Aspergers/Autism/Sensory Integration Chatter

[joel's girl]

Just wanting a bit of advice.

I know a baby ( 8 months old ) that is constantly moving. I mean her hands, feet and at times her entire body does not stop moving around. Although she can hold a sipper cup or rusk stick in her hands unaided, they continue to move as she drinks/eat. She is a very bouncy baby.

At times the movements seems to be involuntary. Im concerned for her and her family but cannot find the right words to express my concern and second guess myself everytime I think of bringing it up with her mum.

Does this type of behaviour sound normal ??

[christy]

joel's girl, flapping and loose body movements at a young age are associated with autism, but its really something that the MCHN would probably notice in a check up as well.

Maz - I'm glad the milk thing has helped!! in fact, I'm amazed. My BIL who has asperger's says that he can't think clearly if he has anything with milk in it. Someone on the Australian autism website says that her IQ drops 30 points on milk.

FJ - Matilda always had runny poos until we stopped milk. She hadn't done a formed on in her entire life. The other thing is the in one ear out another thoughts. Matilda has auditory processing issues in that she often won't "hear" things. The OT told me that is part of her issues. That she can't process what she is hearing properly if there are too many things stimulating her senses. Its really helped us in how we parent her. Because rather than getting unbelievably frustrated, I now think oh she can't hear and get in front of her & hold her arms and make her look at me before I say what it is... if its important, otherwise I roll my eyes & go on in life... HTH!

[~Saram~]

Yes I agree soy milk is god's gift to our kids on the spectrum and they don't even seem to mind the taste - yuck. Xander actually prefers it now to cows milk!

Because rather than getting unbelievably frustrated, I now think oh she can't hear and get in front of her & hold her arms and make her look at me before I say what it is... if its important, otherwise I roll my eyes & go on in life... HTH!

That is so true!!!! And doesn't it make such a HUGE difference when a professional tells you there is a reason! Ours told us to stop trying to get him to stop and look at us as he can actually process things better when he is moving, same with his talking and thinking - thus the reason I am dreading school next year.

We are all geared up - vibrating cushion, balance board on it's way, sloping board for writing and some funky "can't get it wrong" pencil grips. I am seriously ready to home school though if it goes pear shaped. Being a teacher I know there are a lot of teachers out there that can't stand fidgety kids (I used to be one of them) and I can see them getting frustrated and angry with him and him getting frustrated back and nobody getting any learning done

Joel's girl - it's one of those things I don't think you can bring up. I think you can just be there if they mention it to you. You can guarentee they have noticed it and if a parent is not commenting on it then they are probably not ready to accept it. You could try saying something in a positive way like , goodness me I've never seen a baby move so much and see if they follow you from there. Having said that bub could just have an immature nervous system or could be something else entirely????

FJ - I second what Maz and christy said, check out aspect, download the autism checklist and just sit back and observe for a couple of weeks. It's true that we all have autistic traits but if you find your ticking nearly every box (like we did) then you have something to tke to the GP with you. We had to get a referal from the GP to the paed, from the paed we insisted on referrals to other specialists, OT, Speech, Psy they sent . it's also good to write notes beside each criteria like does your child line up toys - lines up cars from biggest to smallest or in shades of colours or whatever they do. DS used to go around locking all the doors in th house or switching all the lights on and off. DS has high anxiety about things and used to mention a lot of the things you said actually but since we have been using more routine, and charts etc I think he feels he has more control over other parts of his life and the rest aren't so scary???? Does that make sense

[joel's girl]

Thanks you ladies. I take your advice on board.

[~Saram~]

OK we've had a crap o day and I need to have a whinge :-(

Nanna's gone home to brissie (after staying with us for 4wks), school is gearing up for transition to yr 1 and I ran out of soymilk and food in general (been called into work a lot and didnt get the shopping done) so we are out of routine, off our diet and out of this world. Yesterday's christmas party didn't help - It was lovely btw. but complete sensory overload plus he was asked to pick two present from a pile in front of him (and of course changed his mind once we left)

The biggest kick in the teeth was this rude woman today. I was in the video shop at the counter and DS was outside the shop in the trolley playing on his laptop. I had told him where I was going and he was all of a metre away from me through clear glass doors. This lady barges into the store and say, excuse me is this your son he is screaming out here looking for you. I swear to God if looks could kill she would be dead. He of course wasn't screaming or particularly looking for me just making a racket because he hates the shops and was repeating himself over and over again at the top of his lungs. Grrr, do people honestly think a parent in this circumstance needs the point rubbed in their face, did she honestly think I couldn't hear him????

Anyway we have food now and are back on our diet, we have jumped, rolled, had a few wrestles, snuggled under our comfort blanket but he was still throwing himself into the walls before bed tonight. Sometimes I just want to line the inside of my house with mattresses. School tomorrow is going to be so much fun as I am working again so routine is out the window.

Ahh thank you for letting me have my little rant. back to the grind stone. Hope everyone else is doing well

[christy]

Sarah, your rants help me feel normal! So please rant on

[maz]

AHHHH honey....sarah - you know what you should have said to the woman.....

of course my son is screaming....he was looking at YOU!!!!

I have so learnt to be a ***** back...I am so sick to death of having people make me annalyse and explain why my child is behaving the way he is...stuff them...if their going to say stupid comments then im going to give them stupid relies! I think that you can only put up with the stupid snide remarks for so long then flip. I actually had a really nice bloke years ago in the supermarket. WIlhelm was being ferral and this guy tried to touch him to help (wilhelm use to scream and hit himself in the head when this happened)..I just said im sorry he's autistic and the guy said he understood, apologised gave ME a hug. I coudlnt beleive it...someone who actually cared enough to think of me.

OH for the looking thing...I use to hold Wihlem's arms and get down to his level....it drove me insane with frustration...I now do my Kath & Kim thase..

Look at moi WIlhelm...WIlhelm....WWWILLLHELM....looking at Moi

Yes I use the stupid tones and the ups and downs of my voice get his attention...he ends up cracking up laughing and guess what...he does look at me

off to make tea so he doesnt eat it again :rolling eyes: