Kathy Lette article re: aspergers

[Pixel]

I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading her book. Thought other people might be interested. [busmile]

As the sister of someone with Asperger's Syndrome I think it's a pretty great article. I am a bit gutted to see TA/LSAs (such as myself) slammed (again) as 'untrained helpers'. This is a gross generalisation and puts highly knowledgeable people off applying for such jobs.

Oh dear sorry if I've put this thread on a downer. I'll go and give ds a goodnight kiss.

blueemerald, I think the author of the article probably meant untrained in ASD. IME, many TA's are not well trained in special needs [some are].

I have been a TA and now work in Early Years and I am a parent of 2 children in the autistic spectrum.

In many schools, support for children with ASD is very very poor. If you are well trained then you are one of the lucky ones.

My Dd3 is now one of the lucky few children in mainstream who has excellent supprt from an excellent team of staff. [Not her first school].

Just to flip this a little, but I think we are a little unusual in this regard, we grieved and are still grieving (for want of a better word) over a year later as we simply had no idea whatsoever that anything was amiss until the school drew our attention to it at 10 yrs of age..Yes he was quirky,a little obsessive etc but it had never crossed our minds.I still cant believe we never realised and keep saying "how could we not have known"?. I think with him his symptoms only started to become apparant as he got older.So for us then, yes,it is a grieving process of sorts as we were so unprepared for it. We are slowly getting our heads around it.

Also, thanks Pixel for that link-I enjoyed reading it. Good article, I think I will get the book.

I'm reading book too and enjoying it.

I was so relieved when DS was diagnosed. I had thought I was a completely crap mum. I did have a bit of a strange time afterwards wondering if he would still be talking about the London Underground at 20!

He is mass of contradictions and some days are better than others - but I wouldn't change him. I have learnt so much and - I think?! - it has made me more compassionate as a result.

Leningrad, I think our perspective is very similar, though any downers i have tend to be focused on the boys' future.

Neither of the boys' 1:1s started out with specific ASD training. What they did have, though, is an innate understanding and patience which no amount of training can create. DS1's 1:1 is also very no nonsense and refuses to take any of his BS - she's very caring but good at detaching from his rants emotionally, though she's admitted that she's ready for a large bottle of vodka by the end of One Of Those Days.

And yes, great article by Kathy Lette. I've downloaded the sample of her book to my kindle so I can peruse it at leisure.