magneficent 7

[3kids]

This programme is on tuesday night bbc2 at 9pm it's about a mother with 7 children four of whom are autistic.

...actually watching 'maggie' chasing that lad who stole her son's phone.... well i truly could imagine jaqui doing that....i have on the whole 'enjoyed' it as a programme....only bit i HATED was the way she keeps saying 'my perfect girls'...or words to that effect!!!

I am only dipping in and out of the programme (in between mnetting) . But I am struck by how peaceful her household is notwithstanding 7 children. Or am I not paying enough attention?

Nobody can ever know what it's like, till they know, but at least this programme gives a few people a teeny tiny insight into a little of what it might be like. It beats bloody Rain Man that's for sure! No programme in the world could ever capture what it's really like and it's so different for everyone. Like the drama about OCD, it irritated me slightly, I wanted to scream, "It's worse than that, much, much worse, you don't fucking know the half of it", but it still would have helped open an eye or two, or maybe even a mind?

How good was that!

i thought it was too 'oh autism, not that bad...'

am about to switch over the bbc4 now.

i feel awfu;l, you all liked it, but i didnt

I have absolutely no experience of anyone with 'special needs' so to speak - so I found it really interesting. I'm sure it may have seemed simplistic and rose-tinted to those that do - but it was an eyeopener to me.

maybe i'm just used to chaos. dd2 birthday party had dd2(possibly AS), dd1 (allergy kid alert), mieows 2 kids (2 cerebal palsy) and spursmum ds (autism). its just normal for me and mieow.

and the bit with the RED jelly... is EXACTLY my experience with CARROTS... took a whole year to get leigh to just accept carrot anywhere near him...then to touch it....then to smell it...then to touch his lips...so in my case i believ 'some' aversions can be 'eventually' helped.... but likewise accept many cannot....as for example both my autistic sons cannot tollerate 'mixed texture' foods...so yogurt with lumps of fruit etc are no good....and the ONLY reason i pushed for carrots on leigh as it's the most commonly veg the 'outside world' expect kids to eat...people seem to accept 'all' kids hating sprouts...peas etc.... however carrots are assumed to be 'acceptable'...so my original aim was to get to the point where leigh could 'tolerate' them if at someones house....and now 4 years on...4 years of 'strategies' to get him to eat... he eats carrots...and is currently accepting 4 peas on his plate.... and occaisionaly i 'accidently' slip one on his spoon when i feed him (he's 9 and only finger feeds... so if i want to add a new food...I have to do it...he will heave if he sees it....but strangely appears to not taste it...only 'feels' it...so work in progress....and worth it as at least this way i may eventually achieve the nations aim for 5 veg/fruit... but NEVER per day...maybe a total of 5 portions a year!!!!
.

I thought it was good. Her front door (locks, locks and locks) was my front door. Her walls (scribbles) were my walls. That slightly manic "oh shit what have they done" followed by running as fast as possible to catch up with someone was me. The utterly useless teacher without a clue- that was ds1 in mainstream (thank god he's gone). Poo smearing, special diets, isolation. Thought it captured them all. Thought it showed that AS is more than geekiness, that autistic kids (curtis) can be affectionate. It dsidn;t show meltdowns (but that would be tedious to watch).

For something that had to be entertaining (for Joe Public after all) I thought it was good.

i guess. i am now having to look at locks for the kicthen (dd2 has figured out the stairgate and shows dd1 (2years older!!) how to open it!! fridge lock survived a day.

I only watched the last half an hour but kept getting distracted by HBC slipping and losing the accent. There were a few familiar scenes though. Ds2 is the one wandering around in just a nappy, hiding under tables but also standing on his head and running off to look at anything with lights or that spins. Ds1 is like a younger version of Christopher wrt always wanting to know how you spell a word or saying "It's not X, it's Y!" Don't know if I could have sat through the whole thing tbh.

Fridge locks are shit. DS1 destroyed ours age 2. We now just lock the whole kitchen. Magnetic locks are good for the cabinets.

i think what hotmulledwinemamma said...is 'spot on'...for people with no special needs experience...it would be a graet 'introduction'...and for those of us with 'that life'...it maybe missed the point a bit...but if i were to score it....i would give it 9/10.

agree...meltdowns would be too dramatic...people would think it was exaggerated...over acted...but WE know it is what meltdowns are like....my 9 yr old has TANTRUMS to beat every 'terrible 2' ...but if filmed...people would think he was 'over acting'...noone would accept that he gets in that state 'naturally' because 'his boat was rocked'

don't forget for a mainstream audience you have to establish 'sympathetic' characters to evoke interest and it may well be more 'real' in future episodes

I liked it in terms of a drama, despite the over-romanticised demitri bit .. I would like to watch more

as usual...i have taped it.......willing to copy it AFTER christmas.... but as those of you know from b4 i do EVENTUALLY send the tape...but my organisational skills are terrible...so 'eventually' is the operative word!!!!

yes fridge locks are shite, i'll admit that. i liked the look of the magnectic ones i saw once, i wonder if they are lauren-proof?

though we are told the 'only' fictiscous bit was the 'romance'...i did enjoy that notion...that a someone could have insight and 'understand' my boys as i do...as i feel isolated as though my husband is great ...it is 'outside' of his depth to truly 'get it'...he does try to use startegies now...so who knows eventally he may 'get it'...but for now...that idea that she met the bloke who 'understood' for me is a fantasy...but a lovely idea.... so despite originally feeling annoyed they 'tampered ' with the story...MAYBE... it was included in the sense of how i saw it...a lovely idea... in an ideal world!

I would say 9/10 as well MrsF. The only thing that didn't ring true was the ease of getting babysitting (to fulfill the love interest) and the way that she wasn't running around like crazy after curtis and ??Joe??? what was the fictitious name? Davey, BEFORE the chaos happened. Pleased it showed things like nappies though.

misdee...my hubby works somewhere where they sell the magnetic ones... we have 3... they are FANTASTIC....
basically.....you fit the lock mecahnism...inside door....NOT visable at all outside....then to open you just swipe the 'key' over the door...around where the lock is....and it clicks open...

each lock has a identical key...so for me having three locks means i have put a key on my husbands and my keyring....and a spare one on to the cupboards attatched with a 'bungee/springy' key chain...so it can reach all locks....but springs right to the back of the cupboard tops when we let go....so in a year we have NEVER struggles finding the key....however i do worry about families who would not be able to leave the key 'somewhere' safe etc.... as i am lucky that mine have never thought to go in my bag and get my keys....my eldest is 12 and the youngest 6...and co of their asperger's..they are so rulebound that i could leave a bar of chocolate out and noone would eat it...even if they hadn't eaten all day....unless they were told they could.

cheers mrsF, i caught lauren making milkshakes the other day. nesquik all over the place.

Good point about the one type of key thing MrsF. All our internal door locks are those ones with an allen key type thingy to open them. ds1 climbs up to undo bolts etc. Although funnily enough he always insists that the front door bolts are across.

fortunatly the front door has an 'internal chain' which lauren hasnt managed to undo yet. tho she does open the front door, the chain stops her.

yes the nappy bit great...and my alex is 6 and still has dummies in bed....certain ones like joe only like yellow...

also agree about the babysitting... i could love fireworks too...if i had a babysitter !

also in our house ...cos all 3 are 'somwhere over the spectrum'... there is constant chaos cos each one struggles with empathy...sharing...saying sorry....etc.... so constant battles involving clashes co one or the other has taken something literally...or had a routine inetruppted.... and whereas if one of mine were 'normal...YUCK at that word'.... then i would be able to 'reason' with that child at least about the 'consequenses' of what ever action they took...but unfortunately i cannot reason with them.... so to the outside world they 'just' appear to like winding eachother up....AND 'deliberately' push each other's RED buttons.....but I KNOW they are not able to think things through....that has become my job...i am their interpretor!

Keep one step ahead though. DS1 is now so insistent on the bolt being across he locked me out a few weeks ago when I popped out to the car to get ds3 some baby milk (dragged a box across in superspeed time and stood on that). I had to call through the letterbox to ds2 to try ands get him to open it. He couldn't reach. Amazingly ds1 came and opened it. (I was stunned- he wouldn;t have even registered the request a year ago),