Autism - Some questions.

Barcode

So, it turns out my four year old nephew is suspected of being autistic. This follows being dismissed at school as disruptive, until a teacher spotted that it went beyond whatever is ordinarily disruptive. He has now been sent to an autism clinic (?) and is having various assessments. My sister said: "He's my child so there is supposed to be nothing wrong with him", but his behaviour is .... well, he has tantrums that go on for HOURS, has to have everything a certain way, doesn't interact much with others, and simple things like loud noises will set off an outburst.

I'm a bit baffled by this. So, some questions (mostly asked to help my sister who is understandably stressed by it all):

1. What is the role of the clinic? Is it just to diagnose, or will further support be provided?

2. How does an autistic child cope with school? Is support available? His older brother has already been diagnosed with mild autism, but his difficulties are the opposite (he's been moved up a year, scored the highest in the SATS in the school - including children a few years older than him, and nobody seems to know what to do with him ...).

3. What is the situation with DLA? If any?

4. Do any dietary changes help? My sister reported that giving him Omega 3 seemed to help a little. Obviously, not expecting major changes, but curious on this.

None of us want to see him fall behind at school. The problem is that a teacher cannot obviously give him more attention than anyone else. He attends a mainstream primary. This has forced me to revise some of my assumptions to, thinking that we all have different personalities, and people should not be so quick to label - but his behaviour has been causing difficulties at school. So, any advice that I can pass onto my presently stressed out sister is welcomed

Birdie85

I haven't got a lot of expertise in this area (apart from being mildly autistic myself but it was only picked up on last year, people just thought I was weird at school!), my friend is a primary school teacher though and has been sent on a fair few training courses for teaching children with ASD, she has 2 autistic children in her class and each child has a personal helper so if your nephew is diagnosed the school should provide some extra help for him so you shouldn't worry too much about the school coping. Hope that helps a little!

skintchick

It will depend how severe the autism is. My nephew is 18 and now lives in a home as he is severely autistic and cannot live alone and his mum can;t cope with him.

He had to go to special schools but I don;t know much more because he is my nephew by marriage.

Barcode

Thanks Birdie, I was having visions of him being lost in a class of thirty children. His previous teacher was very dismissive, and I suspect my sister was not listened to as she is fairly young. That his older sibling does not act up in quite the same way should indicate that it is not due to 'bad parenting' - it's only now my sister feels people are listening and taking her seriously.

There is a suspicion (how well founded I have no idea) that his suspected autism is related to a condition called craniosynostosis which he was born with - although it was fairly mild and more cosmetic in his case. But then, his older brother had no such thing and is mildly autistic, as is one of my younger brothers - I know nothing about a genetic predisposition to this.

It's more about getting the appropriate help as the situation seems a bit overwhelming for my sister at the moment.

jog

Hi Barcode,

The National Autistic Society has a very good website with loads of info about Autism, a good place to start for information.

The amount of support he gets will depend on his level of need. Once you get a diagnosis hopefully things will move forward in assesing his need for support in school, unfortunatley it can be a slow process.

I'm not sure where you live but you may well have an independant service for parents who will support and be able to advice about all all the assessments, benefit entitlements and help you through all the stages they will go through. Probably worth asking your Health Visitor or School Nurse who might be able to point you in the right direction.

Take Care

Jog