Article about whether and how to tell your child they have ASD/AS

[Ben10NeverAgain]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536360,00.html Here

Thank you Ben10. We need a 'Like' button on Mumsnet.

Very useful, Ben 10. I'm not going to do this yet, though!

thank you for the link

Thank you very much for posting this, we are about to tell DTs that DTS1 has ASD and have been looking around for suggestions of books. Theyare only 5 and there doesn't seem much that is aimed at their age group although the advice we have been given (and as it says in the article) is to tell them as early as possible.

Louey DS is 6 and we used this one. I'd say that you shouldn't feel pressured into telling them too early if you think that they won't be able to understand. They are only teeny after all.

Thanks Ben10 - will have a look at that.

The problem we have is that DTS2 is very astute and is picking up on things which are said about his brother. We are having to explain to others that DTS1 has SN to explain behaviours etc and DTS2 is overhearing and asking questions. DTS2 will understand - whether DTS1 will I don't know but we can at least tell him that that is the reason he doesn't like loud noises (for example). I've got a meeting with his school next week so I'm going to see if they have any suggestions too.

We are going on holiday to Disneyland paris in June and I think we are going to try and get the pass to queue jump to avoid problems. However I know this is going to provoke questions about why so that is partly why we are thinking about telling the boys now.

That book is very gentle in the way that it talks about the sensory stuff. You can find it being read on Youtube . I do think that there is a middle ground though, if you don't want to go the full blown explanation of ASD. You could talk about the fact that he doesn't like loud noises just like mummy doesn't like trains and daddy doesn't like rollercoasters (for example). Just gently introducing the idea of difference without it being any big deal, just part of who we are. We started introducing it this way with DS before his dx as we were going through the assessment process for over a year. We got his dx when he was 6.9 but by then had talked a lot about what he found difficult and that daddy didn't like birds and mummy didn't like bats .

Definitely go for the exit pass. It makes everything so much easier. :)