The A Word

[GetHappy]

Starts again tomorrow....anyone watching??

I enjoyed it too.

When you have knowledge of a subject you find issues with it (I have this problem with adoption storylines).

Yes, they don't show the more extreme behaviour, but they have alluded to it at times. The parents, especially the Dad and the Granddad, are in denial. They aren't mixing with other parents of children with autism, they are trying to muddle along on their own, hence not using the 'correct' wording. Other parents can be very accepting of difference until it starts affecting their child when all bets are off.

I know the timescales are unrealistic but they so often are in loads of storylines.

But they are giving a slight flavour of the issues. And a flavour of the despair and relentlessness. Which is surely better than nothing? And Joe is not high functioning in the way that people with ASD in TV often are.

I have missed feelings about it. Some of it I can really identify with and think yes I've been there, and other things are cringy, like the broken comment.

I assume joe has an ehcp because he had the TA with him in the lesson, but tbh, he would have to be struggling in school much more than that to be considered for a specialist placement, even an ASD unit in a mainstream school.

I hated the first series as the mum was so unlikeable but found her much easier to watch this time round. Some of it rang true for us - e.g. where the boy is surrounded by his peers asking him about football and he is so clearly unable to connect with them. But why cant they show a realistic picture of the struggle to get any kind of basic support for your child?

Totally agree about patents being hard to warm to. They are both annoying

The poor kid is negtive about his autism because of his fucking mother.
I hate her 😡

I’m autistic. I’m not broken.

I really wanted to like it, I just can’t.

Didn’t like the dad saying that everyone who goes to support groups are lentil weavers. Ffs, all the best advice I got in the early days was from parents of other children who had been through the same thing, they were very much like everyone else, and not all hummus and natural oils.

The little boy is a good little actor though.

Mind you I did laugh about the groaning about the parent support group, but only because my local parent support group is run by a narcissist whose sole aim is personal glory rather than helping the families, and actively excludes and ridicules autistic parents of autistic children.

I also enjoyed it. I think it is more about relationships and communication. My youngest child has complex needs - he isn't autistic but I could identify with the characters and the story.

I enjoyed it but find it hard viewing as I can identify a lot of joes traits in my ds5. The echoing back of questions, repeating learned phrases, continually asking questions when he already knows the answer and getting anxious when not they're answered. Listing the songs, bands and years to himself over and over. My ds does this with dinosaur facts.

Of course certain parts are unrealistic, but i can forgive these exaggerations as other aspects are very real to me.

I think some PP need to realise that this is fiction, a drama and not a documentary! As we know ASD has millions of presentations, we all as parents deal with it in billions of different ways and we all have individual experiences within the education system there is no way that a drama could cover it all.

What I think is the important message it portrays is the difficulties as a family dealing with others, each other etc.

As a mum to DS2 who has ASD and MLD I'm enjoying seeing a popular drama that is not showing the 'perfect family'

I don’t agree cricket.

I think it’s extremely unhelpful to perpetuate the myth that access to special school is unrealistic and that confidentially about need is there to be broken (the stupid parent meeting). It all helps people who know nothing to carry on in their oh it’s not that bad really bubble.

Sorry that access to ss is so easy

I hope that now Joe is changing schools, there will be other children with autism and that it will help with people's understanding that every person with autism is different.

I don't think his parents are likeable at all. They treat Joe as a constant issue to be solved rather than accepting the way he is. Parts of the first series made me very sad for this reason. But maybe they had done their research and found that is how some parents of autistic children react at first, that's sad to think of. I hope this series shows the family accepting Joe and not referring to him as 'broken' like last night.

I hope this series shows the family accepting Joe

But then there's no plot-line for the drama. It's just a normal family going about normal-ish life.

It’s yet another series where the child is a quirky autistic savant who is fairly obedient, likeable and has excellent comprehension.

I do agree. They mentioned other behaviours by reference, but the worst we saw was Joe sat on a roof. No sign of any violence, self-harming, meltdowns. And he sleeps through the night!

in series one wasnt he offered a Special School?, so wasnt that just on the back burner because they turned it down?

Well he's definitely not going back to that school, as it was filmed at my son's school and they haven't returned to do more filming

But then there's no plot-line for the drama. It's just a normal family going about normal-ish life.

'Normal ish' life can have its dramas. Adding autism to that will, I am sure give the programme enough to work with. I just didn't feel comfortable with how much the parents struggled to accept him as that's not what I have seen in real life.

I wanted to like the first series but didn't. I found the mum really annoying and the continual "World shut your mouth" blaring out as the child wandered unchecked down a hillside road just didn't ring true.

So I'm giving the new series a miss

I found the roof scenes unrealistic, mainly the way the teachers had the whole school outside gawping. In a real school they would have had the kids inside so they don't all think it's a great way to get attention and to defuse the situation

Here we go
I have had unsupportive comments from the parents at my son's school, in fact I have faced abuse as I am told to keep my son away from their child so I find that realistic. We live in a small countryside village (similar) where he just stands out as different.
Everyone with autism is different so there is no typical behaviour.

vickibee That's dreadful and very sad for you and your son. I hope the school are supportive.

Anyone watching it now?

I'm glad they're touching on meltdown in an older person with Autism. My 14yo DS1 towers above me and trys really hard to be very controlled. Teenage hormones and ASD lead to some not so great situations.

I get a bit exacerbated by people who see him when his reasonably functioning and say ASD isn't really an issue for DS he's just a bit querky.
When the reality is forever just dropping what i'm doing and managing what ever situation arises.

Specialist unit 100 miles from home with no fight to get him in?

My arse!

I thought tonight's episode was very good. The meltdown in the older boy was realistic I thought and Joe's parents worries for the future. I also related to how they felt when they took Joe to the unit, reminded me of how I felt when my ds was at special school, knowing it was the right place for him but wishing it wasn't.

Just caught the last 15 min today but I find it really sentimental to a mawkish degree. Love Christopher Eccleston though.

Jumping in a bit without reading all the thread...sorry :(
I'm not a parent but as a godmother of a wonderful boy who is autistic.. I have to admit being really challenged by the series...
Both real questions for me focused around the mother... firstly, telling her son that 'we're all a bit broken', but it's okay...
And then in the record store confusing the boy working there... they seemed to have built the beginnings of a rapport and then she suggested alterior motives... ??
I'm not sure what to say... and not sure if I'm qualified to comment as a non-parent... but these things seem to shriek at me as off... but maybe that's the point of her character??