Jimjams??? HELP!!!!!!!!

[Chandra]

I would like to apologise first for the abrupt method of contact.... sorry, I just thought that you were the person I could ask these questions and my e-mail is not working very well lately.

My sister's DS (2yrs3m old) has been exhibiting some symptoms of autism, finally after a year of asking diferent doctors the pediatrician refered him to a neurologist. The problem is that my sister is not very sure of what to expect, or what questions to ask, I think she is very shocked with the news mainly because autism is rarely diagnosed in my country (my guess, not because there's none but because there's very little information available).

I have been trying to find more information in the internet but the very few pages I can find in Spanish... well, let say that the information provided doesn't seem very reliable or I haven't find the good ones, so, I thought of asking the following:

If you could recommend the best websites you have find (in terms of diagnose, what to expect, early education and specially what questions to ask), which would they be? If you have to had them tranlated which would be the favourite ones?

Sorry to botter you in this way, but thank you very very very very much in advance.

Chandra & Pikis

PS Of course, if you are not Jimjams but you feel you can help, please be asured we would really apreciate your postings.

Thanks Dinosaur, I have had a good look at it. Somebody also posted a link to an autism online test some time ago but I'm not able to find it. I have checked several sites I found in google but most of them just try to sell the prduct (good reasons) and we are not able to find more than general information about the behaviour that some autistic children have, they are so general actually that eventhough DS is a chatterbox he actually displays many signs (?)

Can I have a think chandra- probably the first place I wuld recommend would be the NAS. The SUrrey brach has a good website as well- I will google for it later. Also paains or something- again I will gogle for that later.

Sorry to put you on hold- but I have to make bread and ds1 is asking for a biscuit with pECS!

Thanks ever so much Dinosaur, I'm still trying to understand how the other chat site works (I will get there, I'm sure ), the PAAINS site might be just what we were looking for at this time.
Thank you.

ah dino's found paains. And here is the surrey NAS site although they seem to have jazzed it up and it is sending my computer insane!

Thnk you Jimjams, I'm off to see it

Chandra, My ds had an appoint with a neurologist yesterday but he is five years old so a lot of what she asked my son to do probably won't apply to a much younger child. He was asked to hop on each foot, stand still with arms outstretched, pushand pull the doctor (test muscle tone) copy tapping patterns/rythms with his hands etc.

To be honest, I did very little asking, the neurologist was very thorough and asked me a lot of questions about ds's development and beviour at home, at school, in different social situations etc. I had made a list of things that I had noticed and/or wanted to know about and as your nephew is pretty young, your sister may want to take the little (red) book that health visitors give you and use to note height, weight, immunisation records etc...

I hope that helps.

It would be a good idea for your sister to write down an early history of her ds, Include things like: details of the birth, when he learned to sit/crawl/walk etc. Add details of any aspects of his behaviour that have been worrying her. No matter how well you can usually recite all this kind of info, your mind tends to go completely blank once you step into the office/clinic.

If he is dx'ed with ASD your sister should ask what therapies he will need and/or have access to, eg speech therapy, OT etc. If there are long waiting lists for these or they are not easily available she could ask what she could do herself to help ds at home etc while she is waiting.

hi chandra,i don't know if you have looked at those sites
infosalud.com
diariomedico.com and infosalud.com
HTH

sorry third one was ondasalud.com

Thank you all so much, I have had a look at them and forwarded them to my sister.

The idea is finally sinking, and I feel a bit down, sister is very sad but she is the sort of person who keeps everything to herself, yesterday she said that she was very sad and said said she didn't want to talk about it, started crying and knowing her well I knew it was better not to say anything else. I wish I could be nearer to be able to give her a big hug but well, having the Atlantic in the middle doesn't help.

One of the things I find more worrying is that I doubt very much there are any provisions set by the government to help her child at school, there are good schools of course but that doesn't mean they are prepared to accomodate special needs even if they want to (she lives in a small town that is three hours drive to a bigger city which provide better options, though they will be very reduced anyway).

Thanks again, you are a wonderful lot.

Chandra

chandra good luck and i hope your nephew and sister get the right help,i know just how you feel being away from them
un abrazo

Hi Chandra, sorry to hear about your sister's situation. What country are you in and what country is she in? I believe there are quite a few resources available in Spanish in American, it being the second language there. Agree that NAS is a good starting point.

Thank you whymummy, much apreciated (you don't know how much I needed one). How is it you speak Spanish? Well, from your post I deduct you are also living away from your country. Thanks

Davros, I'm in UK my sister is in Mexico

hi chandra
i am spanish but i live here in england not as far as you are from home,let us know how your sister gets on
xx

Not much news about my sister, I have tried hard not to ring her today, this week is going to be very long thogh, her DS is having more tests next Friday.

How long have you been here? We used to live in Spain before (DH is Spanish) really loved it.

hola
i've been here for 13 years,i'm from a village near castellon in valencia,where abouts did you live?and where is your dh from?

Hola
We lived in Palma and I also spend some time working in Madrid, I really enjoyed that time
DH is from Mallorca and against the islanders conventions, we have been living here for 6 yrs.

How did you end up in England?

i came over for 6 months as an au-pair,i met my english dh while living in london and here i am,i love england but i miss spain so much i'm trying to get dh a job in barcelona tho,are you planning to go back to mexico or spain?

We wish we could but the prospects seem a bit bad at the moment, DH is a lecturer, and lecturer positions in his area are very rare , but I keep my eyes open just in case (And have been talking him into getting out of academic world, not a lot of success yet but keep trying). We have been fantasising about Barcelona too, hope you get to do it

hope you do too,my sister lives there and i just love the place,it's also two hours on the train to my home town so ideal!!the hard bit is to teach dh spanish!!
good luck for friday,when are you going home again?

It will be a long time, passport stuck in the home office and still need to get an American visa... maybe in Christmas , I wish I could go tomorrow...