Look for advice please possible ASD

[twitchypalm]

Hi all im looking for some advice re my son and not sure where to go next. Im starting to think he might have ASD.

He is 8 years old oct birthday so one of the eldest in his year and very bright currently working 2 years above himself very articulate in teh vocubulary that he uses. School have said hes a model pupil however when he comes home its a totally diffrent matter. the second he leave school its like a release valve goes off you only have to look at him nad we get a full scale melt down it can last just the 10 minute journey home or 1hr+ it normally results in screaming, shouting, tears doors being slammed feet being stamped.

He is obsessed with a game he plays on the computer when he earns his time on it so much so that is all he talks about from the second he gets up till the second he goes to bed. If we tell him he can't go on the comouter we get the temper tantrums again.

He has never slept really since a baby if he manages 6 hours asleep in an evening we have done well he never sleeps in a car no matter how long the journey is all he ever says is im not tired.

He is still in pull ups at night as 5/7 he wets the bed. Hes really not concerned about wearing them either or what anyone else thinks.

He is fixated with food he would eat 24/7 if i allowed it and can not cope with dinner being delayed by 5 minutes or so.

He does Taekwondo which he loves doing but he has been going for 4 years and has only gone up 1 belt as it takes him for ever to remember the sequence of moves they need to know. HIs instructor is wonderful and says not to worry there is no rush. He also does football which he enjoys but hes never really fitted into the team and if hes asked to do soemthing new we get tears as its to hard for him even though he hasnt tried it.

He always has something in his mouth be it his zip his back pack strap his collar anything he can put in his mouth he will.

Sorry for the length of this post but i wanted to put everything down rather than drip feed. TIA for any advice you can give.

[twitchypalm]

Any help at all I would be grateful thanks

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

I would suggest going to see your GP, from what you say it would sound like ASD is definitely a possibility. Either your GP or the school can refer to a paediatrician or whatever the assessment route is in your area.

DD was referred by school to community paediatrician, he saw her and decided to refer her on to another paediatrician but don't know what happens after that as we haven't got there. I have the opposite in that I genuinely don't believe DD has ASD and the questionnaires we have just had to complete to send in advance of her appointment have made me even more sure of that because the answer to just about everything was no. School referred her because they misread a situation at school and felt that that added to me asking for advice about breakdowns on coming out of school indicated ASD. I was surprised the comm paed referred her on but he was concerned because she didn't 'get' metaphors (we came out and she told me what 2 of them meant but she hadn't been certain so had refused to answer him!) but I think the end result will be potentially a language related processing issue and not ASD in our case. Just thought that might give a bit of info about how it might work.

Have school said anything about friendships and the social side of things as that is an area of concern with ASD.

[Levantine]

Twitchy, he sounds very like my 7yo DS. I would recommend that you ask your GP to a referral to a developmental paediatrician. Keep a diary of behaviours, this will help you spot triggers for difficulat behaviours and can be really useful when talking to professionals.

Also, one of the pieces of advice I had on here before ds was diagnosed (which was only in August, so this is all new to me too) was to parent him as if he has a diagnosis. It can't do any harm if he is neuro typical.

Also, do a search on here for sensory processing issues. I find it difficult to get my head around, but lots of the stresses that my ds bottles up at school and can't explain are to do with it being too noisy, not being able to move around freely, too bright. Definitely worth exploring

[Skylar123]

Sounds a lot like my Ds too, I had to double check it wasn't my post . Some great advice given

[twitchypalm]

Thanks everyone im going to give my drs a ring on monday for an appointment