Thread 12. Autism and any other additional needs.

[danni0509]

Thread 12.

For parents / carers of disabled children, autism, adhd, and all other related neurological conditions. Most of us have children in primary school. But everybody welcome!

Chatting about anything and everything related to SN!

Just typing quick as ds needs to get ready for bed. I’ll link the previous threads later.

x

I took ds to the toy shop this morning and he’s already talking about what he wants next - initially it was tomorrow but is now hoping for next week. He asks for stuff all the time - this is unfortunately the result of all the bribing we do!

He has largely been pretty good these holidays and sleeping is a bit more settled lately, 5ish with a few earlier starts and a 1am sprinkled in. It will likely change soon enough…

Dh and I are watching Schitt’s Creek which I’m really enjoying.

@ElizabethBennetsBoots can you always predict what will disregulate him and when it happens can you identify why? Or does he have times of behaviour like that that you can’t pinpoint as to why?

Took DS for a filling to the dentist this morning. I have all my fingers on. Still. Just…

Oh god, carrie. How did it go? Were they able to do it?

Yes! It was a temporary one so more plugging as opposed to drilling! Well drilling out the decay then plugging with this stuff as it’s a baby tooth. I feel a bit of a bad mum for it needing doing in the first place! We were the first appointment I was ready for a double gin at 9am!! 🤣. We were all on the chair… me, DS and the dentist! 🙄🙄🙄🙄

@carriebradshawwithlessshoes omg well done on the filling!!
Re: disregulation, I think I do a lot of co regulation with DS just in how we hang out together etc, and he feels a lot more 'on' with grandparents etc., which I relate to because I feel like i have to perform one of my personality masks with people other than DS and DH and I find it exhausting!! And he's worrying about school and the transition back, talking a lot more about things that happened months ago that he still feels were unjust (e.g. if he got told off for something that was someone else's fault, he will not let it go.) So it's all that bubbling around inside him I think.

Well done Carrie.

Thank you ElizabethBennett'sBoots will probably take you up on that. Have now received the finalised EHCP so am going to do the appeal form tomorrow.

Go @dimples76 whoop!

@ElizabethBennetsBoots what you say makes sense. I think what I’m getting at is DS also does the silly, school call it ‘over excited’ falling into things behaviour but often I don’t see a pattern. So he may be like that Monday, not Tuesday or Weds but then like it thurs for eg, I asked school once if other kids are so changeable day to day and the gist of their answer was no! So then it’s is there something I’m not picking up on with ds or is it just totally random…

Like today, he was really great at the dentist. After that it was just me, him and DD running errands. He was being really silly, laughing hysterically, falling into things. Poor DD said shall I take him to the car mummy, I said yes as I was trying to sort something (a new carpet, coujdnt think straight.) this persisted so was it a backfire from the dentist or just random???! V hard to know.

carrie ds doesn’t have meltdowns or tantrums does he? OT butterfly on IG says that that sort of behaviour can be a sign of dysregulation and can be a way to spot an impending meltdown, and I guess to try and prevent by helping them to re-regulate.

It would make sense that he would be dysregulated after the dentist as it’s quite stressful.

Very possibly open! No he doesn’t have meltdowns or tantrums and seemed ok at the dentist so it seemed odd behaviour. The giggling/laughing constantly for no obv reason drives me nuts. I think I’ve said that before. It’s as bad as the odd noises, people look at you like you are crazy (or rather he is.) What is the OT resource you mention I should take a look…?

She’s on IG plus has a blog and podcast. I think Light recommended her on here first.

https://theotbutterfly.com/blog/

Thank you

Yes very much like my DS and definitely how he presents in early stages of disregulation. Someone recently likened it to a rollercoaster where you're always struggling to catch up and that felt very true to life. Low demand for,DS is often high demand for me.

That's a good analogy ElizabethBennett'sBoots

I loved Schitts Creek Open. It took me ages to get into it (I think the whole of the first series) but my sister insisted that I should persevere. The season 2 finale made me cry my eyes out. After that I tried to slow up my viewing so that I didn't get to the end too quickly! I'm looking to the new series of Sex Education.

DS is clearly getting more anxious about returning to school. He is fixated on the fire alarm going off. I have told him that I have messaged school about his concerns but I am not sure what else I can do. Trying to do lots of heavy work and messy play. I have ended up playing a lot of Big Paint Ball on Roblox with him to try and stay connected

It's a great show!
DS is worried about fire too @dimples76 which started a few months ago after a fire drill at school. Reassurance only works to an extent.

dimples We just started s5 so nearly at the end sadly. I love these shows that just make you laugh. I really liked sex education too and will be watching the new series.

Ds doesn’t really want to talk about going back to school so I have to talk at him about it. I have already bought him a Lego set that I think he’ll like as a reward for the first half week, hopefully a bit of encouragement.

I am impressed that you watch series! When do you manage to do it? We could easily have no TV because we don’t get time to watch it properly any more. In the day the kids are around so there’s no concentration time there. Both kids are going to bed about 9.40, we tend to turn it off before then for an hour or so for wind down. But even if we didn’t I couldn’t watch it with them around. By the time they are both settled in bed it’s after 10 and I’m going to bed myself! The only things I get to watch properly are films at the cinema which is about twice a year!

carrie we have an hour and a bit after ds is asleep and we go up.

Yes that’s the time open isn’t it I guess

After 10pm for us

We never get through a series either. My son is having a chronic insomnia phase he was awake 12 - 5am this morning. It's really hard he is trying to get back to sleep, not his fault. Need a review of melatonin dosage. Try to prioritise some "intimate" time when we have an hour to ourselves but it's so difficult when you're exhausted

The 20 min episodes are great when you have limited time and energy. Superstore was good for that too. I normally prefer crime/thrillers/Nordic noir but I am normally too tired for anything like that at the moment- I need humour with heart.

DS likes cookery programmes like bake off and Strictly so we watch those together.

We've just started watching Ragnarok, which is brilliant. I've done my back in somehow today so feeling very old! Was wondering if we'd made the right decision and whether we should try again for another DC, but it looks like the universe has sent me a sign that's a definite no!