Life with an autistic son

[BsDad]

Hi,

I'd like to invite Mumsnet members to read a blog I am writing about my son, aged 3, who has just had a diagnosis of autism.

My wife is a regular poster on Mumsnet and it has been an invaluable source of advice and comfort. I'm not sure there's even a Dadsnet, so I thought I'd post here.

I've been writing the blog for a while now, more for myself than anything else. I've just made it public, as I thought there might be things on there that are worth sharing, particularly for parent's who find themselves right at the very start of the experience of having a child with ASD.

I'd welcome any comments and feedback via here or the blog. Thanks.

autisticson.wordpress.com/

I have read your blog in a moment of dispair and it's helped a lot, especially knowing that most of us carers feel guilty of not doing enough in a way. I also found the blue badge bit very interesting and have considered it before for the same reasons, to be told my my HV that I won't be granted one because he is mobile (too mobile) :) thanks for the inspirational words.

btw, I am assuming that you are the teacher who has had his blog posted at the mumsnet homepage. This was the one that caught my attention when I first logged in.

Thanks for reading Ronifromwales. I'd say the blue badge is definitely worth a go. I also found your moving post on a thread you started. Our children are different but I recognise a lot of what you write about. Thanks for sharing.

Following on from the post above, I noticed someone else on the forum posting about getting a blue badge for their asd child. Like my son, they got middle rate dla. Worth doing I'd say (if only to annoy the bloody Daily Mail!).

I've written on my blog about our follow up appointment regarding MRI results:

autisticson.wordpress.com/

I've been thinking about how my son plays and how this might develop as he gets older. It's scary to try and imagine how things might pan out for him- I know that many asd kids are quite solitary or rely a great deal on the adults around them. At school, we have a few children whose 'friends' are the adults and teachers that work with them. They seem comfortable with this, but I wonder how much they crave peer friendship but avoid it because it's just too difficult. Anyway, I've blogged about it here:

autisticson.wordpress.com/

I really appreciated this blog from you. It rings many bells from me. DS is now 7 and rarely plays well with his peers, or at all, but plays well with his siblings. I find it hard to know how much 'solitary' time to give him.
I like your thoughts about being the play mate. Going to get DP to do a bit of that.

Thanks Shells. Have fun playing!
I've been thinking this week about what we've bought our son for Christmas. It takes a little bit of thought to know what best to get him- it's unlikely he'll ask for anything or know what he wants- but I think we've done alright...

autisticson.wordpress.com/

hi BsDad, my husband and i read your blog a lot. good one about xmas pressies! i usually start a thread on here every year looking for ideas!

so far ive got my autistic ds (5) a gaming bean bag chair to coorie up in. i'm thinking about a mirror ball. a thomas book that has sounds (lets face it, you can never go wrong with thomas, in fact i think its a prerequisite for autism).

wasnt finished there...

my son loved his xylophone, and his drum. however he discovered another use for them as on both instruments, the sticks were attached with string. now, who doesnt love to spin? well, its even better if you're holding a stick in each hand attached with string to something fairly heavy (something to do with centrifugal force perhaps?)
i'm afraid for everyones safety (and the tvs) we had to remove them one night when he was in bed.
he does like musical things, but got obsessed with the guitar that played tunes. as soon as one tune finished he would have to run back over and press the button again.

but i will def look up those wee jumping furry animals!

another thing our ds loves is building blocks. and check out magnetic polydron.

Thanks Yogabonkers! The irony of posting our Christams list is that several people have suggested other things that we now really want to buy! Those magnetic poldron's look great. It would appear the spending is not over yet...

Also on the subject of Christmas is this week's post. I'm finding the family friendly season a little difficult to deal with and, as a result, we're shying away from the usual family get together. Am I alone in feeling like this?

autisticson.wordpress.com/

I'd like to share some good news we've had this week regarding the on-going saga with my son's MRI scan results. Thanks to everyone who supported.

autisticson.wordpress.com/

Brilliant! what great news and what a stressful weight of worry lifted from your minds :)

Oh god, my son has smacked his TA in the face...
autisticson.wordpress.com/

Its wrong, but I had to smile at this post. Well done for taking something positive from it!