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.

am watching bbc4 now, arent the jackson boys good looking? Joe(?? the one with ADHD) looks so angelic.

am ojne step aheasd with the kicthen, am now placing the pram with the brakes on also in front of the gate, not enough gap between that and the fish tank so dd2 hasnt been able to sneak in there in the mornings. must get those allen key locks sorted (i think i directed you to them IDAAX)

trouble is misdee...i think i need locks a=on all the cupboards... the other day (10 mins b4 we had to be out to school).... i took the ribena out the cuboard ...shook it...and the lid flew off...nearly 2 litres all over me and the cupboard's contents....my boys have difficulty screwing on lids....and because i accept this is part of their difficulties....like i have to always leave the loo seat up...whereas everywhere else people put it down....well...i accept their limits and in the case of both ribena and wee...'just wipe it up'...and try again with a social story explain what they 'should do'...as my tollerance of ribena etc...is way different to my mum's etc!!!

its all washable mrsF, thats my motto (thank goodness for dd1 allergies in a way, we're laminated throughout)

They are great misdee. I was directed on here and yes I think it was you! Works a treat!

it'll have to be after my dad has his op for the lock (hernia op booked for january), until then extra vigilance lol.

AUTIE... LOVE how you are proud of his achievement... i am exactly the same... one of mine can do something that on one hand scares me...but on the other makes me so proud as it shows a degree of independance etc...last week...for the 1st time, leigh managed to 'stop himself' from lashing out at alex when 'provoked'...a fantastic acheivemet as it meant that i was able to show leigh how cos he did not retaliate...that rather than have to cosole BOTH boys...as leigh would normally absolutely all but murder alex.... i was able to PRAISE leigh 1st...then moved swiftly on to 'tell alex off...or PUNISH as leigh sees it'...and the whoile situation was dealt with within 2 minutes...usually it takes at least 30.

thats great mrsF, the other week (last wee??) dd2 whacked dd1 with a broom, she then got scared as dd1 styarted to bleed from her mouth, before that hse thoughht it was funny to hit dd1 (dd2 pain threshold is higher than normal, so being hit by dd1 doesnt hurt her that much IYSWIM)

JAQUI'S JUST CRIED TO THE CAMERA....I always feel so sad at that bit as it is how i feel sometimes...we cope....we manage....then sometimes it hits home...and you cry.

For someone who knows nothing it was probably enlightening, ADHD boy was particularily good. She didn't seem to do an awfull lot of supervising, like at the xmas party. I couldn't of left mine that long without checking.

i thought it was great for a drama, thought the lack of supervision was odd, knowing jaqui (which i do) she doesn't go out alone with the kids because of the supervision stuff.

I have taped and will be watching with interest!

Yes, I agree with the supervision thing, especially at the Xmas party, I always have to keep my eye on ds at occasions like this. The acting was great, and I thought that HBC sounded just like Jacqui. There were a few aspects that could have been included, meltdowns aggression etc but overall I enjoyed watching it. It would be really intersting to see what Jacqui thinks of the drama. They didn't show much of the oldest boy did they, although in the documentary he doesn't appear much.

I didn't watch it and I'm not sorry I missed it tbh. I've got enough autism of my own thanks I'm pleased it wasn't a total disaster and may make some impression on the "uninitiated".
With all this talk of locks etc, what I'd like to know is does JJ do anything in RL or on the show about some of her children's "inappropriate" behaviours, you get the impression that ALL behaviours are accepted as just being "different". I don't think its OK for a 6 yr old (or whatever he is) to still be in nappies or an 8 yr old (or whatever he is) to still be sucking a dummy. I know it not easy or even possible to put a stop to these things but I don't like the "oh well, they're different, it doesn't matter" attitude. There has to be a mixture with inappropriate/excessive behaviours of prevention, acceptance and intervention, not just tolerance of everything iyswim.

Linked to the supervision point, for someone with no experience of autism, I thought the fact there were no meltdowns made it quite unbelievable for me - and so I switched off mentally. I thought my single toddler had more meltdowns and to believe that 7 children under one roof without even the usual squabbles and noise level, was too unreal. The programme made the mother's life only seem quirky, but knowing (anecdotally) how crushingly hard it is to live with autism, the programme did not bring it out.

Blimey why all this Jacqui Jackon bashing? It makes me sad when parents of autistic kids lay into each other just because their parenting styles differ. There's so much in house fighting on the web. The chelation/anti chelation fight is particularly vicious. Live and let live I say. We are all doing our best however we raise our asd kids and my guess is that the choices we make are all motivated by our love for our kids.

Uniqorn - your name is very similar to mine (I'm unicorn normally) this may lead to problems?

god agree with you about the chelation fight (anything to do with mercury- utterly ridiculous frenzies people get themselves into). I don't think there's much Jacqui bashing going on here though.

Davros- remember in the real life Jackson houselhold Ben (curtis in the progamme) has physical difficulties as well, which will affect toiletting etc Don't most people work on dummies/nappies during the day then worry about the night later? I know there are things I should be working on with ds1 now (everything to do with mealtimes and snacking springs to mind), but we're busy with other things so that's on the list to be dealt with when I have enough pairs of hands to make it feasable.

I'm ashamed to say how much I still do for my ds who'll be 6 in April. I dress him, spoon feed him foods that he can't pick up by hand, even wipe his bottom, and much to the dismay of family his bed is still in our bedroom. I know I'm not helping him in the long run, and always promise myself that I'm going to be alot firmer, but I just don't seem to have the strength lately to stand up to what might turn into a meltdown, so I end up doing practically everything for him. It's very tiring to get him to do anything, he resists absolutely everything that is not on his own agenda.

I missed the drama part but watched the bits afterwards where they talked to the real famillies. Given that Sam has AS, I possibly have AS and we can see it in at least 3 other family members going back to my Grandad, I was intrigued to say the least.

In the end we sat there going 'yes that's Sam', or DH going 'hey that's you that is!' at the kid with the ear muffs (I do curtains personally, I wrap the living room ones tround my arms for hours- have done this with cotton fabric since I can remember).

it was illuminating and I hope a few family members or Uni colleagues saw this and understand a little more of our life now.

Well I still do plenty for DS and I don't think for one minute that we all CAN or SHOULD make everyone's life a misery by trying to deal with everything and expecting to succeed. All I'm saying is the knowing its an issue, whether it ever gets dealt with or not.
The reason there is any so-called bashing is because this programme and others like it represent all of us to a certain extent, so we have every right to comment imo. She can bash me too when I'm featured in every newspaper and magazine going and appear regularly on TV.

DH and I watched this and thought it was just utter crap. It did not in any way reflect even what life is like with a child who is only mildly affected by autism, never mind one who is severely affected, never mind more than one, fgs! Absolute rubbish.

Dino, you made me

Oh I see what you mean- it does get dealt with (or attempted to, as much as the rest of us).

I was thinking earlier whether media exposure to autism helps at all (from anyone anywhere). I suspect not in most cases because it just makes everyone think they understand it when they haven't a clue. And people who think they understand it are the worse. MIL thinks she understands it but when I said the other week "and of course I'm housebound once Ds1 is off school" said "oh yes the weather is too bad to go isn't it". I mean WTF?

At the end of the day no-one really gives a stuff anyway though do they? As long as it doesn't affect them. What's better media exposure that leads everyone to think that all autistics have a special gift, or no-one even knowing the word? TBH I don't know.

Saw a short amount of the documentary afterwards on BBC4 and thought her children seemed rather lovely and articulate.