Aspergers/ASD support thread

Snaggles

Penguin, I'm not sure about the quietness, because I'm pretty new to all of this too, and I have the LOUD variety!

One thing that I've been told (and I don't know if it works because I haven't tried it, with Ryan being a bit older), is that rather than have a sticker chart if they're a bit on the young side, put the sticker on them. Because then it's like a little treat for them, rather than having something stuck on a chart that they don't understand. Has anyone else with younger children tried that?

Snaggles

duchy wrote: »

< Puts out the chocolate cakes> No worries either way Snaggles. It's nice and comfy here Milk and sugar ?>
Penguin-have you tried underpants with current obsession (Dr Who, Thomas, Dinosours -whatever) on them ? Must admit Josh wasn't properly trained until 4-so either AS kids are slow to train or I'm useless at toilet training.

I LOVE that idea!! :T Ryan has Power Ranger and Doctor Who underwear so I must have been subconsciously doing that already....lol!

No milk or sugar ta, just as it comes!

peterbaker

I have only just discovered this thread and have only skimmed over the last couple of pages but thought some of you Mum's would like to hear that school plays won't always be out of bounds if you are as lucky as some friends of mine in Europe.

They have a son with ADHD, very intelligent, admittedly perhaps not as problematic as some on the spectrum, but big problems when he was younger, wouldn't eat, hitting out at people at school, but more or less taught himself English from crazy computer games and is truly fluent at age 14. Medication has been avoided. Recent further improvements have been obtained by dietary changes for the whole family (especially very little sugar now, or fizzy drinks).

He landed one of the lead roles in his school Christmas production which did about six shows over three afternoons/evenings a couple of weeks ago (I've seen the video!), and that included his Sinatra solo where there were screams of appreciation from the girls - he wasn't sure what to make of that! Lots of praise afterwards from other parents to his parents too! Made his Mum cry of course

Then last week he was picked on by four boys who feigned having sex with him in the playground and made him cry. Because the parents all know each other and teachers are on the ball, they had all apologised formally and personally within 24 hours.

I had no idea about Aspergers/ADHD until I saw my friends dealing with it. And yes duchy, I think the slow toilet training is typical. Hats off to the tens of thousands of you coping parents out there, and good luck in changing the world to fit your children's needs.

That IS largely the way from what I can see, and YES, I think you can succeed!

wellsie82

Not had a chance to read all the thread.

I work in a special needs school, we have 5 ASD classes so about 30 children with ASD. I work in the nursery and at the moment we have two children with ASD - both are completely different in everything they do so it's difficult for us as teachers/assistants to find a way of generally comunicating with them. One thing we do in our school is Intensive Interaction (not sure if this has been mentioned in previous posts)

http://www.intensiveinteraction.co.uk/

Take a look and i'm sure if your finding it difficult to communicate with anyone with ASD this should be able to help

samf1971

Hi Snaggles i see you are in West Yorkshire , we are in Rothwell/Robin Hood

Strapped

Re. Christmas school plays: my son (year 1) had his play last week. I was convinced it was going to be a nightmare especially as he had refused to join in at all at his brother's event the night before (singing for all the kids). However, when we turned up, I realised that two "people" from "assembly" that he had been talking about non-stop for the last few weeks were actually the characters narating the play (incorporating several stories ending with the nativity). My son was SO enthusiastic! Fortunately, the school had the good sense to have his year seated in the first row, rather than up on the stage, and my son was next to his teacher . He was such a little star! The only problem was that, he not only sang all of his year's bits, but leapt up to sing all the other parts too lol :rotfl: Fortunately his teacher pulled him back down He also didn't quite grasp the "face the audience part" (lol) but he had a great time :T So did we. (Relief!)

duchy

Thanks Peter-great post with some excellent points.
A lot depends on the school. At primary school Josh always had a part in the Christmas plays-it's about the willingness of the teachers and how much they understand Aspergers. A smaller school is IMO a huge advantage. Josh was totally accepted by his peers at primary school-they knew he was different but all of them (especially the girls) took time and trouble with him. He wasn't "Aspergers" he was Josh. I was unable to get him into the ASD unit at high school-(where I believe he would have thrived) and attending the high school it was attached to didn't work out long term although the unit staff did all they could to help and the unit was his "place of refuge". After a horrendous year 8 I'd had enough -I'd tried everything and at his annual review said I felt the school was unsuitable because it was too big an enviroment for him (something they couldn 't change). He is now in an independent school (funded by LEA) with an average class size of 10 and does much better. He took his GCSE mocks this week-waiting on the results now but the predictions were for As in most subjects. I do think specialist units are the most effective form of education for our kids as they avoid the overload problems that most children with AS feel when in very noisy or close proximity enviroments.
<Refills the coffee cups and passes the chocolate cake around again>

peterbaker

From what I have been told yes, an awful lot depends on the school and the attitude (openmindedness and willingness/ability to learn about it and do some things differently) of teachers, and the constancy of teachers (e.g. a school with high teacher absence or turnover must be a nightmare).

Agree too (again from what I have been told) on lower class sizes, but too small a class might restrict opportunity for real and long-term interaction with a favoured group of classmates perhaps at school and after school. In the UK sadly, the opportunity for consistent afterschool interactions is often much reduced by the fragmentation of our communities.

duchy

As AS kids generally don't respond well in larger group enviroments the last is not a problem for the majority (with the rider that all kids on the spectrum are different and there is wide variety of responses)

PasturesNew

Looks like I am the only adult here with Aspergers then.

Always the odd one out.



But managing.

Aspergers was not diagnosable when I was a child. I was just a naughty child, taken to a child psychologist, changed schools, parents always up the school as I was in trouble (nothing major, no fighting, no stealing, just disruptive).

My parents didn't know I was "different" so they've never treated me any different to my siblings. So the advice given by some of treating your AS kid the same is sound to a good degree. But you probably need to bear in mind that at all times, we are seeing things you aren't; we like to take some time (30 seconds or so) to observe... next time your kid seems preoccupied by a dot on the wall, stop, ask them to show you. Ask them what they are thinking. Just listen. Then you can continue on your journey. Just slow things down a bit when there's new stuff to be seen. And listen.

I saw a bird today. Nobody else did. I probably took in every detail of that tiny bird and stopped for about 20 seconds to watch. 1001 thoughts in my head - a hyper-awareness moment. Then I was back to doing what I was there for.

We just think a lot more about tiny things, little details, that you don't even notice. They're important to us because it's an odd moment. It's those "observer on the real world through a window" moments, when we aren't really with YOU, we are inside ourselves.

With Aspergers we are mainly "here", but like to escape "there" when we see something tiny... different. Oh and shiny things

It only takes 20-30 seconds ...... but it matters.