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!

Jimjams my SIL knows someone who has had some T-shirts made for her son especially for shopping trips that say 'Im not naughty Im autistic' because she was so fed up of having to explain his normal behaviour to people

Davros, fantastic story, wish I had been a fly-in-a-tree to see how the other parents treated the bossy one after you'd gone. I can imagine her trying and failing to justify herself and stalking off.

BTW I did watch the Autism Puzzle on Wednesday and found it fascinating but a bit sad - thinking of all those children who weren't diagnosed 30/40/50 years ago and didn't get any help at all.

Rebi, I agree that the Jacksons programme will have educated a lot of people. The reviews I read (Guardian and Telegraph) were awed. Luke is so good at explaining how it feels. Pity mrsforgetful's neighbour's friend didn't see it.

I've just emailed the Prof idiotface from the Times. Very polite- but just suggested that she finds out more about autism before she spouts off about it in the national press. Also sent her the diagnostic criteria and told her to note that problems with eye contact can be used to contribute towards an autism diagnoisis but is not a necessty. Also pointed out that she has now made going out with ds1 - just that litle bit harder.

Well done Jimjams! You spoke for us all!

Thanks for support over my experince in the playground with devil incarnate. Felt good just to write it down. Jimjams, well done for emailing devil incarnate II. Its always worth following things up, its just hard to get the time and to be able to not sound too angry. You must tell us if you get any reply.
I had mixed feelings about the Jacksons programme. I think she, and her family, were very impressive and seem to have great fun and a lot of love in their lives. I was concerned that the misinformed would just see her difficulties as the result of having 7 children. It was an eye opener about ADHD, which I have supposed to be a less serious condition than autism, as her son with ADHD was a real handful so it does illustrate the "spectrum" cliche very well. I don't know how she does everything she does AND has a great figure, grrrr!

Davros, my 13 year old DS2 was diagnosed ADHD at 7, having been v difficult up to that point. There are still people who believe it is a made-up condition- I've just looked at jimjams link below & my blood is boiling again! My DS was on the wrong doseage by mistake this time last year, & threatened suicide because he felt responsible for everything going wrong at school! He just couldn't take anymore being the "odd" one & the one "always causing problems", after he'd had an argument during a class with the 3 boys he was supposed to be working with. That's hardly medicating for MY benefit! I didn't even know (& you can imagine how I felt finding out).

The school rang me, I rang the clinic, we got him there & they talked to him & changed the medication. End of problem- life not so bleak after all.

DS1 is dyspraxic, poss AS, & couldn't care less that everyone thinks he's odd. Peer pressure? What's that? He's luckier than us "normal" people. He wears what he wants, does what he wants & is not affected by other people one bit.

Davros- I've spokent to an NT friend and she said she went into the Jackson program expecting to think all her problems were due to haivng 7 children and came out totally humbled. What it didn't show is the crap time we all (including Jacqui) have with the system - but then I gues no-one wants to see that.

Tallulah your ds1 may enjoy Lukes book- Freaks Geeks and Aspergers syndrome. Proud to be different and all that.

I watched and i thought Jacqui and her kids were fantastic....what an amazing mum she is! Theres not many that could cope with all of those children, me included, even if they were all "normal" !!!! Someone should give her a medal!

A BIT LONG...SORRY!
FIO- thanks! I love the T-shirt idea- The Nat Aut society sell a pack of 50 'business card' type things which detail what autism or aspergers is ( you just buy the one you want)
I am going to get them and give them to ANYONE 'needs' them as far as i'm concerned- one of my pet hates is the shop staff who at the sight of any 'misbehavioyr' will say things like'now you don't want to be naughty for your mummy do you'..etc.. as a way of stating their opinion withought directly criticising the mum-i will hand my cards out even if it isn't my child after the child has gone and point out to the shop that 'just maybe the child has something like my son and they should view EVERY tantrum etc as a child with a possible 'hidden disability' and start making life easier for the families concerned. Also as far as the TIMES woman goes she has made it harder for anyone who wonders if they are the cause of their childs problems and therefor i reckon we'll go back to people not pushing for someone to take notice and loads of kids will simply be unhelped- my step son was diagnosed with Aspergers (please note genetic link here Mrs Times ) at 18 and by 19 was inprison (theft) maybe if his mum hadn't felt the stigma about geing a single mum/divorced etc and felt able to seek help earlier he may have had a better childhood- however all that happened was she couldn't cope,lived in a bad area,he went to a bad school and everyone said she was a bad parent-she aslso had another son(not with my husband) and at 6yrs old he was killed in a fire he started...now my aspergers lad is fasinated with fire )Point i'm making is that though we KNOW WE ARE NOT TO BLAME WE STILL FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DISTRESS.
Also my SON attended a playscheme for autistic kids on friday and even i was suprised/upset/bothered/frighted/amazed etc by the many differences between all the lads there (no girls!) i saw 2 that were like tom (people definitely would not see anything 'odd' about them if they saw them in a situation they were relaxed about) then the others ranged from mute to those pacing the room and ringing their hands- now as i was just leaving (my son stood as far into a corner as he could-very distressed- but telling me to go home...not clingy) another 2 started fighting and had to be restrained on the floor- now i want to know is THAT what people like the times woman want to see more of- to differentiate between the 'typical'child having a tantrum/fight where we can calm & reason with them -opposed to the'disabled/sometimes 'normal' looking child who CAN'T BE CALMED/REASONED WITH-because there's a REAL difference -as far as the 'doubters' go THEY can carry on 'handling' my chlildren's behaviour the way they handle their 'typical' childs 'naughties'- or they can try my methods i've been using with brilliant results and see which is best!for example- my younger 2 like to build train tracks and the oldest never has- so he started a new game (wrapping up the track in a blanket and pretending it was the other 2's birthday) ofcourse they didn't like him not ussing the track properly so wouldn't open his gifts- he got distressed etc etc etc... you can guess the rest! now the way i hadled this was to get tom into the next room away from the track- i told him what had been happening and how he fitted in to the problem etc then explained it was like a rugby team playing on the same pitch as a football team and that sometimes 2 different games cannot be played at once- i then was able to find a way that he was happy with to join in with their game- i then explained to the other 2 that tom was joining in and what he'd be doing and that later i wanted them to play his 'blanket game'- now I DON'T CONSIDER THIS BAD PARENTING AND IT CERTAINLY TAKES ALOT OF MY TIME AS THIS KIND OF INTERVENTION IS CONSTANT FOR ME- my mum just says to let them get on with it....but WE ALL KNOW IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE ....IST IT!!!!

The Prof from the Times replied. She also sent me the orignal email she sent to the Times. I have to say the Times seem to have made up an article as it doesn't really relate to what she said at all. She didn't say anything about bad parenting at all. She said a few things I would disagree with, but a lot I would agree with. For example she said a lot of problems borderline children have are caused by schools being so inflexible and rigid these days- with their idea of what constitutes "normal".

So glad the times woman had the decency to reply to you so soon. Unfortunatly journalists often have the habit of twisting things, lets hope if her views ARE different to those stated in the Times she will try to put the record straight, maybe in some other manner. Public apology???