........itv1 this morning living with autism.........

[jenk1]

just to remind you that this morning which starts in a few mins are showing a documentary on how a faimly copes with living with autism

My sentiments exactly Fio.

If a documentary had been shown after the watershed it would probably show more a more true to life account of what its like living with an autistic child

davros did you have to teach your ds to stay with you (how how how???) or has he never been a runner? Ds1 is dreadful- school say that when they go out and about he's the one they worry about, although I think he is much much better since going to that school. At sports day I was really impressed- he sat on a picnic mat for 10 minutes- I have never seen him do that before

Hmmmm, not sure I know!!!
I think a lot of our "successes" with DS come down to the boring old "come here" programme done right at the start of his ABA programme. Even now, whatever state he is in, he will do what we want within reason, e.g. sit on the couch, come upstairs etc through terrible screaming etc. He won't stop the screaming though iyswim. I think its "come here", which is massively underestimated in its implications and depends on reinforcement but very basic at the start AND receptive language and being willing/able to listen to ME. I often say to people these days that, if a parent does nothing else, no fulltime ABA home prog blah blah blahh, everyone should do a "come here" prog and its extensions.
Don't know if that helps at all.....

He'll respond to come here and to sit on seat, sit down, etc but not really if the alternative is waiting. So if we're walking along outsiede he's good as gold, but as soon as we have to stop to cross the road, queue etc that's it- he;s gone.

Well that sounds promising. I only hold DS's hand to cross the road, gave up years ago trying to make him hold hands to walk along. He's not good at waiting I have to say though but he doesn't run off, don't really know why, I must be soooo reinforcing ha ha! I wouldn't leave it to chance of course, and I constantly prompt him verbally and with gestures if I am getting tired of my own voice.

having said he's good as gold that assumes we have the same ideas about the direction we want to go in

i agree with Jimjams yes the spectrum is far and wide and yes it is good to get any publicity about Autism out there ,but when are these people ever going to show someone who has severe Autism just to see her out on her OWN with her child , i could never do that my daughter is 12 now she has severe Autism learning difficulties and she is non verbal not completely toilet trained wheres my au pair and private SALT !!! i just want people to see and understand how the other half of the spectrum lives for a change please !!

I know Dee I thought the au pair and private SALT was just taking the mick tbh Not that i begrudge the family for having one, i just found it patronising and not really at all reflective of how the majority of families with special needs children live

that sounds bitter just ignore me!

Fio and Dee you are exactly right - it would have been easy to point out the SALT was private. Now people will think our kids get weekly nhs theray. ha ha ha ha ha.

with someone who knows their name

PMSL

lmao, i remember taking my son back for some more speech therapy (also have a son with semantic pragmatic)then 10 we turned up on time to find out the speech therapist thought he was 5 and only had teddys for him to do his speech therapy with ds promptly turned and ran from the room ,she said i think well try again next week i said yeah and try and get the right kid this time ! lol

ahhh Socci so true. so many people I know think that ds1 must be a bit geeky and like computers. And then in he comes. I had to put as note in the home school book todays as He is covered in burst blood vesels at the moment (like a pin prick rash all over his chest and back) because he screamed so much yesterday because I had the TV on the "wrong" channel. Dozy cow that I was I thought he wanted Makaton Dave in a certain place. Took us 10 minutes to communicate that- by which time blood vessels had burst. I was thinking as I was trying to stop him headbutting the TV and watching him turn purple "film this you bastards"

I got stuck behind 2 lorry's unloading today- it was fine - I was with ds2 and ds3- it was a PITA as we had to wait 10 minutes- but it was fine. I was thinking at the time - thank god I don't have ds1- we would have had to abandon the car - he would have concussed himself on the window.

People just have no idea about that sort of thing- how a minor inconvenience becomes a major major issue. And how bloody hard it is to communicate that I had the wrong channel on the TV!

oh and PMSL Dee- that's hilarious!

Viewers in the London area last night on BBC1 got to see a ten minute segment in a programme called Inside Out. It featured two children; a boy with AS and a girl whose Mum described as severely autistic. They were taking part in a programme called AIT which is light and music therapy (from my recollection). The boy in this programme was featured more than the girl in question.

If tv want to do a programme about autism it needs to be done as a properly made documentary and shown preferably at peak time (not for instance 11pm!!).

It can be done if the will is there; there was an excellent documentary shown re families with ADHD not so long ago.

I have no direct experience of autism but have no truck with some people who cannot even seemingly say the word (and I have come across a few such people too along with much ignorance).

Meerkats

I have posted a link for anyone interested:-

www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/09/15/insideout_sound_clinic_feature.shtml

poor ds1 jimjams

oh I know fio. Still got the marks this morning... How long do they take to go?

about a week?....hopefully

He'll probably have burst more by then. Found him dipping ds2's toothbrush in the toilet this morning then brushing his teeth! yuck! Ds2 is going to have a fit tonight as it was his flashing toothbrush. Grrr.

oh no! dd does things like that!

I didn't know whether to be horrified or pleased that I've just added a toilet block cleaner to that loo.....

meerkatsunite, Inside Out is broadcast at 7.30pm, I think the 11pm showing is a repeat.