Aspergers/Autism/Sensory Integration Chatter #5

Sorry guys, I've sort of lost sight of everything at the moment. For those that I don't know yet, Hi and welcome to our group, for those that have been on this journey for a while :hug: Sorry I've been AWOL.

~clover~ I'm glad the OT is going to day care, that will help. Not long now, after waiting 3 months a few weeks feels like a long time, but its not too bad.

My DD1 is now 7 years old and we are definately seeing improvement. Unfortunately whenever daylight savings or school holidays come around we get set back for a few weeks and we are still there atm. She goes through severe sensory issues when that happens and shows high level of anxiety as well. So, thing are hard, but we start going instantly into more OT sensory planning and diet and she doesn't ever go over the top like she used too. Only 20-30 minutes of screaming instead of hours.

Matilda has multisensory issues along with ASD. She is a sensory seeker for most areas except visual and auditory. She gets a scrambled brain when she is somewhere noisy and bright. She struggles when things change, even the weather... joy... maybe we should move back to QLD lol.

Anywho... I'm sorry I haven't been around, but I plan on being here more.

ETA: A fantastic book about Sensory Processing Disorder or Sensory Integration Disorder is The Out of Sync Child. Its fantastic, but there are others that are useful as well. I highly suggest doing one of the online questionaires or survey's and seeing an OT asap.

So the OT didn't bother turning up. Was sposed to go to ds's pre school Friday 28th at 11am. I flew home from WA & sent him with mum coz I couldn't get my car out & she didn't flipping show up. No message, nothing.

Clover, that sucks!! It's pretty damn rude too. She should have contacted you that she wasn't coming.

MamaSpice, I'm so sorry hun, I must have overlooked your post from earlier on about the mad flapping! Sorry hun :redface: How is your DS's flapping now? Mine still flaps but probably not as much as he's just started walking so is pretty chuffed and interested in that.

AFM, just a quick update with my DS.....He got assessed by his MCHN and was very unresponsive with pretty much everything she asked him to do, mainly as he just wanted to walk around the room and check out his surroundings. She added up his score and he qualified to be checked further by a developmental paed. We have an app. in March 2012, but in the mean time we went and saw his normal paed (he's not a developmental paed but wanted his opinion anyway). He said that he is reluctant to test DS now as he is still too young. He observed him and said that he was making good eye contact and was affectionate (he came over for a cuddle from mum) and was responsive although not to everything. He said that it was typical for toddlers his age to be interested in what they wanted to be interested in, and hence they are not always going to be responsive. He said that he wants him assessed in late Feb/early March, as then he will be 23 months, and it will be easier to pick up on things IF there are things there. He said that from observing him he doesn't feel it's anything major, but did make a comment that the ASD spectrum being very wide. So I'm not sure if he was dropping hints??? Anyhoo, I didn't think he was going to make any diagnosis, but I'm happy that we'll begin seeing someone a bit sooner than March. I still plan to go to the developments paed in March, even for a second opinion.

So, it's tomorrow. 'we' (she) got our wires crossed. The ot wrote the 4th instead. We agreed on the 28th, but she offered the 4th in case I couldn't get home from WA in time. We then agreed I'd ring her if I had to change to the 4th. :dunno:

So anyway, it's tomorrow. Then the findings report is on Saturday! Finally!

Morning people.
So the OT went to pre school. & DS was "beautiful". Shy & quiet, but beautiful. I told mum & dad, they both laughed & said she obviously doesn't know him at all!

I'm losing my mind here.
She has seen his usual side though. His horrible, violent side. So she knows there is something more to him. She thinks possibly severe separation anxiety.

I have a list of things I'm worried about, that I'll paste here. The problem is that they could all point to something, or nothing.

Either way, she doesn't feel he needs cognitive therapy...

Never mind, can't paste here with my iPod. Will have to try with the lappy later.

Hi guys, how is everyone going?

DS1 is doing really well with school, the structure and routine of it all has seen MASSIVE improvements! He catches the bus everyday with NO separation anxiety!!! So very proud :D

DS2, has been diagnosed with SPD now too, interestingly enough he is an avoider, so i actually didn't pick up on a lot of the issues until the OT pointed them out lol. DS1 is a seeker, so I'm used to that. We have some areas to work on, however we are not too concerned about him, he's just a quiet little soul :)

hi there, i notice this thread isn't really moving. is this the best place on bb to talk about autism? ds2 has received a diagnosis, i could do with some support and some people to chat about it.

I'm with you Ginger. I'm looking for people to talk to

Hi dark dreamer, should we just start in here or start a new thread? Anyone else want to join us?

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Hi dark dreamer, should we just start in here or start a new thread? Anyone else want to join us?

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Sorry Ginger, I completely forgot bout this thread cause I had no notification (and I started uni)

Happy to continue here :)

I don't come on BB much anymore but I'm happy to poke in and chat and answer any questions if I can help any time. The time of diagnosis can be really hard. Our son was diagnosed with autism about 2 years ago, just before turning 3.

Hi, I should get back in here more. Feel free to add me on Facebook also Fiona fuller , my profile pic is my kids names written in sand, I have three ds's with an asc and a dh!

I'll look for you Efjay on FB and add you.
:)
I'm finding it all a bit hard right now with everyone pushing me for speech for DS but I've got him on three different wait lists + he's been on them for 8 months :(

I have had to do speech with 2 of my boys so far. My first was the wait list for almost 2 years before I looked into private because school was starting the following year. But at that point I didn't know he had Autism. This time with my now 4 yr old. As soon as the screaming started I was asking for help. He was about 2 & half when I went to the pead with him & started speech just after he turned 3. He is still really hard to understand a lot of the time now. But its getting there.

What sort of support do you have in place currently? I just did a quick google based on your location on your profile thingy & it may be worth look at https://www.health.wa.gov.au/service...fm?Topic_ID=18 if you have not already. Iain, my 4 yr old currently attends Private OT & Speech fortnightly (cost is covered by the funding from the Helping children with Autism package which you should also be getting?) then he also attends a weekly session at the Early childhood development program (EDCP) which is run/funded by QLD education. Its like a preschool day with a small class of kids all with some kind of disablilty. Helps with his social/play skills, speech etc. They also offered a Playgroup session in the mean time before he had a class to go too.
Do you know if anything like that is in your area?

Hi everyone. Very new to this, my DS is 3 and is on the waiting list for a diagnosis of Autism (which is 18months long!) I don't know any other people or children with Autism and aside from speech problems I just assumed that DS was 'normal' as he's my first... Alarm bells started ringing when he began to line things up, and his imaginative play is almost non-existent. He has meltdowns occasionally but I always connected them to his inability to communicate.

The thing we are struggling with most at the moment is discipline. I don't think DS understands a lot. And from the speech therapists 'tests' he has the understanding and expressive communication of a 2 year old. We do time-out, and he has to come say sorry (which is a rub on the arm or head as he can't say sorry) But I just don't feel like he gets the point. He'll go outside and play in the dogs water - we tell him off and put him in time out. He says sorry. Then goes outside again to play and goes straight into the dogs water again. Or he'll do it again the next day. I put him in time out every day for a whole week for the same thing everytime I caught him and he still didn't seem to understand that he wasn't allowed to play in the dogs water. What do you think? Any tips/ideas?!?! At the moment I've just started moving the water out of reach and having to put it back down when outside play is finished but I'd rather not do this in case I forget!

I'd also like to know what the benefits of getting an official diagnosis are? The waiting list is 18 months long, and it the meantime my DS will be receiving therapy with a Speechie and OT. Does a diagnosis change anything?

TIA xx

Hi littlebear, I think I replied to you in another thread about your DS? Just in response to this post though, I often tell my 3 year old DS not to do certain things, but he still does it again and again. We were told at an early intervention session that quite often you need to repeat the instruction to the child several times as they take longer to process what you are telling them due to the delay. I certainly know of plenty of other children who have no delay, that also do not seem to follow instructions! Very frustrating!! As for the benefits of an early diagnosis, I think it's good to know what your child needs exactly, be is speech or OT therapy, to make sure that he/she is as ready as can be for kinder/school. In our case, we only have a PDD-NOS diagnosis for now (that's been the diagnosis from the age of 2) but I understand that the autism disorders can be made typically from the age of 3 onwards. We booked an appointment with a developmental doctor and waited for 6 months for an appointment. The doctor then was able to tell us what we should be doing (in our case sending DS to cc, and starting early intervention asap, plus speech therapy) but an 18 month wait seems a bit much? Are you waiting to see a doctor through the public system? Our doctor was private, maybe that's why we could see him sooner?

Hi Girls can I join you here as well, my DS's haven't been formally diagnosed as yet but we are going through all the motions - they aren't quite 2 yet so pretty hard to diagnose but the speech therapist we are seeing has indicated to me they both show signs of ASD in different ways.

I started this thread just before as I'm really at a loss:
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...y-mind-191146/

Hopefully chatting to other mum's about the challenges will really help me, especially anyone who has more than 1 child with a diagnosis or symptoms, I'm really struggling at the moment trying to manage 2 almost 2yr olds who are delayed in different areas and showing ASD symptoms plus juggling a 3 1/2 yr old and trying to keep myself sane at the same time...