Katie Grant from The Times appears to have about as much understanding of autism as my cat.

[Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads]

\link{http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2177218,00.html\sigh}. Idiots like this make my life 100 times harder. "No love when I say he;s autistic I don't mean he fidgets a bit I mean he can't talk at all aged 7, and has social understanding of a 12-18 month old if that, and will require 24 hour care for the rest of his life, so bog off".

There that feels better. Silly cow.

Well I'm certainly not paying 31 quid to find out why she;s still nervous of the "mentally handicapped" (someone should tell her the terms have changed) 14 years after her cousin gave birth to a child with DS. If she's still nervous after 14 years of first coming into contact with DS it would suggest she's about as much use a chocolate fireguard, and he opinions won't be based on experience, but rather from a lot of head shaking and pitying looks from afar.

Thanks Jimjams!!! PMSL at "she's about as much use a chocolate fireguard". Never heard that one before!

Jimjams - totally agree, woman's a total idiot (I was just off to bed now that my fashionable son has finished smearing poo, headbanging against the walls and all his other habits that are totally down to my bad parenting. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.).

Just when I thought that general awareness was increasing slightly, I've now got to go out and about, wondering if all those people who tut at us have been influenced by this stupid woman......would love to send her out and about with DS2 for a week (or even a couple of hours), but don't see that he's done anything bad enough to deserve that experience!!!

Suddenly I'm not tired, just furious!!

Misdee - DS2 hugs trees too (and lampposts/telegraph poles!).

I am getting even crosser the more I think about it! Badly behaved? What about the stimming; the fears, the phobias, the routines, the not eating, not sleeping, not wearing clothes, not tolerating noise, smells, changes, surprises? What has naughtiness and fashion got to do with all that?

Well yes I was just heading up to bed pondering that if ds1 wakes up for over 2 hours in one of his tense musles stimmy things he does (arches his back repeatedly) then at least we'll be spending a fashionable 2 hours up. It amazes me that people have the cheek to write an article about something they know nothing about in a national newspaper, without doing even a minutes research. Did she dictate this on the toilet. The silly woman obviously doesn't even know anything about the sensory issues, or that they even exist.

Hang on. I can understand why some of you with kids with ASD are angry and she does sound insensitive to say the least. But she makes a valid point - some of the cases constituting the statistical rise in diagnoses could be not actually ASD, but misinterpretation of other behviours, because of the fact that ASSD is now very well known and fashionable.

It really is fashionable - not having ASD, but awareness and discussion of it. Since around the time of Mark Haddon's book (though it was building before, eg from Rain Man onwards) it has been a fashionable topic for fiction and journalism. I saw another article by Charlotte Moore in the Guardian this morning - goodness knows how many times she has had articles published about her sons; I honestly don't think they would have been so repeatedly welcome if they were about a less fashionable but equally serious subject such as schizophrenia. Good on her - and I realise she may be on MN - she is raising awareness and making some money and I don't blame her.

In the 1970s, as Moore said this morning, it was fashionable to blame ASD on "refrigerator mothers". 100 years ago it was fashionable to blame women's depression on "hysterical" causes; 100 years earlier people suffered from "nerves". Those diagnoses would be made because that's what people were looking for. Today they look for ASD, ADHD and other things and because of that, may apply those DXs incorrectly.

Are you lot all saying that this is impossible?

I think "us lot" are saying that a dianosis of ASD is not made lightly and is done according to strict criteria. It is not done on a fashionable whim, and if you lived with a child with autism, at any point on the spectrum, you would understand that. Charlotte Moore is more than qualified to write on the subject, unlike Katie Grant who is obviously painfully ignorant of her subject matter.

[shock

cannot believe this woman has writtten this and it has been published
only fit for lining the budgies cage

Has she actually read the curious incident do you think? Maybe she has so little empathy she actually thought it was a comedy, and missed all the bits where the boy explains why he feels as he does.

I think she's putting the cart before the horse - how can you be the parent she wants you to be when you are busy cleaning up poo and removing children from lamposts?

Whoa. If I was her editor, that would have ended up in the shredder rather than print. What a stupid woman. We need to present her with the silly bitch award on behalf of mumsnet.

Just read this 'article' - ffs. Silly woman.

Sophable - spot on with 'rich man's daily mail'. It's all there - the sweeping generalisations, the stirring up of bad feeling, the benefits envy...

As if you need any more crap (no pun intended to deal with)

I work with some very HF kids with ASD. And they are still very much the 'martian in the playground'. They really are so utterly different it is almost like a physical slap when you start to work with them. they simply don't function like NT people do.

There was quite a thoughtful article on the insanity of 100% inclusion for children with ASD in the Observer BTW. When I read what the poor families had to cope with re getting their kids an appropriate education it made me feel physicaly sick.

I've just read this. Jeez. What a poorly written and frankly shite article. Even I (who does not have an autistic child) know that this article is garbage. Such poorly written articles are damaging and just give more ammo to the ignorant brigade who would run a mile at the mere mention of the word.

If she wants to see a properly written article I would suggest she reads the one written by Samantha Smith in the Telegraph a couple of years back. Both her boys are on the spectrum (along with her Dad who was only diagnosed when the specialist remarked words to the effect that, "oh and by the way your Dad needs help as he is autistic as well"). That particular piece made me cry.

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2006/05/08/hastor08.xml&sSheet=/health/2006/05/11/ixhmain.html

If anyone reads the above article though, would like to have your opinions.

I remember reading that article but must re-read it so thanks for jogging my memory!

And I'm still fuming about the original article in this post!!!
Literally woke up thinking that, for so many, the dx of ASD is NOT an easy one to get! Don't think she understands this at all. It comes across that she just thinks we trot along to our GP and get ASD written on our childrens notes....
And as for the benefits - what about the fact that so many of us now can't work.

Got to admit that, strangely enough, when given DS2's dx, my first thought wasn't "yippee, DLA/carers allowance, free money".

And the reality is that DLA doesn't cover the cost of private speech therapy (NHS being nonexistant) and repairing house/items that get broken.
So now feel that this woman is encouraging people to think of us as both bad parents and scroungers.

that article is discusting, it makes me feel sick
what really angers me is their is only bad publicity for ASD, no wounder we all struggle with society, the more bad publicity we have the more majority of society do think our children are naughty.
people like this dont have a clue what a sruggle life can be with our children like the most simplest of things going down do your local shop,
for how long it does take to get a diagnosis, how it can take a year to get statemented just to get your child the correct help.
its not easy trying to live on the money, people dont realise how expensive things are for our children i have to buy loads of clothes for ds as if he gets anything down him even the slightest bit of juice he has a meltdown so its allways making sure he has plenty of spare clothes, green straws ds will only drink from so end up throwing out about 75 straws of the other colours the list is endless.
even when you do get a bit of help like the SN Buggy you still have to pay for the rain cover,sun shade, foot muff and shopping basket wich totals to over £150!!!
These people should try living in our world maybe we should do a wife swap with her between ds and dp after 2 hours she will be begging to go home

Sadly I think some people do think it is 'fashionable' but I don't think this article addresses the reasons why or shows the true picture. As has already been said it is difficult to get a diagnosis of autism. My ds was described as mild although some days it is most definately not mild. I had a feeling that a parent I encountered the other day wasn't interested. I told her my son has autism in a soft play area as her boy and mine were in a fight and she barely even acknowledged me.

What I want to know are where are these alledged 'isms' coming from? is it the parents themselves who are pushing for a diagnoisis, this just wasn't made clear in the article.

People who do have a child with ASD do know that their child's behaviour is markedly different. I don't have a child with it but my DP's brother has Asperger's and I do know what you mean.

However, a child who doesn't have it could be labelled as having it, due to a combination of it being foremost in doctors' and parents' minds, and the fact that children display a range of difficult behaviours. I mean doctors make misdiagnoses in other areas - don't they?

There has been a massive rise in diagnoses of ASD and I think it's right to raise possible reasons why, including possibly reasons of fashion/sociology as well as medical reasons. Particularly when a lot of campaigners are (misguidedly and unscientifically IMO) blaming it on MMR which is doing a huge amount of damage - eg the return of measles.

Fashions do exist in medical diagnoses. That's a fact - even if some people have experienced difficulty getting a DX.

I saw that yesterday, JimJams, as I buy the Sunday Times, and was instantly gobsmacked.

I work w/a couple of people who have AS, and to think some people might think they're just ill behaved is so far beyond disgusting it's not true.

I have never met anyone who has claimed their child is autistic to simply allow for bad behaviour. I don't think they could - neurotypical bad behaviour is different to autism. To be badly behaved you have to understand some social rules and how to break them.

And I can't imagine anyone would try to get a diagnosis just to get £80 a week or that any professionals would give that diagnosis. Most parents of autistic children would pay a good deal more than £80 a week to help their child. What total crap - worthy of the Daily Mail, not a supposed broadsheet.

But isn't that quite a common experience? That people do think children with ASD are "just ill behaved" when out & about and have to be put right?

Also this raises the question of whether a person with ASD is capable of being ill-behaved. of course they are. Many people with ASD learn to behave in society just as NT people have to - it may be a lot harder for them (or in some cases not possible) but that doesn't mean a DX of ASD immediately means a child should be let off the hook for all bad behaviour.

at this article. It makes me laugh when people like this women say children with ASD are "just naughty". Ds1 is so rule-bound that he actually finds it hard to be naughty in the usual sense. His idea of a bad day at school is when someone else in the class has been naughty. Talking while the teacher is talking is IHO the most heinous of crimes. His ASD can seem so mild that even his lovely teacher told me that he seemed to be only very mildly affected. She changed her mind just before Easter when he was bursting into tears literally every 5 minutes because something was 'wrong'.

Ds2 also doesn't come across as a naughty child. I've had countless offers from people wanting to take him home with them (including pre-school staff). If there are changes to his routine or he has a sensory overload then he still explodes into a rage but the staff can now often see the trigger themselves. His worst behaviour is at home but no doubt that's because I'm a money-grabbing parent with crap parenting skills.

FWIW snowleopard, only a tiny minority of parents blame their child's autism on the MMR.

Snowleopard - there are overlaps and I'm not saying autistic children are incapable of deliberate bad behaviour (although even then I would question if they really understand why it's bad or just that it annoys the parent). But whilst the behaviour of an autistic child might be interpreted as naughty by a casual passing onlooker, anyone watching for any length of time would see it's not the same. For example, my ds2 (5 in August) likes to drop stones from a gravel path through things like a fence onto the grass or into water. Obviously in the garden of a stately home or something that's not acceptable and someone passing by would see it as naughty. But how many NT 4.5y olds however naughty, would persist with that for any length of time before getting bored and moving on to a more irritating and rewarding behaviour like annoying their brother or parents?

snowleopard - I don't know any parents of children with ASD who are prepared to let their children off the hook for bad behaviour. We know how quickly something can develop into an entrenched routine and try to break it before that happens. And it's a long slog to reduce socially unacceptable behaviour in our children.
I think there is a world of difference between a child with ASD trying to manipulate a situation (I do think my DS2 can sometimes try to manipulate)and the same child having a total meltdown through sensory overload/lack of communication/tiredness/frustration.
And if a passerby sees a child screaming at a parent, refusing to come when asked, I can see why they could initially think the worst about that family. But if the same passerby observed with a bit more care they would probably see behaviour in both parent and child that shows "something isn't quite right" about the initial presumption.
This article re-inforces the initial presumption and dismisses autism as a reasonable explanation for it.

I think we'll be seeing in Vogue sometime soon... 'AUTISM! The ultimate accessory for the Yummy-Mummy'
Bloody fucking cheek. She is lucky to have 3 perfectly healthy kids.