Primary school auties step into Christmas and the New Year - thread 8

[openupmyeagereyes]

New thread.

This is the continuation of the thread for parents / carers of autistic children / children with additional needs. Most of us are parents of children in year 1 / year 2.

Links to old threads

Thread 1 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3080753-DS-with-ASD-starting-school-Sept-2018-I-am-feeling-overwhelmed

Thread 2 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3451020-Reception-auties-2018-19-thread-2

Thread 3 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3628263-Auties-transition-to-Year-1-thread-3

Thread 4 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3748449-Primary-school-Auties-into-2020-thread-4

Thread 5 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3953023-Primary-school-auties-summer-and-beyond-thread-5?pg=1

Thread 6 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/4166833-Primary-school-auties-spring-2021-and-beyond-thread-6?pg=1

Thread 7 -
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/4303826-Primary-school-auties-summer-and-the-new-academic-year-thread-7

Gah, ds up since 2am today. Picking up a melatonin prescription later. It probably won’t help much but fingers crossed it helps get him to sleep a bit earlier. He didn’t go to sleep until nearly 9 last night and in my bed again.

Hope back to school ok. danni how was ds’ second day after his great first one?

Open sorry that's v early. Nothing worse than a night owl. Could you try the promethezine and see if that works? It's available OTC from boots pharmacy. For sleep issues for kids, I'm sure I posted a pic of the box before on here with the details. If you find it helps you could then ask for it to be prescribed. (It's only an anti histamine. Phenergan is it's other name)

It's supposed to 'keep' them asleep, that's why ds has melatonin to get him to sleep and promethezine to keep him asleep. It's no magic cure but he's worse without sleep medications.

He had a good morning again yesterday the taxi said the school had told her, they discuss with the taxi more than they do me , although his piedro boots have given him blisters on his toes at school so he's refused to wear them so they sent him home bare foot not wearing shoes any shoes, he walked across the car park in socks to get back into his taxi yesterday, even his Nike trainers I've sent him in this morning he wouldn't keep on, so he's just got socks on. And his trainers in his bag

Open ds takes melatonin tablet doesn't he? Is it slow release? Ds melatonin is liquid, it's called Ascomel.

If you do get the promethezine from the pharmacy say it's for travel sickness. I read they can be arsey about giving it for sleeping (even though it's got a picture of a bed on the box and clearly states for SLEEP)

Yes he takes the tablet fine, they’ve only ever prescribed that.

He’s had an ongoing issue with his eye that wakes him as it’s sore. He won’t let us put anything in it to clear it up though so very difficult. Going to try and do a swab tonight after he’s asleep.

danni I did look at the drug you mentioned and I think you have to speak to the pharmacist to get it.

Crossed post

Fwiw I ordered online from Boots the drug Danni mentioned. Had to answer a few questions where I answered erm creatively but I like to have back up! It arrived a couple of days later but I’ve not used (yet.)

How much melatonin will you give him Open? The slow release stuff? DS is 20 kg and takes 3ml we give it around 8.30. I can’t say it always works but does mostly.

That all said if he’s waking with his eye that’s an extenuating circumstance so hope you can get sorted. We have had a dodgy gutter and if heavy rain has been dripping on the conservatory roof which is outside DS room it wakes him and that’s it. I think we have all had medical things that if wake us in the night result in a full night awake (I have, loads of times.) so hope you can sort.

Obviously it’s not always his eye but it is getting more frequent.

The tablets are 2mg slow release.

You could try 3mg if absolutely no joy on the 2mg… DS takes a 1mg one called slentyo and a 2mg circardin.

But in the meantime if you were desperate cut up the second one into halves. Not ideal but we did.

He refused to go out today so no car nap! He did go in the garden for nearly an hour though. Melatonin about 6:30 tonight I think. I have to swab his eye once he’s asleep 😬

The not wanting to go out it becoming a problem.

Hope he went down easily open

He did danni. Asleep just after 7:30 which is earliest in ages and slept until 6:10. That’s his best sleep in a long time 🙌. He was exhausted and really needed it. The doctor has put the melatonin on acute prescription again rather than repeat which is annoying as I will have to speak to them again though will see how it goes over the next couple of weeks first.

I have a couple of Zooms with the new school today and hopefully meeting ds friend at the park if he’ll go.

That's great open.

Ds this morning has been teaching me Makaton for 'thank you' & 'mummy' I double checked on YouTube and he was right.

Well school start is delayed by a couple of weeks due to covid cases in the construction team. Ds is refusing to out again so it's going to be a fun couple of weeks and then god knows what it's going to be like trying to get him to school. Trying not to panic!

And of course he won't talk about why he doesn't want to go out.

Did you go out a lot over Xmas Open, I can’t remember what you said? Do you think he’s getting anxious about school? Has he been like this before, I know we talk about him not wanting to go to school but can’t recall you saying this is an issue generally (but may have missed that, sorry if I have.)

Can’t be helped but a shame about school delay. We all feel anxious with something new but often once you start it’s not as bad as anticipated…

He hasn't really been like this before except for school. I think it's anxiety over Covid but I don't know for sure as he won't discuss it. It's a balance isn't it between telling them we can't do x or y because of it but that it's still ok to do z. So, before Christmas we cancelled his hair cut because it seemed like something that could wait, and we also had to cancel a meet up with friends because their youngest tested positive. We also cancelled another meet up because we had dh's parents coming for Christmas and we were only just having boosters and it seemed sensible to postpone it. It's possible all this has had a bigger impact on him than we expected. All we can do is keep talking to him, I suppose, about what is ok to do.

And re. school, yes hopefully he'll like it and it will be better than he may be worried about but only if we can get him there first!

There's no suprise children are confused. The rules change that often, what your allowed to do one week, your not allowed the next! I don't know my head from my arse sometimes with where you can go / what you can do. I for one am sick of COVID and all it's bullshit. Asif we are coming up to 2 years of it now.

Ds had another good day at school. That's 4/4. He didn't get star of the week though. I don't expect it, but it's that rare for him to do a full week of every day being positive. In fact it's more than rare I think it unheard of I bought him some sweets anyway.

Star of the week is only a bit of paper I know, but the others get it for positive days / weeks in school (it says on the newsletter why they receive it) I just thought ds having such a good week would be recognised because it literally needs recognising - it happens that infrequently!

Anyway never mind, just me and my long standing issue of star of the week 😂 pleased he's had a good week though!

danni sorry ds didn't get star of the week. Has he had it before at this school?

I don't think the guidance officially changed, we were just advised to prioritise our socialising and that's what we did. Partly as we didn't have our boosters until the 22nd and partly because we were supposed to have dh's parents on Christmas day although they didn't end up coming due to another illness. Whether that's what this is about, I don't know but I think it's likely. I had a book called overcoming your child's fears and worries but I can't find it. I think I may have lent it to someone but I'm not sure. Anyway, it seems to have been updated so I'm going to buy a new copy.

I had a Zoom with ds' new class team this afternoon and he refused to come and say hello. They seem really nice, his teacher sounded confident. He said he will be in touch weekly until ds is attending.