MamaSpice - your DD sounds like my DS (he isnt much younger than your DD, a Jan 08 baby!) except my DS can look you in the eye sometimes. We're currently trying to figure out our best avenue for assessment. Our first step was to go see a child psychologist as they are the ones who can do the assessments. He is in speech therapy atm and should be in occupational therapy but unfortunately we cannot afford the private costs right now. Your DD's daycare teacher most definitely should put any observations in writing, my DS's daycare teacher is currently doing a social and behaviour observation report up for us. You've come to the right thread for advice and support, the ladies in here have been wonderful to me since we started on this rollercoaster!
Ugh. Things are not good with us. Rip's daycare teacher pulled me up last week to raise concerns over his social behaviour. He has become quite a loner at daycare now, he doesnt play or speak with any of the other kids, not even his little twin 'girlfriends' from whom he was inseparable before the christmas break. She mentioned it again this week; and that she was going to start observations and write up a report for us to give to his assessors. Even she said he isnt the same kid he was 6mths ago.
We're currently saving up for his assessments because the wait lists for public assessments is a million months long. We should have it all done by April.
Hi Freya, yes DD does sometimes look you in the eye too but mainly if she comes and tells you something. If you are trying to initiate a conversation with her though she won't do it.
i'm going to see what going the child health clinic road is like but if there are big delays I'll have to just get a referral to a specialist I think. But yes they're sooo expensive aren't they. I have to take DS to a paed on monday and it's costing $275.
DD's teacher is very switched on about sensory disorders etc. DD had a little boy in her class last year who has aspergers. Her teacher says that DD's traits aren't as severe but suspects she could defiantely be mildly affected.
The Spectrum and other cognitive disorders are so varied its amazing! Ds was informally assessed using the CARS assessment for ASD by his speechie and scored highly on it, yet Ive had a few people tell me because he is often loving and isnt completely socially inept that he couldnt be ASD. They seem to forget that ASD can vary in traits from child to child.
Sounds to me from what you described your DD could be a Sensory Seeker. My DS is a seeker, which is why he has a huge tendency to be overtly physical/aggressive and exaggerated in his everyday life. If he cant be stimulated by it he doesnt want to know about it. He touches, he tastes, he smells, he even deliberately hurts himself in order to process life. Its quite full on sometimes. If anyone looked at him they'd think I abuse him with the amount of injuries and bruises he has.
Yes that's very true, it varies so much doesn't it. DD is not very affectionate. She never has been. But she can be on the rare occasion when she wants to.
This weekend has been a weekend full of meltdowns. DD has had several, rangeing from about 20 minutes to an hour. She kicks and screams and cries and yells. I'm so surprised we havent had the cops land on our doorstep yet.
I try to be really patient and try to explain things to her and get her to settle down. And I try to distract her attention to something else. DH gets to a point where he can't take it and just yells at her (which obviously doesnt work, it makes her worse)
What do you do in these situations? I just don't know the best way I need to approach calming her down? HELP???
Mr H is going well at school, this year they actually had Autism sa go into the school before the kids started back and talk to the teachers.
He has his own desk and while it is in a group of tables he doesn't share his, he also has his own pencils etc again (we had major problems with this last yr).
So far things have been going smoothly, the school and teachers are aware of the problem with the other children and have been monitoring this. Hamish is also in a group that go to a social skill class, they are learning about real friends.
So far all I can say is the school seem to have done a huge back flip and the support is there this year, Hamish is not made to sit on the floor , he is allowed to sit at his desk but is still required to listen and participate. Floor time has always been a major problem for him, he cant sit still, doesnt like having the children to close etc.
I believe the reason for the backflip is due to an increase in children with ASD diagnosis.
MamaSpice, we found that we just needed to find the thing that works. This thing doesn't always work so we have a number of things up our sleeve. They include... crunching on ice, tight/firm cuddles, banging pegs (you know those peg things you bang down the turn it over and do it all again lol) jumping (preferably on a small trampoline), we also have a few 'tools' (weighted vest etc) I'm not sure if any of that will help you, but in my experience it's all about trial and error and finding what does work.
Disciplines... well we are still getting there, I've just done a workshop on Autism Disorders and this was covered. It's about working out what is causing the behaviour. What happens before the behaviour occurs, we are starting to track the behaviours to work out Brendan's triggers. Maybe take notes on what is happening just before the behaviour occurs (sounds, lighting, is she hungry? thirsty? etc)
I'm so surprised we havent had the cops land on our doorstep yet. 
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