Oh Christy I second maz, somethings are best ignored. There have been days where I have taken myself and a cuppa outside as far away from the house as I can possibly get for 5 minutes of peace (as long as he is safe)
We rely a lot on sensory stuff, Xander has a hidey hole under his bed where he goes when stressed, a weighed blanket for deep pressure and I'm hoping to get some mattresses/gym mats to throw himself around on.
Well yesterday I had to work, my new job is Tuesdays - 10 hours and Saturdays - 10 hours.... So I work a 20 hour week, but only over 2 days. Its full on, but its amazing...
Matilda went with MIL for a few hours and then a friends for 5 hours and then back to MIL here at our house until DH got home. They all had dinner together & I got home while they were in the bath.
I think it did me a world of good being away from her. She was very well behaved for everyone but once DH got home she disolved for 30 minutes. But its been the best day in a week. Today has been okay. I've spent the first half of the morning on the phone trying to get us somewhere. I got us into a private OT starting on next Wednesday, then I got a respite service to come here for 2 hours on a Thursday arvo so I can do our shopping. I can't even park in the car park without issues. She won't put on earphones for the ipod we got her... she won't wear the ear muffs... she won't keep the sunglasses on... so I just think the respite will help.
I felt like a failure calling all these places trying to get some help, but then I thought that it was going to help. I called MIL and asked her to come over tomorrow for an hour and a half so I could go to the shops... there's a chinese massage place next to Woollies so I'm going to duck in there for 30 minutes before doing a power shop I think. I can't handle the hours of screaming so I think I need a recharge before I keep going. Its not going to stop anytime soon...
I really hope you don't mind me dropping in here. I am pg with my first and have been cruising around BB forums. I stopped in here as I am a professional in the area and am passionate about my work with kids and families living with ASDs. I am provisional psychologist and I've been working in home-based therapy, and now an early intervention centre over the past 8 years. I also work as a counsellor with parents coming to terms with diagnosis and dealing with behaviour issues, family stress and the impact on siblings, marriage and life as a whole. I know I will NEVER truly grasp what it is like for families from the inside (that is, assuming this little bump doesn't end up 'on the spectrum') and I have endless admiration and awe for the mothers who nurture these gorgeous kids day in, day out. I do however know a bit about ASD's and just wanted to say...
Please feel free to PM me if you get really stuck with general questions. I DO NOT have all the answers and cannot know or assess your child, but there's a chance I might be able to point you in the direction of a good website or give some general suggestions. I'm not offering my professional services, just someone to chat to who would love to help if she can.
Kat - thank you for your offer, it's interesting there are quite a few professionals on here who help with asd and sensory issues which is a great wealth of information to draw on. All the best with your pg.
Christy - Don't ever feel like a failure! These services are there to help us because we need them! We found the only head phones Xander likes are these huge ones Dh got to block out noise on the little ariplanes he used to fly in out west :-) Not exactly 'blending in' material. Does Matlida like electronic games? We got DS a leapster last year for Christmas and it is what he absorbs himself in when we are in stressful situations. It is starting to die so we have him a Nintendo DS for Christmas (from Ebay) It's funny because I caught up with some other people whose boys were on the spectrum and they were all playing on these DS systems - mainly pokemon. Is she interested in anything like that?
As for us - we are not having a very settled week. DS is all over the place like a dogs breakfast - speaking of which our dog was killed on Sunday and we are getting 2 new puppies (yes just to add to the chaos that is our life) but I don't think that has upset him. i think it's more getting close to school holidays - he is wanting to know what we are going to do and when and what day he is going back to school and which class is he in. OMG he is seriously stressing! Holidays are always horrible as he hates the spontenaity. I really should sit down and make a plan..... might help him settles :-( I just hate being so planned out all the time! On the upside we finally started getting some money back through medicare for all the OT sessions. It has taken us 5 months to jump through all the right hoops! Thankfully our bank balance is looking slightly less sad now :-)
Last edited by ~Saram~; November 26th, 2008 at 10:27 PM.
: cause there was so many typos even I couldn't understand it
oh I hear ya, since school has stopped Matilda needs me to write out a routine everyday and put a timer on for what happens next.... ARGH I'm so not organised enough for that!!!
Tomorrow I have a few things to deal with, but its mainly a home day. I think I will be dropping something off another suburb away. Than we are home for nap time and during naptime MIL is coming over so I can run to the shops... Matilda doesn't nap, but has "quiet time".
Somehow I have to get a rhythm going in our house to help instigate "calm". ARGH!
BellyBelly Member
I second maz, somethings are best ignored. There have been days where I have taken myself and a cuppa outside as far away from the house as I can possibly get for 5 minutes of peace (as long as he is safe)
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