Austism - Please help.

[RoddyRabbit]

Hi there. Hope you can help.

My ds (age 8) was recently diagnosed with high functioning autism. However, we got little or no advice from the paediatrician, and now I don't know what to do next.

School are aware of the problems and have already referred him to the Social Communication Team.

What other kind of help should I be getting for him? What other kind of help or services are there for children with autism?

Should I contact social services or the GP - and if I do, what should I ask for?

I need some help and advice, so thanks for reading this and any words of wisdom you may have.

Hi roddyrabbit.Well done for getting a diagnosis,now you know what you are dealing with you will be better able to help and understand your son.
My ds was diagnosed last yr with aspergers or high functioning autism and it is only now that i feel we are getting anywhere with help and sevices.
First of all you might find you are entitled to disability living allowance.You contact the Dept for work and pensions and ask for a form.It is not easy to fill in tho!!
I have found the school nurse to be a great support and a good liason between school and home.She also knows of services that are of benefit to us.
The County Autism Team if you have one or something similar are great.
Go to any seminars or groups that you can,a lot of them are free and you can pick up a huge wealth of information there about the condition and also other peaople to contact.
CAHMSmight be able to help.I have a lovely lady who is there if i need advice or just a chat.They are the mental health people who can help the whole family which is great.
The gp would be a good start and should be able to point you in the right direction.
Good luck!!!

You could also contact the National Autistic Society, their Website contains lots of articles which you may find helpful: www.nas.org.uk/

Social Services? unfortunately, when it comes to their assessment as to whether or not you need respite care, you are very much innocent (not requiring it) until proven guilty (requiring it). If you think that you would benefit from respite care, you must be prepared to fight hard to get it. This is not to put you off, it is to prepare you. Good luck.

Hiya
My DS has just been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome but he's only 3. We've already met the Educational Psychologist who is lining up funding extra staff for when he starts pre-school and for our DS so far, that's all he really needs.
The National Austistic Society website should lead you to a link for your local support group - I am planning to go to a coffee morning at mine next month. Also, I noticed the NAS website has instructions on filling out the DLA form specifically for ASDs. I wasn't sure about applying for this initially as DS isn't disabled AFAI'm concerned and doesn't cost us anything extra but if he's entitled to it, we will stick it in his Child Trust Fund and he can spend it on whatever he's obsessed with when he's 18 .
Also, have a look on your local Children's Information Service website under special needs, there's all sorts of interesting stuff going on that might suit your DS.
good luck

Hi, we live in Brent and are very lucky because the Council has an autism outreach team that is staffed by such amazingly helpful people. The main contact for my son has been a great help in making sure the school does what it is supposed to in order to help my son.

Because there are so many more children diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum these days, I think other education authorities provide similar service so it may be worth checking with yours.

A good way to find out what help is available locally is to contact your local branch of the NAS. They should be able to give you some good advice about what you should be entitled to, and will probably also have support groups where you can meet local families of children with ASD.

So much seems to vary depending on where you are. Someone from the autism outreach team visits my boys' school to advise staff. We also have access to the OT via a drop-in clinic. They're very useful for help with sensory difficulties, fine motor skills etc.

As someone else said, you may also want to apply for DLA.

Some areas also offer help with social skills.

Good luck.

Roddy

With regards specifically to school I would also now look into applying for a Statement of Special Needs for him from your LEA. It does not sound like the school will do much else for him apart from referring him to the Social Communication Team (which may actually be a polite way of doing very little). Having a statement could also help him a lot when it comes to him being at secondary school.

You can apply for the Statement yourself and you do not need the school to do it. Infact you are far better off applying for such a document yourself anyway as you can appeal in the likely event the LEA say no. A Statement if you obtain one, will give your son a legally binding document re his educational needs that the school will have to stick to.

IPSEA are very good at all this process and there are model letters you can use too - www.ipsea.org.uk.

Hi
Thank you all for your helpful comments. I will definitely be ringing around now to find out what is available in our area. Thanks for your help.