Autism

ATS

ATS

Striker
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I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
 


My wife used to work with young adults with profound autism. Your son doesn't sound like he is too far along the scale.

I think you have to get used to the idea that his world is going to be different to others but I think the world is a lot more accommodating to people on the spectrum.

Look to and celebrate his strengths and don't get fixated on his weaknesses. You may have a deep sadness that he won't get the full benefit of having fully functioning social skills but a lot of the stuff that is missing he will be totally unaware of.

Just think you have a young bright boy who you love and will contribute to society in his own way.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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My daughter has Asperger which is a fairly uncommon diagnosis in a girl as they can present quite differently from a boy.

She is 18 now and we have had lots of issues through the years. Again very bright and she taught herself to read and wright at about three. She thrived through junior school although always did things in her own way.

The problems started in secondary school She cant read people and this lead to social anxiety and stress. This lead onto depression and we had a few very dark years full of self harm and suicidal thoughts. School took a back seat and she basically lost her education through it and her school was terrible with it basically (illegally) excluding her after a self harm incident.

I am pleased to say she is a lot better now. She still has her issues but manages them better. She has a small but close circle of friends. She is on a course in art and design leading on to costume design and textiles that she loves. She is now very happy although she has her moments.

My advice is to change your goalposts. Love him for who he is but dont have expectations.Find the things he loves and encourage. Work with his school throughout. Always be there. Also don't expect much in return as they don't have the same emotions. My daughter has only allowed me to hug her once since she was about 10 and that was when she had had a drink.

If you need to talk etc - pm me.
 
My little boy has just turned 7 and has severe autism. He was diagnosed around the age of four, but we'd suspected there was something wrong much earlier.
He has very limited communication skills and is non verbal the majority of the time. He still has to wear nappies as has no comprehension of toilet training yet, and often smears on the walls and floors. He has frequent meltdowns which are made harder to deal with due to the fact he's quite big and strong for his age.
I absolutely dread thinking about his future, I only hope by the times he reaches his teens he has come on in leaps and bounds.
 
One my best mates has a son with it. Not sure how bad it is on the scale but he has been part of everything throughout and his old boy (and mother) have done a cracking job.

Massive lads fan too.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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Good luck.

My school mate's daughter has autism and he posted on FB the other day that she's just got her degree :)
 
Honestly marra it sounds from what you've written that he's just a normal lad who might have very minor autism, but it's not worth treating him any differently.

I had hobbies (football) I'd obsess about and talk non stop about at his age, I couldn't tie me laces either, and struggled to spell, it's all perfectly normal and no cause for alarm

It's also not a worry if he doesn't 'interact socially', it's called being a bit shy or quiet and will change eventually, the more you make of it the worse it'll be imho

I also used to crash my bike a lot and was shit at footy!
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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My eldest was tested about a year ago (he's 4 now) - they said he doesn't have it as he's far too social, too much eye contact etc. Someone came out to the house to do his assessment, he did go to the one at Durham Road first though.

The main reason for testing him was that he screamed all day when he was left in daycare for the first time when my youngest was in hospital and his speech is/was way behind. The health visitor was informed by the nursery and we were referred. Socially he's pretty good, better with adults than peers, but his fine motor skills aren't great but he just turned 4 a week ago. He seems to be clever too, but he's still so young so hard to really tell. As you say as it's a spectrum thing so it's hard to get a diagnosis, one minute I think there's no way he could be, then sometimes he'll do something where I think he could be somewhere on the spectrum.

He's loves hugs and is very affectionate which is also not very "autistic" either.

His meltdowns used to be bad too, but since his communication has came on he seems to get frustrated less often.

The bloke at Durham Road did say that years back someone who would just be considered "quirky" might end up diagnosed with high functioning autism these days. As I say, I've got no idea if he's autistic or not, they say he's not and he's not being followed up by it, but it wouldn't totally surprise me if they end up being wrong. He's great though and I wouldn't change him.

Things like dyspraxia etc have similar "symptoms" but they have't really gone down that route, he's settled at nursery and seems happy so hopefully his speech will continue to improve too, speech therapy wanted to sign him off as age appropriate too but there's no way he's age appropriate despite his improvement.

Good luck with your son's assessment, I'm presuming it's the initial tick box one and they'll refer him to an autism specialist if he ticks enough boxes?
 
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If you live in Durham, get signed up to the Children and Young People's Network http://www.durham.gov.uk/cypn for both your children. They are council run but work alongside loads of groups that support most disability groups. This is a huge parent support group http://www.mctdurham.co.uk/ mainly parents that have children with autism.

I don't know what Sunderland do, or Newcastle etc but certainly could be worth speaking to MCT even if you don't live in Durham.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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I don't have kids and my only real direct experience of someone on the autistic spectrum was a lad in my class for A-Level Chemistry. Chemistry was his 'obsession' and he was absolutely brilliant at it. His only struggle was that he would get the occasional thing wrong, possibly from having read it in an out-dated source and when he did get something wrong he'd get very upset and struggle to accept it.

However, he did very well, got an A in it and studied it at university thanks to educational institutes being geared up to support people properly. Hopefully he's doing well now and has found a job which heavily involves chemistry because I know that would make him very happy. He'll be 25 now.

There's every chance your son will lead a perfectly happy and fulfilling life so don't worry too much.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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I've worked with aspergers kids and sometimes it can be seen as a gift rather than a curse.

As said, their teachers will be able to develop their studies to suit their needs and you just have to come to terms that your child is different. Nothing else but different. You'll find your own ways of managing him but the main thing is not to let him use the condition to be lazy or get his own way....he might be on the autistic spectrum but he's still a kid with all the shenanigans that implies.

You'll get there.
 
addicted_to_safc said:
I am at the children's centre on Durham Road and my 7 year old son has just gone down with the doctor for his ADOS assesment. It is looking highly likely he has what used to be known as Aspergers Syndrome, but it all just come under ASD now. He is very very clever, probably the cleverest in his class at school and could read perfectly when he was 3. However he struggles with social skills, has always had obsessions which he can talk none stop about, but cant have a conversation about anything that doesn't interest him. He also has poor fine motor skills and is receiving occupational therapy. He cant use cutlery very well, ride a bike, catch a ball, do buttons, zips etc. As i am sitting here bored while he is assessed i just wondered if anyone elses kids on here have been diagnosed with autism, and how are they getting on now? I already have a disabled 16 year old daughter and am a single mam so its a bit daunting thinking of the future.
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Empty your inbox.
 
I have to say all power to you lot, challenging would be an understatement.

The neighbor above me has a toddler. I want to strangle the little shit sometimes because he runs around in fits screaming and banging on my ceiling with when goes for a jog/sprint....he never walks.

Thing is he can't help it and for such a small kid it's amazing how loud he is when he runs around. So that brought me back to the landlord and I told her i'm leaving, having put up with this for 9 months, not to mention the mother shouting everyday.
The father is hardly ever there. Knowing China though he's probably working every hour under the sun to get him treatment as.....you guessed it..They told them he is autistic.

Now, in China. There is no mental health problems, only losing face so. I think Maybe his condition is even worse as he can't speak any Chinese at all. That's what the mother told my friend.

Interesting to note that the kids mentioned on here are bright and can speak and write. My neighbours son is 3yrs old, a runt and looks like an odd child.
 
There's a lass in my daughters class with it. She's got a TA assigned to her but all the other bairns mother her and help her.

We had a party at our house and my daughter wanted her to come. I'll admit I was a bit unsure but we invited as her parents live five mins walk away so it would have been easy to get help if anything happened. She was perfectly behaved and joined in well with everyone. The only thing she struggled with was they were playing Just Dance on the Wii and she couldn't understand that she had to hold the remote and copy the dancer on screen. On of the other girls gave her the tele remote instead and she just did her own dancing while the rest played the game. I was fascinated by the way the other girls looked after her and manged to get her involved.
 
Charmless Man said:
I don't have kids and my only real direct experience of someone on the autistic spectrum was a lad in my class for A-Level Chemistry. Chemistry was his 'obsession' and he was absolutely brilliant at it. His only struggle was that he would get the occasional thing wrong, possibly from having read it in an out-dated source and when he did get something wrong he'd get very upset and struggle to accept it.

However, he did very well, got an A in it and studied it at university thanks to educational institutes being geared up to support people properly. Hopefully he's doing well now and has found a job which heavily involves chemistry because I know that would make him very happy. He'll be 25 now.

There's every chance your son will lead a perfectly happy and fulfilling life so don't worry too much.
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Lovely sentiment and true.
 
gards2 said:
Interesting to note that the kids mentioned on here are bright and can speak and write. My neighbours son is 3yrs old, a runt and looks like an odd child.
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It's a spectrum disorder mate. You'll have people on one end who function pretty normally and others on the other end who require full time care for life. Then you'll have everyone in between.
 
becs said:
There's a lass in my daughters class with it. She's got a TA assigned to her but all the other bairns mother her and help her.

We had a party at our house and my daughter wanted her to come. I'll admit I was a bit unsure but we invited as her parents live five mins walk away so it would have been easy to get help if anything happened. She was perfectly behaved and joined in well with everyone. The only thing she struggled with was they were playing Just Dance on the Wii and she couldn't understand that she had to hold the remote and copy the dancer on screen. On of the other girls gave her the tele remote instead and she just did her own dancing while the rest played the game. I was fascinated by the way the other girls looked after her and manged to get her involved.
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Kids are generally brilliant with these things and simply don't see the problems that adults do.
 

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