Autism

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mr d May 2013 8:05pm, 7 May 2013 709 posts	0 mr d We were "lucky" as our son was pre school when we got the diagnosis from a clinical psychologist. It can be confusing as when he started school she passed him as she specialised in pre school age children, and now he is about to start High school we are leaving another group of health professionals behind.
Tracey G May 2013 8:10pm, 7 May 2013 2,434 posts	0 Tracey G Dave - My sons come a long way since he was first diagnosed with learning problems. Yes his hard work but has done lots of things we didn't think he would do. He can swim and ride a bike 😀
UltraDunc May 2013 8:29pm, 7 May 2013 10,899 posts	0 UltraDunc I have a young Gentleman that travels on my Bus regularly. He repeats short phrases or words, is this a form of Autism? It amuses a lot of other passengers sadly and he is not at all rude with his words so I presume tourettes is not his illness.
hope to... May 2013 8:31pm, 7 May 2013 147 posts	0 hope to... My eldest son who is now 20, was diagnosed as autistic. We took him up to the Newcomen Clinic (sp) in London, where they over turned that to speech and language. Not sure it actually made any difference, but he was statement before he started school. The original Ed psych. told me that he would never leave home, (to be fair he hasn't, and neither has his brother, but I think the economic climate has something to do with that too!) never be independent, and not to tell any school we were looking at that he was special. Thankfully things have moved on. He passed 6 GCSE's at C grade, and managed to get a job at the local supermarket. Not dizzy heights to most, but to us, that is some going! The professionals don't know it all, go on your gut instinct, and love your child for the individual they are. x
mr d May 2013 8:49pm, 7 May 2013 710 posts	0 mr d UltraDunc I think of a minority of people with Tourettes swear. Tim Howard has it and his symptoms revolve around having fits, which never happen when he play football.
Jambomo May 2013 8:55pm, 7 May 2013 3,748 posts	0 Jambomo It must be very difficult for you. The only experience I have is my partners nephew - be has been diagnosed with a form of autism and now attends a special school. To be honest he is doing so much better now with the additional support they get from the school, he has improved so much where as before he was badly behaved and not doing well. It must be hard for you but equally, it must be better that they find out and if he does need support then he can get it? Good luck to you guys
swittle May 2013 8:55pm, 7 May 2013 23,475 posts	0 swittle Top post, hope to... Your son has moved mountains in ability terms.
old mum May 2013 9:15pm, 7 May 2013 337 posts	0 old mum Pesto - agree with your assessment of 'parent knows best until school' to an extent. Yes, teachers reveal a shocking amount of knowledge about your kids while they're away from home (Mrs C revealed that Miss Ditzy was in fact our most organised wean), but I do still hold a great deal of store in a parent's instinct having enormous bear on their child's emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. And maybe I'm old fashioned, but I do think that people are sometimes (not always, by a long way) a little too quick to label free thinking and individual kids as something that they're potentially not. Had I accepted the views on my son he would have ended up with 'special needs' education and been treated in an entirely different way. The fact that I questioned his suggested diagnosis and raised him in exactly the same way as the other three, and that he actually turned out to be a damn decent young man (who is walking WHW this summer with his mates, for a very specific charity) I think is testament to his school's ability, not his perceived 'condition'.
Cyclops May 2013 9:33pm, 7 May 2013 719 posts	0 Cyclops Sometimes a diagnosis helps people to understand how to help children and what sort of things they (teachers, teaching assistants and lunchtime staff) may be expected to do so that they can access education in the most useful way for them. We have a number of children with ASD who are all very different in terms of ability and needs but knowing that they have an ASD diagnosis makes teachers take them seriously and not opt out and say that they are just naughty or difficult. If you can, try to have a conversation with school directly (try the class teacher or special needs co-ordinator) and see what they are going to do (diagnosis or not) to help your child to achieve. Some issues can be really traumatic. Lunchtime nearly always is. Two of our children cannot choose their lunch in advance - they need to see what the food looks like before they know whether they can eat it - another has really odd food choices and won't eat a 'standard' lunch so we let him pick and mix what he will eat that day. We find specific tasks for children to do so that they don't have a long unstructured lunch hour. We have large class sizes in our school so one child has his own sleeping bag in a quiet corner and in times of stress retreats to his own safe cocoon; another goes out of the room to his beanbag when it gets too noisy and stressful.
Discovery Dave May 2013 9:38pm, 7 May 2013 12,181 posts	0 Discovery Dave You see, having read all of this stuff, it just doesn't sound like my son. Who invents jokes, creates crosswords and puzzles to go in people's birthday cards, and taught himself to read at age 3.