How useful was Early Bird Plus to you?

[TaurielTest]

background: DS1 is 6, diagnosed with AS last year. It's likely we'll (finally) be offered a place on a local Early Bird Plus course starting in January; his paed referred us last year and we went to a preliminary meeting about it today. This will be the only one running locally in 2015 and is AFAIK pretty much the only support of this kind available to us.

It comes at an awkward time for DP with work, and an awkward day too (the only one that DS2 is not at nursery - as this is his last year before starting school I'm reluctant to give up more time with him). Delaying it until 2016 would fit better, but I understand that the course is of most use shortly after diagnosis, and it will already have been nearly 18 months, so that isn't ideal either - and obviously I want the benefits of the course for DS, us, and his school at the earliest opportunity.

I suppose what I'm looking for by posting this is some idea of how much use people feel the course has been to them, before we bend over backwards to make it fit. Some previous posters about EB+ here have felt that they learned little they didn't already know from their own reading, that focus was skewed towards parenting strategies more related to "classic" autism than Asperger Syndrome, that they found themselves having to question trainer statments e.g. about "autistic children lacking empathy" ... all that is a bit disheartening.

New to this part of the site btw, sorry if I have chosen words clumsily or if the above sounds too negative. I do think it would be great to meet some other families with children with ASDs.

Thanks PolterGoose. I think my DP would also learn a lot and I'd love it if information and ideas weren't all filtered through me telling him about things I'd read. We will go for it I think, however complicated it is to arrange.

I've done both early bird and early bird plus courses. They are both v similar, one is aimed at preschool, other for school aged children but basically cover the same.

I found them v helpful from a newly diagnosed POV and both DH and I came away with a better understanding of our child and what makes him tick.

Found it useful took Mother in law along hoped some info would drip through to Grandad who believes 'he's a naughty boy'. Was good to meet other parents and school staff however made me realize the lack of support my ds and I were receiving from school
Was nearly two years ago now school may wish I'd never been!

It was good to meet other parents in the same boat. I learnt a few strategies. But when the course stopped the meeting up stopped.
So it would have been a better use of time to go to a support group that has ongoing regular meetings.
Our wasn't actual Earlybird but something similar

I went to one about a year after ds was diagnosed. It was brilliant. I found it incredibly helpful, but I think that is in part due to the people who ran it who were very experienced. Ours was very skewed towards hfa/ aspergers and do I suspect that's because those are the kids who aren't diagnosed until a bit later. One of the most useful things was the home visits, there are two over the course, as they really got DH engaged with it all, as I had been doing all the reading and organising.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.
DP and I have agreed that - if we're offered a place - we'll go for it, he will go to every session and I will go too when I can arrange something for DS2.