Hi I'm new here

Hi Maricky & All

We selected an old style Montessori nursery and that worked out well as they pervious had experience of ASD. They also provided extra effort with one-one support. Montessori concepts and values fitted in quite well.

We visited a few schools and selected an autism special school as it would be the best environment to meet the needs of our child. The statement process was done before and observations were done in the nursery i.e. an education setting.

It’s important you visit all the schools and select one which will benefit your child. You need to state why this school and why not the others. If you are determined to get your child in the right school and also seek the right help and advise you will be fine!

We just started a new meet-up group ! I think its important for families to meet at local level for support and advise as the Autism journey can be very challenging best of times.

Have a look at http://www.meetup.com/AutismUK/ and let us know what you think.

Rgs

ps we moved to Sheffield from London so know both systems well. Get in touch if you need any help etc 

Hi Cheryl,

A year ago my daughter sounded very similar to your son, she is now 3 and will be 4 in July!  She is progressing each day and im still learning to deal with some of her ways, but her speech, communication and interaction has come on amazingly since having support! 

Being a single mum myself ive experienced some lonely and difficult times, so i understand how you are feeling.  But try and stay positive. 

Sounds like your son has alot of support planned for him, which is great! 

My daughter is such a happy, loving little girl and i wouldn;t change her for the world, as im sure you feel the same with your son.  But it is tough sometimes

Jade

Sorry i thought the above would go on as a new comment but has gone under the thread i was talikng about 

Hi 

I'm new on here. I have a beautiful boy, who will be 3 in June and have just got ASD diagnosis this week. Although I have known since he was about 15 months.

I just read a thread on here from a couple of new ladies who have little boys the same age as me and recent diagnosis. It would be great to chat to you and the more experiencied mummy's and daddy's too.

So much of what i have just read is my son all over. He doesn't talk at all, just babbles. Sometimes i think he has said a word and then he'll never say it again. It seems like he says Mummy when he's upset but i'm still not sure on this.

He does not respond to anything i ask him to get. He takes me to things he wants. We've had a realy tough weekend this weekend as he is just sreaming everytime i go out the room as he wants me to do his jigsaw for him or sit and watch whilst he plays. I think he finds it hard as i'm a single mum and when he's with other carers there is often more than one person to attend to his needs. But he is the most gorgeous and happy little boy generally. Just like the other ladies said he responds to high fives, the word kiss and no but not much else.

He's been at a mainstream nursery since september and special needs nursery since December. He's much better since attending these and both are really helping him. He is currently using PECS and i am visiting his special needs nursery this week to learn this myself and how i can use it to communicate with him - so i just can't wait for that.

It would be lovely to chat to people in a similar position. I've felt so lonely this weekend and just spent half an hour in tears as its been so hard - so i thought i'd pull myself together and come on here to get some support and hopefully help support others

Thanks

Cheryl

There is two nic' s on ere lol so not sure what one your asking advice on but I also have a son that very recently been diagnosed with ASD, he likes a lot of routine and keeps too the same thing but I always try to interoduce new things and he sometimes try but will go back to what he wants, which I don't think is a bad thing....with regards to school no one told us about him having to go special needs school, but my husband and I are looking into as a option for what's best for our son, at the end of the day it you as the parent know best. Nic : ) 

No Isaac does not attend a mainstream school, he goes to a special needs nursery. But in September he is moving over to a brand new Acadamy that is linked up with his special needs school by the means of security doors. But the children from the acadamy Can not access the special needs part of the school without a secure pass. But the children from Isaacs part of the school can access the mainstream acadamy but only with the parents & the childs joint permission.

As for the mixing with his peers part of the question then i would say no, he tolerates them being near to him but very rarely interacts with them. He finds it difficult to interact with his siblings bless him.

Yes i totally agree with the diagnosis being a relief as it gives you more of a clear path to head down & the correct resources to start researching. Isaac as only been diagnosed over the past few weeks with ASD as they kept on saying that he as SLD. But as parents we knew what it was but was just waiting to hear them words as a final diagnosis. It is now a very long & eventful path that lays ahead of us with lots of ups & downs but plenty of joy!!!! Brett

Hi there, Im 25 and also a single mum to my 3 year old daughter who has very recently been diagnosed with Autism.  For me it came as a shock, as she started having some support last year for delays in her speech and communication and she really progressed from this.  Ive been a bit up and down, sometimes i feel really positive and feel very lucky she has been diagnosed so young and she will have alot of support in place and especially for when she starts school.  but other days i really worry for her future.  She works really well with visuals, so we use these all around our house and she has a weekly timetable so i can prepare her for each day as change can really distress her.  She is very repetitive and will read the same books, watch the same dvd'S ect. over and over again, i try to change things and hide things so she doesn't become to obsessive with things or routine, im not sure this is the right thing to do? She is very socially confident and loves being around children and her cousins, but she doesn't really engage with them without adult encouragement.  She is starting mainstream school in spetember and will have support in place, no other option was offered to us so i assumed they must have felt this was suitable for her, but maybe could have been because its like gold dust to het a place?  I still feel a bit clueless about everything and really trying to learn so i can help her in everyway way possible, so any advice would be great. x

Hi Brett, does your son go mainstream school? Does you son try to mix and interact with the other children at all? It is relief when you get a diagnosis that you was right and not going mad (if ya get what I mean) my son is only very recently been diagnosed but we have always known he was the spectrum. Nic : )

Hi nicky my son was about 2 n half when started to talk with  real clear words,he has come along way since then but still often goes in to jargon like talking at times, he does understand if I told him to get his shoes as this is part of his routine, but can come confused if ya ask him to do other stuff, think its harder sometimes when people think coz he can talk he understands what they say to him when he doesn't. Yea my son also loves to give high five we do it every time he has done something I've asked him to do, so again has become part of his routine lol what sort of tv programme does your son like?   My son loves Micky mouse and tends to watch it over and over and the same with the chipmunks movies.  how is your son irage guards to mood? My son often goes up and down one min his fine then slighted thing can set him off . Nic : )

Hi again - if you check out sen statement via the home page you'll get the info you need.  I don't want to write something here which may be out-dated!!  However, to access the support a child with autism needs, a statement is a legal document + is applicable to mainstream + special.

We have a 4 yr old son & is final statement came through the post yesterday. Although be it Isaac as been attending a special needs nursery/school for his 12 week assesment he as come along in leaps & bounds. When he first started there he would not make eye contact, could hardly say a word & was just a very frustrated little boy. Bow he is actually saying clear words even though his sentences are  very mumbled & mixed up. When he wants something he does clearly state what it is that he requires, but he is still doing a lot of dragging as well. We have only had the diagnosis of ASD over the past   few weeks as everyone just kept on saying for the past 2 years that Isaac just had SLD. But as parents we knew that there was a lot more to Isaac than met those hr consultations. So now we are  finally relieved that we as a family have a clear goal to work towards.

hiya nic

What age was your son when he started to talk? My son will be three in july.he is very vocal just doesnt say propwr words apart from dada and mama.

Yeah think i will leave potty training till he shows hes ready. Does your son understand things like go and get your shoes. mine doesnt though he knows kiss and high five and the obvious come here and no.

X

hello nicky,

my son has a few things same as yours, with telly he also can come upset and confused at times. he also laughs to himself without anything happening? my son can now talk but he often uses it out of context or know the meaning of what he is saying. i.e will shout out help me help when i put him in the trolley and i have people look at me and i say its ok he's mine lol

and where he can talk people automaictally think he understands but he doesnt, if my son becomes upset and cant tell me he will try and take me to it or he also trys to show me with pictures we have got him a ipad and it really helps him, they have loads of apps on there to help kids with autism, he has also picked up signalong so if he wants a drink he willl sign drink.

with regards to potty training i havent got a clue lol his still in pull ups and have tried but he doesnt understand and i have been told it will happen when his ready and not to push him. this is normal for children with ASD. not heard of PECS OR TEACHH.  think there are all different things in different areas. :)

Hiya Nic

Well he was assessed at ryegate and ive spoken tl consultants for advice and all seem to agree that the best way forward for kids of this age with autism is a mixture of mainstream pre school and an autism specific school.but i know its not always that easy to get what you want and i get the impression you have to fight for what you want.i realise it depends on the severity of autism the child has cos there arent many places at the special schools but to able to get at least a day a week with one to one teaching in these schools would be more beneficial than none at all wouldbt it im going to try and find out how many pre schools there are in sheffield that are really good with autistic kids and take it from there. 

my son doesnt have problems with going out or visiting shops or changes in routine but he does tend to have one hand over his right ear a lot and certain sounds can upset him more the pitch or tone.he can watch a cartoon and get upset at a certain point each time. He flutters his fingers in front of his face and runs up and down the room laughing at nothing in particular sometimes.he can give kisses and do high fives and loves hugging.but if i told him to fetch his shoes he wouldny understand. He seems really happy but doesnt speak just babbles words like baba mama didi etc

Have you potty trained yet? I was going to leave it till hos third birthday in july and will see how it goes but im not expecting it to be easy.

My little lad loves music and goes to a kiddies singing group though obviously doesnt sing. He goes to playgroup and doesnt really mix with other kids apart from stroking their head but has started going up to adults more and engaging with them.

How does your son show you what he wants. Mine brings it to me or takes me by the hand to it.he will play with some toys but likes me to help him With jigsaws.

Have you heard of PECS and TEACHH. I think thats how you spell it. Its supposed to help with commmunicating  x

hiya nicky.

yea we was also expecting the asd results, my mum always said he was showing autism since he was around 5 months old, but i only really thought the same around 18 months,

its nice to now know that we where all right, my son needs constanted routine on every day to day things and he finds it really hard when the simple things change, his finding it hard at the minute being half term and that we are not taking his older sister to school.

going out is a big issues for us so we rearly go out on family fun stuff, my son becomes very upset, we oftern have to resort to things like going quite places like the woods which he loves. (not alot of people there). shopping is another big issue and  that we do it very in and out fashion lol

my son is  going to pre school at the min 2 times a weeks only half a day tho, but he does enjoyed it, he gets one to one but i find he doesnt mingle with the other kids at all, so we are looking into speacial needs school as a options he wouldnt start school till next september so regarding on how he gets on in pre school we are just taking each day as it comes.

how about you? are you concidering both? nic :)

Hiya Nic

Thanks for getting in touch.  My little man was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago but we have known he was autistic for about a year and half.  My childminder highlighted it to us as he wasnt reaching his milestones ie pointing waving etc.

I also havent been told whether he is high or low functioning.i think they decide on this once he starts education and how he copes. He is such a happy loving kid and doesnt need routine and can be taken anywhere but he only babbles really and has his own little stims.

What are you doing about pre school.i was told he could go to msinstream pre school with support but i want to look into integrated play schools too as the more help he gets at this age the better.

Nicky x

Hiya Nic

Thanks for getting in touch.  My little man was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago but we have known he was autistic for about a year and half.  My childminder highlighted it to us as he wasnt reaching his milestones ie pointing waving etc.

I also havent been told whether he is high or low functioning.i think they decide on this once he starts education and how he copes. He is such a happy loving kid and doesnt need routine and can be taken anywhere but he only babbles really and has his own little stims.

What are you doing about pre school.i was told he could go to msinstream pre school with support but i want to look into integrated play schools too as the more help he gets at this age the better.

Nicky x

hi Maricky, see your post and thought id say hi i also have a son aged 3 who has ASD, how long has you son been diagnosed?? nic 

Thanks for replying so quickly Crystal

Could i ask you if your son had to have a statement of SEN before he could be considered for these autism specific schools.i was under the impression my son cant be considered for a statement until he begins education and that if he doesnt qualify for a statement he wont be able to attend an autism specific school.

not sure if things have changed since your son was at school its possible x

Hi Maricky - my son's an adult now.  He always went to autism-specific schools + I think he benefitted greatly from the small classes, well trained staff who understood about autism etc.  I cannot speak for mainstream from personal experience but there are posts on here about mainstream so it's worth having a look.  Also you could visit a special school to see how it compares with what's on offer at his allocated place with support.  How many hours will he be getting, does it cover play-time, lunchtime etc....that sort of thing.  I didn't know that the window of learning is at its best between 2-5 but it is crucial that he's in the best environment (physically + with people who understand) to get the best out of education etc.  Good luck with everything.  Ask anything you want!