Young,Autistic and Stagestruck.

[LetThereBeRock]

Will anyone be watching this documentary? It's on Channel 4 at 8.

I know what JOnathan's Mum means.

I can't speak for your son but personally it's something I'd discuss with him and make him aware of.

I wasn't disagnosed with dyspraxia until I was an adult and I spent 20 plus years wondering what was wrong with me, knowing that I wasn't like other people.

Getting my diagnosis was the best thing that ever happened to me. I know myself better now. For years I felt that I didn't really know myself, as I had no explanation for my 'oddness' I feel like the diagnosis was like being given the final piece of the jigsaw and I'm much more at peace with myself, though I am still working on that.

It was so sad when Alexander was talking about his absent father.

Yes, it was. I'm sure the man would be the same deadbeat he clearly is, regardless of who his child is

I think you're right.Unfortunately there's a lot of selfish twats out there who have abandoned their NT and autistic children.

am watching on 4+1 and just sobbed my heart out at MOlLIE.....that is my son

mollie has PDA as a dx which is something my son was considered to have but was Dxed as ODD instead along with autism. She really is very similar to my ds although his aggression is alot worse and he is a strong boy. we are actually seeing the Psych on wednesday to get some meds to help with his anxiety.

From my reading, PDA is more usually a standalone diagnosis and not commonly given out - ASD with ODD more common. DH and I both saw a lot of DS1 in Mollie. We also related to Jonathan a lot with him, too, though.

I was getting irritated with her mother's "do you love me?" stuff, mind. It's, to me, a rather manipulative way to talk to any child who is angry and upset. DS1 did recently ask me, after a very bad day where I'd had to re-direct him loads if I hated him and I told him very clearly that I love him to bits, but sometimes I get very cross and sad because his behaviour is so awful, sometimes, and he hurts himself as much as he hurts other people with it. It didn't cross my mind to start asking if he loved me.

i see dd1 in most of the children and especially in Ben, but have to say I love Mollies mum, she seemed so calm most of the time and to live with that daily must be hard but then i saw a wonderful engaged little girl at theend, which Im glad about.
The Drama teachers do make me laugh and do think they needed to learn a little more about managing behaviours before they set out and especially as said "picking battles".
I have to say also what a brave lot they all are, there is no chance in hell you would get DD1 inot London in a room, with strangers, and not knowing what she would do next!

Ouch. Just watched this. Its like being punched over and over again.

Just made DH watch the bit with Mollie at the beginning - DD2 is so very like her. I think she's even used the same sentences (mid rant).

Ah I ahve this taped, ds1 wants to watch it. I will let him, I think it is important he sees that he ahs potential beyond being teh random odd kid in an academic school

'although they have said he has ASD traits, they say they are possibly due to the CP and damage to the brain. '
Really SGGK? I ahve a powerpoint on co-morbidity and asd somewehere but that doesn't make sense except as an excuse; we don't know the aetiology of asd though we know there probably very many causes. Brain damge being one. If it looks like ASD, and ticks the boxes of teh DSM-IV required to be ASD (which has a caveat that the behaviours cannot be explained by X and Y) then it is ASD

my friend has a son who is blind, has chromosomal deletion, GDD and just got a dx of ASD maybe a few eyars ago (he is 16)- it's the ASD dx that is helping them move things on.

I'm loving this programme. Bawled my eyes out when Andrew took Claire to the cinema (when they arrived he said 'here we are my pretty friend ') He is just delightful and his thoughtfulness would put many a neurotypical 17 year old to shame and his mum and dad are amazing.
Watched the Louis theroux programme as well and I thought both Ben and millie in stagestruck looked to me like they might benefit from medication. I have a ds on the spectrum so know what difficult behaviours are. But particularly Ben seems to me to be depressed.

The date was very sweet wasn't it? Andrew's such a gentleman.

I think Ben is already on medication. I'm sure I remember him showing the camera the two or three types of medication that he is on.

After seeing the first episode I asked my mum (81) to watch it with me last night.

DS (13) was diagmosed with Aspergers 2 months ago. My mum, whom we live with, has really struggled with the diagnosis. She has always maintained that DS was spoiled and needed a good smack to deal with the (very few) behavioural difficulties she has observed at home, such as fussiness about food and clothing. His far more serious problems at school, the bullying, the meltdowns when teased etc, could be cured by forcing him to join the Scouts and the CCF, and just generally toughen up .

She was quite at the start of the programme, prescribed a good spanking for Mollie, and seemed quite bewildered about why she was watching, until Jonathan, the 12 year old with a late diagnosis was interviewed.

He is UNCANNILY like DS, his body language and gestures, even the way he speaks. And by the time his interview was finished, she was in tears. Because everything he described reflected what her grandson had experienced, and what we had been trying so hard to explain to her.

Ds1 (8, dyspraxia) was watching this with me last night. When Jonathan came on he said 'that boy looks just like me' which was funny as I was thinking how alike they were, not in looks but in the way they talk, certain mannerisms and the wild imagination.

He also kept saying 'But DS2 isn't like ANY of these children AT ALL Mum', which led to a really good talk about DS2 (7)and how his SLDs are much more of a problem to him than his autism.

Have been talking to my friend tonight about the possibility of setting up a drama group for children on the spectrum. She's an actress, I've taught Drama to NT kids (but not v well- it was my second subject). We both have children on the spectrum (opposite ends!). Am quite excited by the idea. Especially as, having thought that DS2 would never be able to access anything like this, he has just shocked us all by singing the first line of 'Incy Wincy Spider'. He only uses single words when talking, so quite an achievement.

we have one here in our area if you need some advice

I really enjoyed both episodes of this programme and I'm looking forward to the next episode.
I work everyday with a 10 year old autistic boy who is non verbal. Something that I found very difficult when watching this programme was knowing that he could never attend a group like this. All the children were much more high functioning than him.

I loved the way Andrew's parents spoke and explained things to him. It was great to see him on a date with Claire.