Long road ahead then?

[monkeypie]

Hi everyone, i am kind of new to MN but i was a member 3 yrs ago till DS was born. Never thought i would be posting in this topic but hey who did?

about a year ago i noticed my DS was a bit behind in his speech and interaction with people but was constantly told by friends that i was being too hard on him and to be patient. 8 months passed with hardly any change so i got health visitor involved. Anyway at the min we are waiting for assesment in April to tell us 'What'? I'm not sure but the pead who saw us in Dec said she thinks DS has ASD.
After reading lots and LOTS about ASD i am starting to agree with her, he has many classic signs but i still get alot of response and love from him. We are now seeing speech therapist who says it is more than just speech delay,great! Next appointment with pead is in March, i'm hoping it's to give me dates for assesment to start.

Anyway i guess this is just the start of a very long tunnel and as i am a single mum i am going to need all the help and advice you guys can give me. Also not very up on the jargon so be gentle

Thanks for taking time to read my thread

here- UK based branch

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hello monkeypie, just saw this and wanted to welcome you.

looks like you are getting lots of great advice...

my ds will be four in May and we have been in denial about his problems, especially my dh and family... but I do know my ds is not like his peers, speech delay/disorder and he has asd traits according to paed we saw last august, I think this will be the year we find out what kind of diagnosis he will get.

my ds gets lots of help at ms (mainstream not sn) nursery, salt goes in weekly, he has early years support teacher one day a week, and as of the start of this term he has a one to one assistant at nursery too... so I wouldn't hold your ds back from nursery unless it is what you think is best for him...

I know by reading on here that lots of people have to fight for help from professionals, I am in the lucky position of being pursued by all the caring professionals.

good luck.

About the nursery question, I would say you should accept any nursery placement you can get. Nursery was and is a positive learning experience for my DS . He was 2.6 when he started at a mainstream nursery. His speech did not really start up til almost a year later but even before then, they taught him social skills like eating at a table with other children, putting shoes on and off, eating with a fork. Since his DX he gets one to one ABA style therapy and this has helped speech enormously

aefondkiss thanks for the welcome and it sounds like you are very lucky getting all the extra help, support teacher etc. After reading how some of the parents on here have to fight to even get SALT i have to say it really worried me. I think it's disgusting that after realising we have children that need more care than most some parents have to fight to get help, even court is involved at times, what is this system thinking?
I find myself feeling quite lucky that the assesment we are waiting for was suggested to me by pead as i think some parents have to scream and shout to get that sorted
Also thanks moira199 i am still waiting on hearing from nursery about early place but i will accept, it's just nice to get assurance from other parents on here that they agree it's a good thing.
Did you have to ask for added nursery help or ABA therapy or is it offered, maybe different areas offer different help? So much to take on, thank goodness i started before DX as not sure how long it will take me to shake myself into action aftewards.

Hi

Your DS should get 1 to 1 help if it is needed in Nursery. Even before my DS was officially diagnosed, he got 1 to 1 because the educational psychologist recommended it. The ABA style therapy came after the diagnosis. I think we are just lucky that our area provides ABA in the nursery environment as from what I have read, I don't think it is that common. The scheme is only its 2nd year in our area but the nursery seem happy so far. The ABA they do is not very intensive or structured compared to some versions I have read about but it is working for DS

Moira99 - can I CAT you about this? I need to provide evidence of LEAs providing ABA programmes as the m/s school DS2 is due to start at soon is being less than enthusiastic. I don't even want them to do an intense programme for hours each day - just understand the principles and use them when and where they can. From being very keen when we first brought up the idea of him transferring to m/s, they now keep muttering about 'keeping school separate from home'. .

I think it's largely a fear of something they don't really understand - if I can show them that other areas do it and it works, I might have more luck.

Poo - subscription to CAT has expired. Will do it later - no time now.

What does CAT mean ? You can contact me at [email protected]

It was parental pressure that led our city to start ABA in the nurseries. I know one of the mothers who led the campaign so it can done. I will ask her if she would mind giving you details of her arguments and methods of persuasion? As I said, my son is doing well and so is the other ASD boy in the program so as far as I know the scheme is to continue and maybe expand as so far there are only 8 places for the whole of the city.

Ok moira199 i'll talk to SALT next week when we see her, thank you! Also will discuss with nursery when we get a home visit which should be next month.

Thanks Moira - will e-mail now.