DS1 has always been shall we say "different"
First sentence at 10m - witnessed not just by me.
Reading by 2.4yrs
Spelling complex words by 3yrs.
You could take him anywhere and he would just sit - you would have been excused if you were with me and not realised he was there tbh.
Slept 2 hours a night from 4yrs - 8yrs old then progressed to approx 4-6hrs a night up to now and he is soon 13.
Went through a year of eating plain pasta not even cheese on it
then the following year went to dry bread.
Went from being dry at day and night to urinating in corners at about 5yrs old.
Never had a friend as such.
Eating sweetcorn until the cows come home and suddenly stopped eating it.
Very sensitive to noise, crowds, lights, touch.
Still struggles with laces and buttons.
DETESTS being made to change his clothes.
Almost impossible to get him to shower - although that could be teen years setting in.
I think thats it for now, I just need to know what is normal development for a 12yr old and what is due to him being AS?
Hope you don't mind me asking.
Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.
SN children
So come and educate me are these things normal for an AS child?
TheLadyEvenstar · 06/07/2011 21:37
Much of that seems to be normal-for-us-lot-on-the-spectrum, yes. Many teenagers hate the idea of being clean, though 
*First sentence at 10m - witnessed not just by me.
Reading by 2.4yrs
Spelling complex words by 3yrs.
Ability to spot patterns - AS trait
*You could take him anywhere and he would just sit - you would have been excused if you were with me and not realised he was there tbh.
"Withdrawal" from stressful situations - have seen this in people with AS, although it often involves hiding under a table 
*Slept 2 hours a night from 4yrs - 8yrs old then progressed to approx 4-6hrs a night up to now and he is soon 13.
Bad sleeping, common to people with AS. Have you tried melatonin? Works for some, not so good for others.
*Went from being dry at day and night to urinating in corners at about 5yrs old.
Regression. Only seen this in DNiece, but then she's the only person with AS that I've met who was under 7!
*Never had a friend as such.
How does he get on with his peer group? Does he avoid them or join in the games? Does he always have to lead the group and get upset if they don't do what he wants?
*Eating sweetcorn until the cows come home and suddenly stopped eating it.
*Very sensitive to noise, crowds, lights, touch.
Sensory issues, possibly an element of control in there. Very ASD!
*Still struggles with laces and buttons.
Fine motor control problems can be co-morbid with ASD. How's his hand-writing?
*DETESTS being made to change his clothes.
Almost impossible to get him to shower
Could be either!! have you noticed a pattern as to what clothes, toiletries he prefers? A fair amount of folk with ASD struggle with the feeling of clothes, soap/shower gel, taste of certain toothpaste etc
Any use? 
Purple thats it I love you ok seriously yes very helpful.
Clothes he favours 2 pairs of trousers 1 are old cotton track bottoms the other are faded (ewwwww) combats both of which look like they need a boil wash but have had many iyswim?
He hates shower gel as it is "Slimey" but then uses an entire bottle at a time because he tips it on the sponge and drops it as it touches his hand and is cold.
His handwriting is atrocious!!!!!
He was DX as AS and having hightened senses - overly sensitive i think they said.
He hates quilt covers as they crease and sheets for the same reason - people have looked at me oddly when told this in the past.
Sleeping - I have not tried it but have been given phenergan and vallergan in the past when he was a lot younger.
Now I just let him go to his room and he generally watches a film. As long as he is quiet it is ok as I don't want anyone else disturbed.
He has suddenly in the last few weeks taken to cleaning his bedroom daily.
He also has no idea of a joke and cannot relay one back to you.
Today I asked him to walk a route to where I was that we had walked on Monday. I asked him to tell me which way he needed to go. He was not able to "explain the whole journey" to me. These were his words.
LMG - The sweetcorn is long gone....now it is the food sent by the devil to poison him
Yep, sounds pretty typical AS to me - don't lose heart, he can and will learn to function in our world (I started off 6 years ago in a residential school for lads with AS and HFA btw. Of the ones I still know about: one is a kitchen porter after we chucked him through NVQ1 to help him understand and control his weight issues. One is off to uni in Sept having just finished A levels at mainstream college. Both ex key students of mine which is how I know)
Washing: bar of soap on very wet warm sponge, rinse off with shower head afterwards (works for Dude II at current work) check out Lush for bars of shampoo.
Get him a couple of these to sleep in in winter, if he gets cold. Sheets are not such a big deal
Cleaning his room probably means he's trying to exert control in a weird and confusing world. It's the (probable) reason why lining up objects by colour/size is such an early indicator
Washing pyjamas every day? You could probably get away with it every 3-4 tbh. It's only in residential care we're not allowed to let them wear the same clothes two days running
(in case relatives think we don't wash the clothes)
Claw3, try a jug of water over the head, it doesn't have the "prickles" in that showers do 
with clothes, try different fabrics. Aertex polo shirts are quite rough, a cotton rugby shirt might be easier for him for example.
I have a sideline making clothes for kids, with a bias towards this kind of thing. PM me if you want to
Sorry, TLE, thought you meant he slept in clean jammies every night 
seems such a waste washing them at work, although it has to be done. I don't bother at home
Claw, I could make some black or grey pj-style trousers for school?
Dneice is a chewer, her favourite at the moment is electrical cables! Chew toys etc do nothing for her 
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This all sounds very like my ds (AS 9 years old).
He's another one that we have to force to bathe/shower and the first thing he does when he comes in the house from anywhere is run upstairs and put his PJs on.
We also have to literally prise his favourite clothes off him to was them - he wouldn't change his undies if he didn't have to and if we don't check he will just put another pair of pants or socks over the top of the previous days pair! The other week we discovered at bath time on Sunday evening that he was wearing two pairs of pants and three pairs of socks (including two pairs of school socks).
He was about the same age as your ds, TLES, when he started using sentences (but then so was dd and she is clearly nt) and just like your ds, he was so well behaved when we took him out you'd hardly know he was there. He never complained about hunger or thirst - didn't even cry for milk as a baby and still doesn't know if he's hungry or thirsty even now.
He also has no temperature gauge, so will wear a thick fleece in summer and a vest, short and no socks in the snow if we'd let him. Actually he prefers to be barefoot all year round.
He does have a really good best friend, but this is more down to the caring nature of the lovely boy he is friends with than his own social skills.
He has never been able to hold his head back to have his hair washed but has a serious sensory issue with water on his face.
In our case he loathes sweetcorn and any sort of bean or pulse with a vengeance (not good for an emphatic vegetarian) but would eat pasta for every single meal if he could (not good for someone who's paed and dietician have said he should be treated as coeliac - gf pasta is ridiculously expensive).
He is happy to eat certain foods for years, then all of a sudden decides he hates them an retches if we even try to make him eat them.
At the age of 7 he had a reading age in excess of 12.5 (they couldn't test any higher as they didn't have the tests, but estimated between 13 and 14 years).
He has always been able to spell pretty much anything without even trying - much to the annoyance of his younger brother, who really has to work at it.
He's not good in crowds and in particular shopping mall type places with bright lights and echoes etc tend to send him into shutdown.
Claw, we have tics as well, we've gone through exaggerated blinking, screwing up his face and throat clearing this year and are now on head shaking.
It seems we all have very similar dses.
Nice to know inclusion policies work so well, isn't it Claw
DNephew (nearly 4) is NT but does the sock thing too - in his case, it's because he's so proud of his new skill
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