Autism (Aspergers & me)

First.Aspect

HaydenM wrote:

Pinno wrote:

my grandad's bike wrote:

Pinno wrote:

My...situation.

I see where you are coming from and it may be that in the future (secondary school) we'll need a more concrete diagnosis.
However, she is in the learning difficulties class at a local school where she gets almost 1:1 tuition and so far, it's working well.
My concern is finding another school when we eventually move that's as diligent and puts as much work into her development as she's getting now.

However, when my head stops spinning from general chaos, i'll PM you in time. Cheers.

My mum is a retired TA in a secondary school in England and says that without a diagnosis it would be hard to get resources (ie her) for a child unless they had spare capacity which they never did, might be different up here though. Good luck anyway, certainly from what my mum says the support can be very very good once they assign it

First Aspect wrote:

earth wrote:

I've always suspected a lot of religious people are far over on the autism/aspergers scale. I think it must be past experience of vicars and the likes with really odd accents and pronunciations.

I can't imagine a more mutually exclusive grouping. You have utterly failed to understand. May God be with you.

I have a family member who has aspergers and is a JW, a lot of the things he believes are more outlandish than their standard teachings and certainly not backed up with any sort of fact. He's obsessed with religion, it's very strange.

Yes I can see that from a fixation point of view. My brother is fixated (at present) on dogs, lord of the rings and trains. Thankfully not organised religion, and if he was, he'd be on the outside looking in, metaphorically. My point was that the sort of people @earth seems to be referring to are unlikely to overlap with those having autism or Aspergers.

voodooman

I'd very strongly recommend a diagnosis for several reasons:

1. You get guaranteed support and hopefully it can lead to an EHCP, guaranteeing funding and authority action for as long as in education and up to 25.
2. You can then hold the school and authority to account for ensuring the appropriate provision is being made.
3. The diagnosis itself can be shared with your child when older as can aid understanding of the condition. Also useful for getting into support groups (of which there are loads around, some online and some physically nearby one would hope) and potentially respite if needed.

It is oft said that "we're all on the spectrum", and while it is a nice phrase to use from time to time, I never use it myself as usually I meet families right at the sharp edge of dealing with this. And living with someone with autism / aspergers can be exceedingly difficult indeed, dominating everything and affecting siblings and the wider family.

If you want more info feel free to pm. Currently I'm head of a specialist ASC / attachment disorder school for students who can also display physically aggressive behaviours.

pinno

voodooman wrote:

I'd very strongly recommend a diagnosis for several reasons:

1. You get guaranteed support and hopefully it can lead to an EHCP, guaranteeing funding and authority action for as long as in education and up to 25.
2. You can then hold the school and authority to account for ensuring the appropriate provision is being made.
3. The diagnosis itself can be shared with your child when older as can aid understanding of the condition. Also useful for getting into support groups (of which there are loads around, some online and some physically nearby one would hope) and potentially respite if needed.

It is oft said that "we're all on the spectrum", and while it is a nice phrase to use from time to time, I never use it myself as usually I meet families right at the sharp edge of dealing with this. And living with someone with autism / aspergers can be exceedingly difficult indeed, dominating everything and affecting siblings and the wider family.

If you want more info feel free to pm. Currently I'm head of a specialist ASC / attachment disorder school for students who can also display physically aggressive behaviours.

Just a quick reply (and I am not ungrateful for all the advice given by posters).

1. She is guaranteed support here in Scotland - there's never been a question of that, which answers 2.
3. She is under the umbrella of CAMHS, Between the peadiatrician, CAMHS, quarterly meetings at school, she is getting tons of support and input.

She has access to PIN (Parents inclusion network) and this summer, was involved in activities related to them for 2 days a week and 1 other day at her school for children with learning difficulties. So far, she was described as potentially High Functioning Aspergers.
Respite is something we have never considered as an option. On the current behavioural/learning trajectory and with the support of CAMHS, we don't feel that respite care is at all required and we don't feel like we need respite care.

Now, things will change when she goes to secondary school and that's crunch time, as far as we are concerned.
She is only 6, so we have time.