Jimjams - thanks for the link from a parent who has always wondered about autism.

[dejags]

\link{http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/autism_every_day.php\13 minutes}

thanks for this link Jimjams. It answers so many questions I always wondered about but never had the guts to ask.

If only everybody could take the time to watch it.

ah 4 years ago- ds1 is now 7!! Last time we went to the pony place (we've been once since the original post) he glued himself to one spot to look at a washing line he could see the corner of. It was a nightmare!

The first visit was for his 3rd birthday. Aww my baby.

fuck he still has a door obsession. 4 bloody years (now he likes the cupboard doors and just tries to shut ds3 in them!)

He can wear hats now though! (fab because it means he can go donkey riding!)

thank you yajorome. Name change? I'm all misty eyed now thinking of him at 3. (such high hopes! bless...., never imagined he;d still be non-verbal at 7...)

He's progressed a bit on the food front since then though, hasn't he?

Bet it's a bit strange reading that 4 years down the line! Not much has changed though in the world at large sadly - you'd still be judged in the same way I suspect judging by the other thread!

actually -sorry -this really is the last one- at 3 he was like the sweet little chipmunk boy in the film whose mum says "he has never said a word".

not when out and about soapbox, and he still requires spoon feeding. He will eat baked bean now though (yay!)

ooh I'm off to see a nutritionist with ds3 soon - will report back!

Does he eat chips? Chips and baked beans - what more could a boy want

Is DS3 copying DS1 on the food front then? How are things looking with DS3 atm?

chips -sometimes!

DS3 has an autistic gut, but since switching to cows milk is amazing. Food wise will eat most things (funny about textures though du du du derrrr), just has to be gluten free.

goats goats not cows! Although guernsey cows are fine.

Let's hope it is just an autistic gut [crossed finger emotion]

Thanks very much, yajorome.

Jimjams, it may have been yonks ago but I bet everyone who reads it now knows why it was remembered.

Since going onto goat he passes the CHAT test soapbox (before he failed). He's an odd child (has me in stitches, sooooo stroppy), but I now think he's NT, funny (a month ago I wasn;t as confident). Had a blummin' meltdown today though- had no idea NT kids could have them (ds2 didn't), boy did he scream and tense every 16 month muscle of his.

That must be a relief, although there is still a fair bit of lactose in goats milk so at least you're not facing a completely dairy free situation!

Do you think he copies DS1 behaviourwise - e.g the meltdowns. Although god knows my DS has had plenty of them, and still does from time to time! Nothing unusual really if my experience is anything to go by

That thread from years ago is very good. again very much like atypical day out with my own ds at that age.

it amazes me how different my child is compared to all the other chidlren i know and yet i come on here adn its like...well i feel like all NT paretns feel, i have rarely been able to join posts by simply saying "yeah ds is like that" but here i can. a child tha is so very different yet so very similar. weird.

the texture thing with food...thought that was just ds. he cannot take breadcrumbs at all, wont have anything chewy, wont have yogurt or anything smooth that has lumps in....ooh the list goes on. its also a nightmare trying to introduce new foods...takes weeks!

i am loving MN right now. its soo nice to be able to talk about ds without having to explain everything.

He copies ds1 in thinking that doors are toys!

Erm meltdowns? I don't know. He has a temper (ds1 and ds2 were sweet things at his age). I think he may just be like me He copies ds1 banging his head and hitting himself , but so does ds2 (although ds1 has moved onto biting his hand,)

I do get the feel he's OK now. The only thing that slightly concerns me is that he doesn't use yes or no. But he is still a baby really, even if he thinks hes 3 (WALKS down stairs FGS - without holding on- ds1 at his age wasn't walking at all, ds2 only just)

I posted recently om SN about ds1 and his food FM- His school have worked wonders. Over a year rof very patient work on their part. They started by giving a tiny bit of food in a crisp sandwich. Now he will eat anything sloppy provided it comes with mashed potato!]

He used to have the most limited diet of any child I knew. We could count the things he would eat on 1 hand.

JJ - my dd2 had a meltdown the other night - jsut did not want to be in her bed - utterly exhausted so we brought her down stairs with us - dh took her up again and the minute he got into the hallway outside her room - off she went again. Finally he just took her into our bed - she eventually went off to sleep and I left her there until I knew she was really asleep and put her in her bed.... dd1 does not really go off like this one did - like you - I was just amazed at her screaming and crying?!?!

eidsvold- tiredness is a big trigger for ds3 as well which is 1 reason I think that it's normal. In ds1's case meltdowns occur because he has been prevented from looking at a light say, or has to wait more than 10 seconds, or a door wont shut (or heaven forbid someone sits in their car in the street and doesn't get out!) None of which is normal obviously.