Live webchat with Professor Richard Hastings, MONDAY MARCH 17, 9pm

[RowanMumsnet]

Following on from this thread, we're pleased to announce that Professor Richard Hastings will be joining us for a webchat next Monday evening.

Richard is currently a Professor of Education and Psychology and Cerebra Chair of Family Research in the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) at the University of Warwick. He is a researcher with interests in educational interventions, including early intervention, for children with learning disability (LD) or autism; mental health and behaviour problems in children and adolescents with LD/autism; and the experiences of families raising children with LD/autism. Richard is working to make research findings and evidence available to parents, including through his blog.

We hope you'll be able to join us on the night; if you can't make it, do please post up your questions on the thread in advance, as ever.

Thanks
MNHQ

Oh, I missed that, - you're off.

Thanks very much once again!

Yes, Had to take a chance. As parents we have so many questions that people either don't want to answer or don't know how to, or don't want to admit they don't want to or don't know how to.

It's truly appreciated having a small window of opportunity to talk to someone NOT defensive and who knows stuff!!!

Thank you!

That's a wrap for tonight folks. Thanks so much to Professor Hastings for an incredibly interesting chat and to Moondog for prodding us about it.

Professor Hastings has asked us to let you know that he'll be back to finish off the remaining questions in the coming days.

Thanks all
MNHQ

Only just managed to log on due to catalogue of mishaps, but wanted to say a quick but heartfelt thank you to the Professor and Mumsnet :)

Thanks for this webchat. It's probably just what I need to help support me with the problems I have with DD (and me, and possibly DS..>..).

Thank you for taking the time to reply, Richard.

thank you too for the links you provided signposting us to further info.

Knowing where to even start looking for the answers to our kids problems is often half the battle!

Professor Hastings,

I haven't had time (yet) to absorb all your answers, but want to thank you for your time and your detailed responses.

I will comb through the thread, as it seems that you have put a lot of thought into your answers- thank you for that. In particular, the ncld.org website which you recommended, is one that I've passed but not dug around in and it looks as if I should.

Thank you again.
Redoubtable

Ooh, thank you MNHQ for converting the links!

@RaRaTheNoisyLion

Ooh, thank you MNHQ for converting the links!

Halfway there RaRa

@cargotrousers

Hi Professor Hastings,

I have a son with Asperger's syndrome. We are stuck in the 'do we have another child' conundrum at present. One thing that makes me wary is that I've noticed in families we know who have more than one child on the spectrum, the first seems to have HFA while the later child tends to have classic (in other words more severe) asd. Obviously this is purely anecdotal based on our experience but has there been research to support this, or do we just have an anomaly amongst our friends?

Thanks for this question cargotrousers. It was an issue I didn't know anything about, but I was interested in what I found out. Looks like latest evidence might suggest your anecdotal observations may be right - children born after an older sibling with autism who also have autism (IF they have autism, and this is of course by no means certain) have an increased risk for lower cognitive ability at least as young children. See the news piece about several research studies following this link - sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2013/autism-symptoms-more-severe-in-later-born-children.

There are lots of IFs in this though, and clearly only relatively few research studies. Who knows whether these findings will continue to be confirmed. Very best of luck with your decision - such an important one for you.

@cansu

Hi Can I also ask for your views on medication as a means of calming anxiety and obsessive behaviour in children or adults with autism. What kind of research is out there? It doesnt seem to be something practitioners offer? is this due to lack of research, lack of suitable effective treatments or some other reason?

Hi cansu. It may not be a surprise that I have an overall aversion to the use of medication despite the evidence that may be there - we're all human after all! Anyway, there were detailed reviews of the evidence for medical intervention in autism in the NICE guidelines for children (guidance.nice.org.uk/CG170) and adults (guidance.nice.org.uk/CG142). Consensus guidelines are also included, written by an expert panel. There is also some info for the public stuff with each guideline. Again, services (health and social care) ought to be offering support to children and adults with autism following the recommendations in these guidelines. If you can get your head around them, the documents should help to empower parents to know what they should get...

Oooh, that is an interesting one. My eldest is a bright boy with ASD (there are days when I find the high functioning label highly inappropriate, though) and my youngest is cognitively far more limited, non-verbal etc.

Though that said, there are a fair few families here with more than one child with ASD or AS, which don't show that pattern.

Thank you Richard, for your very detailed answers. This is definitely a thread to refer back to and read and digest slowly.

Your last post re: subsequent siblings and autism is an interesting one.

Purely anecdotally, this does not bear out in families of my experience, or in my own family - both this generation and last. I will be interested to read that research though.

@zzzzz

I'd be interested in what you felt about the LA stance that SALT is not available for children with Autism in some counties? Is there any sensible rational for this stance (ie is there any truth to the idea that children with ASD are too hard to engage to get much value out of SALT)?

It is hard to point to direct evidence on this zzzzz. However, sounds rubbish to me. All children should be able to access appropriate professionals and as children with autism especially have significantly increased language and communication needs, then they potentially have even more need of SALTs. In addition, some of the core interventions with an evidence base are focused on language/communication. Take PECS as an example.

I can only assume that the problem is overall availability? Denying children a service simply because they have autism would surely be discriminatory and thus on rather dodgy ground?

@zzzzz

Further to my last post do you think speech/language therapy shows any demonstrable benefit to children with ASD, or is their language deficit purely developmental.

zzzzz- depends what you mean by Speech and Language Therapy. I don't think this is somehow one approach or one intervention. I'm not expert, but would expect children with autism may benefit from SALT in relation to a number of areas: physical speech production difficulties (not sure this is increased in children with autism, but I'd guess they may have problems like any other child), delayed language development, and development of functional communication amongst others.

@OldBeanbagz

Any advice for the mum of a 9 year old boy who i fear has selective mutism? He speaks to a limited number of people outside home though thankfully his teacher is one of them. He also has a small group of friends who he will speak to but no-one else.

I'm worried that although he's very bright, he'll be overlooked when it comes to moving to high school (2 years time)

He has been like this since an early age and it's not getting any better. Is this something we can handle as a family or does he need professional help?

I'd try to get professional help OldBeanbagz. It sounds rather simplistic and obvious to say this (and it underestimates I'm sure the impact of the problem) but this young man can clearly speak given the right context. Understanding what the key factors are and how to motivate him to speak in a variety of contexts is crucial and as you say it needs sorting before secondary school when he'll need all the communication skills that he can muster to survive in challenging environments.

@bialystockandbloom

I?d also add that the contingencies for professionals and services need to change so that they get funded when they produce good outcomes for children and families. That might change some behaviours!!

Ha ha now that would be interesting!!

something drastic needs to happen to change the system. I'm all for revolution!