Maz, my heart goes out to you, and to all those in similar situations. I have not been diagnosed with anything on the autistic spectrum (although my brothers' psychiatrist suspects ADHD...), but I have lived with others on the spectrum since I was a child. Two of my brothers were diagnosed with ADHD as children. The diagnosis came when they were about 3-4 years old, after we had gone through numerous other avenues to work out what was "wrong" with them. These included naturopath, counselling, dietitian, occupational therapy (the coordination stuff...), chiropractors and so on. They are now 21 years old, and since their initial diagnosis there have unfortunately been many that have followed. One brother is "lucky" and only has ADHD, Asperger's and mild OCD. The other brother is not so fortunate and has been diagnosed with ADHD, Asperger's, OCD, Bi-polar and something else that I'm forgetting. I believe their current diagnosis is sort of being collectively classed under the term "Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS".

It's been a long (sometimes rough) road for them but they are doing well. The less affected brother has completely a tafe course, and the more affected brother is now working full time in a great job at Connex.

Just to add to the excitement though, my eldest DSS has ADHD. He started highschool this year and is unfortunately having a bit of a tough time. He gets into trouble quite a bit both with the teachers, and with the other students. He just has trouble knowing when he's taking things too far, and also tries too hard to be "cool" around other students and gets himself into bad situations. Luckily at heart he's a good, loving boy and we know that he'll get through this just fine with love and support from us.

Something that I've learnt along the way is the value of having a support system for these kids that can be trusted. Good school teachers are an absolute essential. One of my brothers had a teacher at primary school that was dreadful, and he battled with extreme low self-confidence for years to come. We've been really careful to make sure that my DSS's teachers understand his condition and are very supportive. We are in touch with his teachers constantly and his teacher this year has been an absolute treasure!