Autism

[Fingertips ND]

My friends little boy has just been diagnosed with Autism and she is devastated!

I have worked a few times for the odd day with children that have this condition but don't really know much about it.

Has anyone had a personal experience with this or have any advice??

 

[Bagpuss]

I think there are different types ... My neighbor's daughter has it and she has to do things at the same time all time...she has to do everything in routine...she cant speak but shouts noises to try and communicate. She goes to a special school that can meet with her needs. Then there is a boy down the road who talks fine and just has minor problems...also has a very rountine way to life...and has a thing for buttons...bless him.

So i think it comes in different forms...xxxx

 

[nik]

Hiya

a friend of mine has started working with people with learning difficulties and as part of her studies and NVQ she read the book'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' by Mark Haddon, she has now lent it to me and apparently it is a fantastic way to understand the mind of someone with autism.hth

 

[Prionace]

I have a small boy in the family (son of a cousin's) that was recently diagnosed autistic. He doesn't comunicate much and has dificulties establishing any type of connection with new people. But within the family invorement he's sometimes playfull and can interact with others well.
I recently (about a month ago at the most) saw a documentary in BBC prime about a holiday camp in the USA were children and parents learn techniques to overcome the autistic condition. Monitors play with the children while parents obserb thru a reflective window how the monitors gain the trust of the child and establishes a link. They also encourage the child to vocalize his needs, i remenber they often layed down on the floor to place themselfs within visual range of the child to establish visual connection.
I think to raise an autistic child can be very draining, but if she does some reserch (and recently knowlege has expanded a lot on autism) she will probably help her child become as independant as possible.

 

[scattyfox]

Autistic children find it hard to communicate with social skills, there are varying types of autism. Sometimes you find they dont like loud noises and dont like a change in routine it can throw them out of sincy and start a tantrum. Aspergers syndrome is another type of autism, have a seach on the net babes there is a lot of info out there. personally i worked with yr 1 pupils with special need and found them hard work but once youc an find the key to unlock them so to speak theya re wonderful.

rain man was a film about autism although its not striclty true that theya re all genius.
HTH

 

[paula]

My stepson who is 14 has asbergers syndrome, which is a mild form of autism.

He finds it difficult socialising and mixing, since he was three he has had different intersts which he can become obsessed about, began with toilets, dustbins, keys, cars, dvds....now it seems to be money lol!!

He leads a very normal life, although finds it difficult some days, he is an extremely happy boy, he is at mainstream school and has special help to help him learn "people skills" to enable him to live a normal happy adult life, which the school is confident he will. It is very common, at least one child in every year has autism.

Naturally, we were devastated when he was diagnosed, but raising him and see him develop makes it worth while, I am so proud of him.

Some people see him as different, I see him as SPECIAL.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

My friends little boy has just been diagnosed with Autism and she is devastated!

I have worked a few times for the odd day with children that have this condition but don't really know much about it.

Has anyone had a personal experience with this or have any advice??

I can appreciate that this must be devastating for any parent whose child is diagnosed with this condition. My knowledge on this is not huge but I know that these learning difficulties are described on a spectrum of disorders. You can get mild to severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), followed by Aspergers Syndrome followed by Autism. I have a friend who's son has severe ADHD/ borderline Aspergers. He is actually a fab boy but needs to live by routines and order in his life and he does not have the best communication skills in the world. Aspergers falls under the autistic spectrum but at the lower end. Autism is more severe and these children/ adults are not able to see the world as we do and are not able to respond as we do. Apparently the key to communicating with them is to try and see everything from their perspective........ difficult to say the least. Your friend should receive support for this now that a diagnosis has been made and receive referrals for help and support for her child. I can give you the following address and web site if it helps although she probably already has been made aware of this:- The National Autistic Society, 393 City Road, London EC1V 1VN, Tel: 0207 78332299 and www.oneworld.org/autism_uk?index.html

 

[avivajoy]

Thank G-d, these days there is a lot more awareness about autism and different methods to deal with it. The internet is the best source.Contact any associations/supposrt groups etc as you can get help and information from the most unexpected place.
There is a therapy/treatment which is called 'free play', which is supposed to be a v good method
There is a man called Professor Fauerstein (spelt incorrectly Im sure but said Foyerstiyn) who has the most fantastic methods of treating/teaching etc children/people with special needs. He and his methods have produced miracles , some kids came to him with no communication skills, violent, institutionalised etc etc and within a relatively short period of time they are communnicating, functioning well etc. His main centre is in Jerusalem Israel (I know for a fact that people come from all over the world to the centre) and there is also a place in Golders Green , London who follow his methods.
My son has Downs Syndrome and I took him to Prof F just after he was born.
There is a method which was developed in hungary and it has centres/therapists in different countries (UK included) which teach those methods, I have no personal experience but know it helped a lot of children
I wish you all the best xx

 

[IllumeGirl]

My friends little boy has just been diagnosed with Autism and she is devastated!

I have worked a few times for the odd day with children that have this condition but don't really know much about it.

Has anyone had a personal experience with this or have any advice??

my son was diagonised with aspergers- a form of autism a year ago. i cried alot but then realised without this he wouldnt be the sweetheart/ little devil that he is. aspergers has only been recognised several years back but i thank god that its high functioning autism and not autism( does that make sense?). i wish your friend all the best of luck and the best advice i can give is to research and more research, theres so much help out there. and most importantly love him to death! xx

 

[Zuise.e]

my son was diagonised with aspergers- a form of autism a year ago. i cried alot but then realised without this he wouldnt be the sweetheart/ little devil that he is. aspergers has only been recognised several years back but i thank god that its high functioning autism and not autism( does that make sense?). i wish your friend all the best of luck and the best advice i can give is to research and more research, theres so much help out there. and most importantly love him to death! xx

Hi,yes your right, aspergers is more or less high functioning autism. I agree - tell your friend to do loads of research, join a support group and speak to other parents - it really does help come to terms with it. I was devastated when my son was diagnosd at 4 years old, though it took 2 years of assessments, I knew something wasn't right as he had all the classic symptoms- he didn't speak until was 6, yet he could count and say the alphabet forwards backwards etc.. at 1 year old. anyway it was very difficult when he was young with the obessessions/rituals and routines but on a lighter note - he is now 14, attends mainstream for the last 3 years and is doing his maths and french GSCE this year (2 years early) because he is so ahead.he has loads of friends and goes out independently like any other 14 year old - in fact nobody at his school even knows of his condtion - they just think he is clever and a bit quiet. His obession is football (like many others his age!) and he administrates a football website. I'm SO proud of him, he is a star, I never imagined things would turn out so well for him!

 

[IllumeGirl]

loved reading your son is going so well suzie, gives me alot of hope for my sweetheart socially. usually he plays with no one at school which breaks my heart and gets no invites to parties.alot of its probably his own doing but he has the kindest little heart but can be quite annoying at times towards other kids i guess. his interests are very different to other 8 year old boys- more like a teenager - heavy metal music

is a huge intrest eg slayer, deep purple etc lol! but he can play the drums very well( at his fathers of course!)otherwise i'd lose most of my clients for sure!

 

[Zuise.e]

loved reading your son is going so well suzie, gives me alot of hope for my sweetheart socially. usually he plays with no one at school which breaks my heart and gets no invites to parties.alot of its probably his own doing but he has the kindest little heart but can be quite annoying at times towards other kids i guess. his interests are very different to other 8 year old boys- more like a teenager - heavy metal music

is a huge intrest eg slayer, deep purple etc lol! but he can play the drums very well( at his fathers of course!)otherwise i'd lose most of my clients for sure!

I know what you mean, when my son was young I could never imagine him leading a normal life and he has had to learn social skills - which come naturally to others. Don't worry about your son's interests - he's original. hey in the past, some of my son's interests included collecting and writing down car number plates, telephone and letterboxes - he used to bore us silly and we knew all about every one in the town. Another characteristic he has is to be very tidy - his room is imaculate, everything in it's place and all that. But I see this as a good thing - especially when I see the mess my ther kids create!!

 

[IllumeGirl]

yes the bedroom! when i ask him to tidy he spring cleans from top to bottom. he stays in the bath scrubbing away till he's like a prune.the first time he was told to pull his socks up he did! i said something the other day about" every tom, dick and harry" to which he replied "who's harry?" he has us in fits of laughter usually which makes up for everything.:hug:

 

[vicxzy]

My mum is a special needs teacher and although autism sounds quite scary a lot of the children live happy and fulfilling lives.
They also seem to appreciate things a lot more than most of us.
Every parent in the school copes amazingly well sometimes with more than one child affected and I really admire them.