so that if he does have an ASD then the appropriate interventions and supports can be put into place. I am so glad i did it. My son was by no means ready for school, and he had loads of support at home and Nursery.

Anyway, good love hon, let us know how you get on!

[jomum]

 

Thanks to everyone for all your helpful info. I feel much happier about fighting for my son's best interests now.

 

I spoke to the health visitor today and she was really helpful. She has already spoken to our son's GP and is arranging a referral to a community paediatrician. She is also going to visit us next week and will be involved with his Nursey and the Special needs Nursery he has just got involved with.

 

We are in a dilemma as to whether to send him to school in September or to keep him at Nursery. I keep changing my mind on that score. The head teacher is really supportive and I wonder whether keeping him at Nursery will make him more excluded when he does go to school. The school have suggested that he continues with his sessions at the Special Nursery and do the rest of the sessions at school. He won't be forced to do full time.

 

Anyway, watch this space! Hopefully my referral to the paediatrician won't take too long! Thanks. Jo x

[jen]

If the school are offering part placement this may be benefical to your child. It is a difficult decision but normally with special needs children it is difficult to get them in special schools so the earlier you start with the assessment and the quicker you ask for a statement the better for your child. You do not have to have a diagnosis to get a statement. It takes 6 months to get a statement it everything goes well. However LEA's are not known for being efficient with they administration skills.

 

Good luck in what ever you decide to do.

 

Jen

[cmuir]

Hi

 

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. My 4 year old son is due to start mainstream school in the summer. My son doesn't have a diagnosis as yet and the assessment process have been going on for 8 months so far. Because my son is very disruptive and aggressive, he's only just started to receive one to one at nursery. Sounds great, but that person isn't in any way qualified. I've been asked what my thoughts were on deferring, but feel in my son's case that would do more harm that good as intellectually he's very bright ? interacting with others is the main problem. Thankfully the educational psychology agreed. I've had to kick up a fuss and give all the specialists involved weekly or fortnightly calls to remind them we're still here and ask what they're doing! Think that's starting to pay off, although I've found we've went from having no one involved (took 2.5 years to get anyone to believe that I'm not neurotic and that it wasn't the terrible two's, etc) to having everyone involved. Seems we're being given the option of mainstream school with full-time learning assistant support which also cover break/lunch and in playground as well as backup support from a specialist teaching once a week for the mainstream teacher. The other option is to send my son to a special school purely to tackle the behavioural aspects of my son's behaviour. Think there are real benefits to this option as kids really need to be given guidance by someone who knows what they're dealing with and talking about! It's a difficult one, and I'm still undecided, but those are a couple of options. Might be worth asking!

 

Best wishes.

 

Caroline.

[katkin]

Portage is great and can be a wonderful help and support but if your son is having 5 sessions of nursery a week he will not be able to access the service. What could be offered is Portage plus which is a Portage support for children with behaviour challenges and will support both the setting and you. Your health visitor should be able to tell you more and/or make a referral if necessary. Love Kat

[LizK]

Thanks to everyone for all your helpful info. I feel much happier about fighting for my son's best interests now.

 

I spoke to the health visitor today and she was really helpful. She has already spoken to our son's GP and is arranging a referral to a community paediatrician. She is also going to visit us next week and will be involved with his Nursey and the Special needs Nursery he has just got involved with.

 

We are in a dilemma as to whether to send him to school in September or to keep him at Nursery. I keep changing my mind on that score. The head teacher is really supportive and I wonder whether keeping him at Nursery will make him more excluded when he does go to school. The school have suggested that he continues with his sessions at the Special Nursery and do the rest of the sessions at school. He won't be forced to do full time.

 

Anyway, watch this space! Hopefully my referral to the paediatrician won't take too long! Thanks

 

My son was diagnosed with high functioning autism last November shortly after his fourth birthday. We have been seeing a apediatriacin for 18mths and the time had really come when a diagnosis would be useful. My son is in a private day care nursery 3 days a week and about to start mainstream school after Easter. We deferred him starting for a term as he wasn't really ready.

 

The best support we've had is from the Early Years Inclusion Service. They seem to be called a variety of names depending on your LEA (Early yrs support service/inclusion and access service/preschool teaching service) but essentially it is a team of specialist preschool teachers who provide early intervention and aid the transition to school. We have had weekly home visits from our teacher for the last year doing playbased intervention. She has also liased with school and is helping set up a package for DS when he starts. The service has been great and I can't praise them enough. If your LEA offers a similar service then I would advise you get a referral asap. I expect things will work differently in different LEAs but here you are either referred via an Ed Psych or the nursery SENCO can refer directly.

 

HTH

 

Lx

[Stephanie]

Hello

 

My son was 3 when he went for Assessment, then he was nearly 4 before he was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism/poss Aspergers.

 

I tried for 2 years to potty train him, then he finally got it at 3 years 10 months just like that (sorry for the Tommy Cooper impression). All through Playschool he was in nappies (and don't let any playschool tell you that they don't take children in nappies). From the day it clicked with him, he has never once had an accident or wet the bed etc. It is common for ASD children to take longer, don't worry ... and don't give up!

 

Now he is 5, doing really really well - the amount of things he has achieved in the last year have been way beyond belief. Early intervention is the key (just wrote an article for a magazine about it).

 

The process of getting a DX is a lengthy and emotional one - get on the ladder as soon as you can.

 

PM me if you need to know anymore.