Programme on Autistic Children at 9pm tomorrow(?)

[janh]

At least I think it was tomorrow - single mother with 7 children, 3 "normal" girls and 4 autistic boys - saw a trailer earlier today. It was somewhere on BBC and it was definitely at 9pm but can't remember which bit of BBC or what day - sorry!

I think its on next wednesday bbc2 at 9pm, just saw the trailer but I reckon jimjams will know

Its on Wednesday 30th July, BBC2 at 9pm.

My mate- Jax. She really is the most amazing person I am in awe of her...... I think its a fairly typical day for her- she gets about 5 minutes sleep so it must be.
Eldest son has dyspraxia and dyslexia, next son has AS (and has had a couple of books published- I'd recommend Freaks, geeks and ASpergers syndrome for AS teens), next son has ASHD, and her youngest has autism and CP. Next Wednesday at 9pm BBC2- I can't wait.

JIMJAMS-I cannot stop thinking about this programme ...i will have a video in ready!! (better not be a power cut that night!!!) I looked on the NAS for videos to buy and all the ones i thought sounded suitable for our family were around the £30 mark!
does jaquie have her own web site etc...or can she be contacted via her publisher ???

I'D ALSO LIKE TO THANK 'YOU' FOR ALL YOUR WORDS ON ALL THE MANY MESSAGES YOU REPLY TO - IT IS VERY COMFORTING TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE FEEL HOW I DO- AND THAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THERE AND MUST SPEND HOURS REPLYING TO OUR MESSAGES- THANX!

Ooh no not hours- I type fast- and have a baby who thinks the only place ot be bfed is in front of the computer :-) (Multi tasking)

Jacqui doesn't have a webpage AFAIK. She could certainly be contacted via Jessica (the publishers- Jessica Kingsley).

Luke Jackson (Jacqui's 14 year old son with AS) has his own website:

www.lukejackson.info

I don't know what's on there. Apparently there's quite a lot of stuff on the BBC ouch site as well.

was he the boy who was on richard & juday once?

Yes he was- I didn't see it though. He's been on newsround as well.

He was lovely jimjams and his mum was too, but I suppose you know that dont you

Ooh, a feast of autism tomorrow! The Autism Puzzle is on again on BBC4 Wednesday evening at 10.00pm. I didn't see it all last time as these progs are often very annoying and I could only bear to dip in e.g. Lorna Wing talking about increase in numbers being due to parents seeking ASD, presumably she means when its not there?! Worth a look if you're not worried about ODing.

Lorna Wing drives me mad! She isn't very hands on these days. To see her you have to get a referral from a consultant, and she spends most of her time training foreign consultants. I just wish she'd stop banging on about the increase not being real!

My friend was depressed for about a month after watching the Autism Puzzle. I have it on video but haven't dared to watch. Difficult isn't it. I saw a bit where the adult was watching himself in a video saying yellow. And the NT's were saying "see he doesn't remember"- I thought they could well be wrong, that's the sort of roger irrelevant comment ds1 makes when he does remember- just he can't say any more because his language doesn't stretch that far iyswim. I might just stick to Jax.

There's a feast in the papers as well- but half the articles seem to be saying its down to bad parenting, and not letting your child climb trees (ever seen a dyspraxic child climb trees). Don;t know why you've bothered with ABA Davros you could have gone to the garden centre and bought a few trees

I noticed the postings about the Times article but haven't dared look at it for fear of exploding! My son can and DOES climb trees so maybe thats why he's really made any progress, not the 6 years 1:1 intensive teaching?!

And then there's my Aspergers son who despite having every oppertunity to climb trees/climbing frames/slides/swings etc has up to now (age 9) decided to keep both feet firmly on ground!SO mrs times know-it-all - what do you make of that!!! can't blame this one on us not 'letting' him climb trees!
anyhow has great advantages as even now i can put things out of his reach and he will never try climbing up to get it- yet my 4 year old would clim everest if there was a pair of scissors or a marker pen at the top!!!

The Times article is laughable really. The woman is so obviously totally ignorant of what autism is. Just doesnt help me next time DS1 is squawking at the checkout counter. If I say he's autistic Joe public will just think "uh bad parenting" rather than "oh yes that child is scraming becuase they can't talk". Several days later I'm still so incensed I think I might write to her suggesting she looks up the diagnostic criteria and stops talking t the press about things she's totally ignorant about. Too many abouts there....

Feature on Jacqui and family in The Guardian today, ahead of the prog.

And another relevant piece from the Graun:

this

follows on from that annoying Times article.

i was talking to a neighbour today and she had a friend round with her 2 'perfect' children- she doesn't know that i have 1 diagnosed ADHD/ASPERGERS:1 SUSPECTED ASPERGERS AND 1 SUSPECTED ADHD/ASPERGERS- ALL BOYS.
I was talking generally about the Jackson Family from last night (which she had not even seen) and all i did was mention that Joe's ADHD seemed severe- and she absolutely gutted me with her almost word perfect 'times' article and how bad parenting causes all these conditions- like you JimJams it has been noted how well my children respond to me and even that the oldest would be less able if it weren't for me!
unfortunately i didn't remember this at that moment and instead got away and cried indoors.
HOW DARE THESE PEOPLE WITH THEIR 'PERFECT' LITTLE LIFES CRITISISE US- I STOPPED JUDGING PEOPLE'S PARENTING SKILLS WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF MY FIRST SON'S BIRTH- AND ANYHOW.....AS JACKIE JACKSON SAID SHE WOULDN'T SWAP ANY OF HERS FOR A TYPICAL CHILD-WELL - SHE'S DEAD RIGHT THERE--- AND THOUGH I HAVE DAYS WHERE I DO WONDER 'WHY ME?' I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I LOVE THE PACE THAT MY LIFE TRAVELS- I LOVE MY UNIQUE SONS AND I KNOW MY SONS WERE A GIFT TO ME AS SO MANY PEOPLE DON'T EVEN GET THE CHANCE TO BE A PARENT....RIGHT! I FEEL BETTER NOW! NIGHTY NIGHT!XX

mrs forgetful how awful for you. Unfortunately I think we have all come accross this kind of attitude before, even off so called friends. You are a good mum like you said and dont you forget it

Now that's why I avoid NT parents like the plague mrsforgetful In fact I came back from my last meeting with a new NT mum and perfect two children pretty musch spitting like you. And yes I avoid them becuase when I used to see them I would end up in tears. Keep away!

And as for that sodding Times article I could wring that bloody ignorant professor's neck. My portage worker dropped in yesterday and she wanted to wring the woman's neck as well!

Jimjams, I think that you would both the at the back of a very long queue!

I think that regarding the public perception ASD and ADHD both suffer because some of the behavious children show will be similar to those shown by some children who are suffering from poor parenting. But Joe Public doesn't have the first idea how different the situations are. It is rather like people who mistakenly think that depression is like feeling sad.

I teach a young man with ADHD and it is absolutly obvious after 5 minutes in his company that he is not in contol of his actions. It is also obvious to the other children in the class. And it is making the poor lad deeply unhappy. This is not the same situation as the 'bad lad' who wants to wind everyone up. They tend to be happy with the situation. And you can see the level of contol that they use to manipulate the situation. Totally different from the child with ADS or ADHD.

This sort of simplistic commentry drives me mad, and must be unbearable to you.

I still haven't read that article and don't think I will. I had a hideous woman with her perfect little prince have a go at me in a playground recently about my son (he was sprinkling some blossom, big deal). She said she had told him to stop but he'd just ignored her. I let her get it all out right in my face and then said "he's autsitic and he doesn't understand" to which she roared "but you're not autistic are you? Why don't you do something?". Much to her surprise (and mine) I burst into tears and said, he's classified as disabled and why should I have to apologise to her for having to care for him for the rest of my life? Then she said "but he doesn't look disabled" so I suggested that I break his legs so she could see it more easily but that the parking permit in my car proved that he is, indeed, disabled. I left very fast with the whole, crowded, playground beginning to ask me to stay but I told them all to f#+k off!!! I've had lots of those moments of the years but this was really the worst. I often use the word handicapped as it shocks people and is SO un PC but I'm entitled to use it aren't I?.......

Davros, I think you were fantastic to stand up that woman. I think I would have been stupid enough to apologise and reading what you did has really made me think that I sometimes do let my ds down badly by trying to get him and myself to 'conform'.

Also, I think you did the right thing by being non-pc, she was totally out of line to not back down immediately when you explained that your ds had autism. She needed a good slap aswell imo!

By the way I also wanted to say that I think the programme on Wednesday night was a really positive educating tool. I have had a couple of people in work come up to me (who know my son is hfa) and ask questions about the autistic spectrum. I really think it showed a positive slant which we all need to see more of. It has certainly helped me feel more confident and positive about my wonderful ds.

Well done Davros. I almost lost it with a couple of tut tutters in Tescos a few weeks ago. I was very close to turning around and saying "can you not see there is something wrong here- has it not occurred to you that this is not normal behaviour" You've had more years of it that me- I know I will lose it big time someday. I tend to say to people now- "he can't talk" rather than he's autistic as I've discovered it has more of an effect - and they seem to understand the issue more. Somehow to Joe Public being unable to talk is real, but being autistic is made up (which of course in why hfa's have such a bad time).

well done Davros for standing up to that woman