Advice for a parent struggling to accept

haycorns

My son was 17 when he was diagnosed last year. he has struggled through school with exclusions and a label as a naughty child with anger management issues.

We now know he has Aspergers and high levels of anxiety that cause him to meltdown. It took a spell of depression to get people to recognise the problem. The schools didn't want to know unitl he got to 6th form colleg - they have been fab.

If the school are offering help I'd take it. It may be if they don't by the time they want to try for a diagnosis they may not have enough support.

My son is so relieved that he understands who he is now and why he is different. He is able to play to his strength and knows his limits.

Early idagnosis would have saved him years of unhappiness and made a huge difference to family life and siblings too

Karena_3

princessdon wrote: »

Thank you - Just taking it each month and as and when/if needed. When I say toilet trained they are, just they have a special seat and need to feel safe. I have child overnight approx 2 nights a month and he will use mine (but only downstairs). So overnight I have to take him down stairs even though his room has an ensuite. It is when he isn't familiar he won't go (to the point he causes pain and goes in clothing when can't hold). The stalls at school are proving to be a "wont go area". But he is toilet trained if familiar with the envrionment.

Thank you all for your valuable contributions.

Hi.

If school are motivated there is no reason why they could not try some strategies to help with issues such as toileting whilst waiting to see how the parents feel.

A diagnosis of ASD does not in this day and age provide instant access to extra support such as a Statement of SEN.School would still need to show that they had used all available resources with little effect.

The NAS web site is excellent.If you have a read around it may be possible to drop in some ideas ......the vast majority of strategies suggested for children with ASD will help all children ....certainly they would not do any harm.

Karen.

24skins

In Scotland we don't need a diagnosis to provide the help a child needs in school.

In theory.

In practice a diagnosis on the autistic spectrum will open up help from Autism Outreach, SaLT & MICAS. Without the of cooperation of parents it's extremely difficult to implement any kind of strategy, so I can only echo what other posters have said about emphasising to them a) the benefits of early intervention and b) that they'll never get those years back.