Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone I am new to the forum and also autism. My 3 year old daughter is going through the process of assessments by CASBAT for autism. The paediatrician we saw said its a very strong likely hood to be autism. Anyway I'm just wondering if your children have good and bad days? My daughter has quite a bad speech delay. She does talk but most of it is repetition of what someone has said and 99% of the time she refers to herself in the third person. She very rarely uses mine, my or I. So anyway there are times when I think she is "doing ok" I still know there is something wrong but she doesn't have a meltdown and then there are days when she is having a really bad time and I think she really does need help. She tends to have a lot of meltdowns that result in objects being thrown, screaming at the top of her lungs, self harming like biting herself or head butting things, attacking her younger brother and both myself and my husband (her father) and no way to console her. These meltdowns can go on for hours and hours and once something has upset her she will then be quite highly strung for the rest of the day and the rest of the day can become a struggle with her. I am feeling guilty at times because I wonder if there is anything wrong (think i am in denial) other than her speech and then other times I feel guilty that I didn't do anything sooner. I know it's more than just her speech as they told me at her first appointment that they were worried and although they couldn't officially diagnose her untill she has had the assessments they were pretty sure it's autism. In the report from her appointment it's says that she "is a very unusual little girl who need further investigation" they noted that she has motor mannerisms, sensory sensitivity and obsessions (currently spongebob sqaurepants) I just wondered how you guys deal with all of these things in day to day life.
Hi - welcome. You've come to the right place. I don't know if you've done some of the things I'm going to suggest, so if you have, apologies in advance. Check out the home pg + the posts - loads of info. Yes, they can have good + bad days. It's working out what made a good day good + a bad day bad that's important. Have they/you identified any of her sensory issues, such as certain noises, tastes, textures, smells? If you have then have a think about how you can negate them if poss or at least alleviate them. This doesn't mean she has all the ones I've mentioned in the last sentence. She will appreciate a set daily routine. You cd do have a pictorial timetable from getting up each day to going to bed. This helps a lot because she'll know from the picture what she's doing nxt. Our children need to be understood in relation to how autism affects them individually. Everyone is their own unique person. Think about what all your family do each day + how it affects her. Keep a diary about what happened before the meltdown, keep the diary for a while + you could see a pattern emerging. It sounds like she's under massive stress + so are the rest of the family. Does she go to nursery? If she does how is she there? There's a lot to learn + you can't learn it all at once so don't even try. Bit by bit's best. There's always loads of help + understanding on here so drop by + ask whatever you want whenever you want.