Aspergers/ASD support thread

looby-loo_2

I've been teaching an autistic child who also has an eating disorder in mainstream school for over three years. Today he ate a rocket leaf from my plate
Makes it all worthwhile!

Savvy_Sue

rebl43 wrote: »

Hi Sue,
He doesnt have a statement- should I see if I can push for one? I think they will help all they can to be honest, they are so good and by the sounds of things it will be a bit of a shock to go into a bigger school where they are not as helpful. I have spoken to the senco at the new school today and she says that his IEP will be carried on there.

OK, so he has an IEP, as long as the SENCO at the new school is fine to put it into place and that actually happens then there may not be much to be gained from a statement. If others disagree they will say so!

the main thing is to get the help that's needed. that doesn't require diagnosis: it requires a recognition of need. You can even get diagnosis without there being additional needs. Sorry it's late, and I may not be making much sense ...

Sarahsaver

looby-loo wrote: »

I've been teaching an autistic child who also has an eating disorder in mainstream school for over three years. He never eats or drinks at school. He comes and watches lunch club every day, never handles the food and never eats or drinks it. Today he reached out and took a rocket leaf from my plate, twizzled it by the stalk in his fingers, folded it in half then into quarters and asked me what it was. Then he asked me if he could eat it. Then he ate it. Then two more.
Bingo! The biggest breakthrough in three years making it all worthwhile!

Thats fantastic!:D
I have the opposite problem with my DS he will eat EVERYTHING whole chillies, raw garlic :eek:
Have you tried taking this child to a market, deli (where they would let him taste things) or do some gardening?

looby-loo_2

Sarahsaver wrote: »

Thats fantastic!:D
I have the opposite problem with my DS he will eat EVERYTHING whole chillies, raw garlic :eek:
Have you tried taking this child to a market, deli (where they would let him taste things) or do some gardening?

'gardening'. He loves it so much that it has become his obsession!

PasturesNew

I had an aspie moment yesterday. My doorbell rang, there was a woman there with 6 Yellow Pages. She asked "how many flats are there here?"

Easy question, eh! But I'd clocked the Yellow Pages .... uh-ho.

I don't know how to answer.
- there are 8 flats
- there are 7 occupied
- I don't know how many have phones

The thing is, she was expecting an instant answer, whereas I spent about 2 minutes clarifying the answer with her ... before letting her in and telling her to put them in the hallway and people will help themselves.

What she wanted to do was to be let in to place a book outside each door. My brain was thinking "They only give YP to people with a phoneline" - or they used to, so I didn't know how many/which ones that would be.

I had to really know what answer was expected before I knew how to answer.

She must think me a right loony!

Sarahsaver

Yep my ds just had an aspie moment in the shop - he just stood there looking at the door 'well i didnt go through it cos you didnt tell me to'
i forget sometimes but he just doesnt get things like the nod gestured towards the door means to many of us 'go through the door'
try getting the school to understand.
It must be like he is in a foreign country not knowing any of the language.

seven-day-weekend

PasturesNew wrote: »

I had an aspie moment yesterday. My doorbell rang, there was a woman there with 6 Yellow Pages. She asked "how many flats are there here?"

Easy question, eh! But I'd clocked the Yellow Pages .... uh-ho.

I don't know how to answer.
- there are 8 flats
- there are 7 occupied
- I don't know how many have phones

The thing is, she was expecting an instant answer, whereas I spent about 2 minutes clarifying the answer with her ... before letting her in and telling her to put them in the hallway and people will help themselves.

What she wanted to do was to be let in to place a book outside each door. My brain was thinking "They only give YP to people with a phoneline" - or they used to, so I didn't know how many/which ones that would be.

I had to really know what answer was expected before I knew how to answer.

She must think me a right loony!

OH Pastures New, I would do that too!

Sometimes myself and my son get our knickers in a real twist because I'm answering a question he hasn't asked....so I don't understand his question and he doesn't understand my answer.

When this happens my husband has to sort us out. Usually the answer to my son's question is something simple like yes or no!

But i suppose the answer to the question about your block of flats is 'eight flats'.

Then it is up to the woman to decide how many Yellow Pages to leave....

PasturesNew

One of the aspects of this was the whole verbal processing. There were other issues at play at the same time.

But, one of the odd things about it is: many aspies couldn't even work flipping burgers because of having to process verbal instructions and queries

99% of the time it'd be OK.... but there's a lot of scope for misunderstanding and having to clarify. Clarifying in some environments can end up confrontational.



The issues with the YP lady for me were:
- sudden unexpected event (bell ringing)
- dealing with a completely unexpected scenario
- processing the question asked
- attempting to give the perfect answer, when the framework/criteria to do so were not in place
- not having an example of the perfect answer to be able to work out what my answer would be
- being under pressure to answer the question immediately when no question was even expected
- not knowing if there'd be more questions. or some other request that would follow. And trying to evaluate if this was in any way a threat situation.

And all on top of it being forced interaction with a stranger, on my own turf, which is in a way some kind of personal space invasion.

Aargh, can't reallly explain this properly... but there you go.

seven-day-weekend

PasturesNew wrote: »

One of the aspects of this was the whole verbal processing. There were other issues at play at the same time.

But, one of the odd things about it is: many aspies couldn't even work flipping burgers because of having to process verbal instructions and queries

99% of the time it'd be OK.... but there's a lot of scope for misunderstanding and having to clarify. Clarifying in some environments can end up confrontational.



The issues with the YP lady for me were:
- sudden unexpected event (bell ringing)
- dealing with a completely unexpected scenario
- processing the question asked
- attempting to give the perfect answer, when the framework/criteria to do so were not in place
- not having an example of the perfect answer to be able to work out what my answer would be
- being under pressure to answer the question immediately when no question was even expected
- not knowing if there'd be more questions. or some other request that would follow. And trying to evaluate if this was in any way a threat situation.

And all on top of it being forced interaction with a stranger, on my own turf, which is in a way some kind of personal space invasion.

Aargh, can't reallly explain this properly... but there you go.

My son's girlfriend has trouble following more than one instruction at a time, which obviously hinders her getting a job.Glad to say she now has a disability advisor helping her.

My son has problems with organising and sequencing tasks, which is why the jobs he is best at involve work that is in bite-size chunks. He doesn't mind it being repetitive.

Quinny_2

I have read a few of the posts on this thread,as it is too long now to read them all,but my sister has a son who has autism,and she was having an absolute terrible time with him when he was small,to the point she tried just about every avenue that was available.

It was when she was at her wits end,that she discovered an item that was made in the USA,and she made enquiries about it.Unfortunately,it was too expensive to import into this country,what with the cost of the item,and the shipping,and finally the import duty,so she set about making the item herself,and now has a thriving business as a result.

The products were mentioned just recently in a magazine ran by the NAS,(National Autistic Society.) and since then she has been inundated with orders and enquiries.

Sufice to say,I can't say on here what it is,as I will probably get into trouble,however,if anyone wants details,then pm me,and I will give you the link to her website.

Unfortunately,she can't guarantee any orders now before Christmas,but to read the testomonies on her website will tell you that the products work.Every item is custom made,and there is usually a lead time of up to 28 days.