Finding it hard, I just don't know how I can help him cope

[mymatemax]

ds2 starts school in Sept, physically he'll be fine he has mild CP but i don't see it causing him too many problems & the physical barriers are i feel much easier fro school & ds2 to cope with. BUT,
he has started with school visits, meeting his teacher etc & i think he is getting an awareness of the changes ahead his school visits have not gone well, he gets very distressed, he's stopped sleeping isn't eating, started flapping & rocking again it took me15 mins to get him out of the front door today just because he couldn't get beyond touching the stairs (all part of a ritual).
I'm really not so good at helping him cope with his emotional problems & anxiety I just find the physical stuff far easier to deal with & i don't feel like i'm doing enough to make it easier for him, I know he will settle down again I just hate seeing him so upset while he deals with the change.
Sorry i've waffled now!

[Yurtgirl]

I bet he will cope far better than you imagine

I worry terribly about how mine will cope with stuff and then they are fine.

[mymatemax]

Thanks yurtgirl I know eventually he will settle (fingers crossed) but he isn't coping now & i'm not sure how to help him

[mummytosteven]

only thing I can think of is if you can setup any sort of continuity between now and school starting - watching a certain tv programme say, or doing a certain activity at a set time?

[mymatemax]

He also has a probable dx of OCD & social anxiety disorder, everything he does is a ritual, has to be done in a certain way at a certain time.
We try to keep a balance between keeping his routines & differing things ever so slightly - the more we allow him to dictate his rituals the more rigid they become, but i think maybe you are right we are going to have to have to think about helping him introduce a new routine that he will able to keep going when he starts school.
The social anxiety side - I just don't know??

[mymatemax]

Thanks riven, he goes to pre-school 4 mornings & is very settled, there are things he won't do but generally i think he enjoys it, but it took him over a year to settle, he is able to interact with some children & tolerate the rest but on his terms.
School are happy for him to start gradually & take it at his pace.
Your right school can be scary for any 4 yr old & its easy to forget when sn's are thrown in aswell that all the children/parents have similar worries iykwim.
Its just now he is realising there is change ahead i know there are some very rocky months coming.

[jtm2309]

hello my son is 8 he goes to a mainstream school that has a speacial needs unit in he has good days & bad days i worry about the future for his education i feel that i may have to home educate him as often his behaviour gets in the way of his learning does any one feels like this,

[mummytosteven]

Hi JTM, my child is pre-school age,so I don't have personal experience of this. There is a poster on here who is moving her DS (HFA) from mainstream to a special school due to behaviour issues arising from the ASD. I don't know whether that might be an option. Also it is possible to "flexi-school" - so your child part attends school, and is part home educated. People tend to recommend the Education Otherwise site for home education.