asperger disorder.

[Tiff]

i have just joined mumsnet and read some of the discussions with interest. My son is now 8 years old and although we knew from birth things weren't right he has only just been diagnosed with ADHD, asperger and dyspraxia. It took years of seeing child psychiatrists (who blamed bad behaviour), psychologists(dsyfuntional family) before i finally had to go private. I took him to see a paediatrician who finally listened to all i said and made the diagnosis.
my son has been put on medication and although it is early days we are noticing a difference. i realise that not every child needs the medication and some parents are reluctant to try it, but my believe, when you have a child like that is to explore every option.
we have found that as far as diet is related he has to avoid 'E' numbers especially colours and we have started to look at organic foods very closely.
I would just like to tell parents going through hell with a challenging child, Don't GIVE UP, at the end of the day only you can fight for your child.
does anyone else have any experience of a child with multi- conditions or asperger and if so do they have any tips they would like to share, also if you just want a chat after a bad day, get in touch.

thirded

Can I just third Custardo !

I often read the Special Needs threads but rarely comment as I feel I have nothing constructive to add. I feel that my understanding of conditions such as Autism has greatly improved since reading these threads on Mumsnet.

Issymum- i often wonder if 'our methods' would work on NT children...for example one of my 'favourites' is that if i need to tell my ds1 off (ADHD/Aspergers) if we're in public i usually bend down and whisper to him how i feel etc- this is great as he says he can't look and listen ...and this eyecontact thing really can be annoying when you are cross and 'they' won't look at you- so i often think that this would work for NT kids as i have found since doing this that there is rarely a need to shout- and often by me whispering - he has to quieten down in order to hear me...but just to give a really balanced opinion....this doesn't work on DS2....who i believe has more severe aspergers...yet to be DX

A lot of our methods, particularly behavioural ones, are proven to work on NT kids. Also things like the "eye contact trick", giving warnings about transitions, rewarding "good" behaviour rather than punishing "bad" behaviour, token systems, i.e. star charts etc. ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis) is used in the USA not only to teach individuals with ASD or SEN but anyone with learning difficulties or behavioural problems. Lecture over!!!

Yeah my ds2 gets spoken to like an auti child all the time. He does have a pretty good understanding of language and I'm sure part of that is becuase he's in a permanent SALT session, complete with reduced language. Also find positive instructions to be a godsend. Also find myself saying slightly weird things to him like "listening" and "good pointing" which I'm sure he doesn't need (actually maybe the listening one is useful- it does seem to work)- sure that good pointing is wasted though. Oh well won't do any harm

Suew, I'm sure there's a lot of crossover in SEN and NT techniques. The main difference may be clear structure, the need for proper observation etc.

I discovered another one I use all the time with ds2- and it keeps the peace. Just saying "bye bye x" when I want him to stop playing with something/doing something.

I do that - we had bye-bye toothbrush this morning!

I do that - we had bye-bye toothbrush this morning!

I say bye bye all the time to things. Miraculously my ds (8 months) doesn't cry if we (I) say goodbye. I originally did it to stop separation anxiety and it worked so well we say bye to just about everything else. He's so busy trying to wave, he forgets he was playing with it.

Hi all - We use bye bye all the time too - Especially around our cat Poppy - Not sure, if Poppy would of survived DS and his rather 'heavy handed manner with her Everyday I say "Poppy has to have her tea now - so lets go inside" and of course we both wave bye bye Poppy and this works a charm, no outbursts etc...

Slight change of subject: I think I have mentioned before about "planning issues" with my son. This is the latest theory on his behaviour? Can anyone contribute to this?? They feel at times, when he can't cope with changes etc and he becomes extremely anxious, loud, lashing out etc..... its because he isn't able to plan what to do next?? Interested to hear some feedback. PS: DS is 4yrs old and is Down Syndrome.

Have you used a visual timetable bagpipes? You set out with PECS what is going to happen. This can work really well.

The other thing I do is if there is an unavoidable change then I make sure that ds1 knows about it. So for example I have had to drive a different way to nursery this week, so every morning before we get in the car, as we get in the car and as we drive off I say "A we are going to nursery, but a different way. We are going a different way to nursery because the road is broken. We ARE going to nursery but a DIFFERENT way". And that seems to work. If I just drove off we would have meltdown as soon as I turned in the "wrong" direction.

Thanks Jimjams - Today at early intervention -all the therapists decided to do 'mapping' - Which is probably what a visual timetable is. They used a whiteboard, with pictures of all the things they wanted him to do. Once they had been completed and he was asked have we finished, he was then given the marker to tick off what he had done - he seemed to enjoy this bit LOL. I was in another room - viewing him, but he couldn't see me. They felt by doing the 'mapping', and not rushing him and not making frequent changes, it seemed to keep him in a calmer mode. He is not the best at doing cognitive work - sitting in a chair, one on one doing therapy UNLESS he picks the time, place etc... So, today was a real eye opener!! Apparently they reckon - if I was to go to a Neurologist - there would be no way, he would even contemplate, my son was dyspraxic (not sure on spelling) apparenting they reckon Down Syndrome children/people can't be dyrspraxic. My SLT totally disagrees - she reckons she has been observing him for the last two terms and she thinks he is very dysraxic??