Introduce yourself (part one)

hello,just working my way round the site not quite sure what to do

Hello TEA,

Welcome to the community.

We hope that you find it useful.

Alex - mod

we have a 11 year old daughter ,she's on the autistic spectrum ,adhd,tics,learning difficulties,ocd .She also attends mainstream school wich is very difficult for her.

Hi ,i'm tea just joined the community

Hi kittythehare,

Welcome to the community.

If you'd like to, you could post some of your thoughts/questions in our other sections - maybe "Living on the spectrum" would be a good place. Just suggesting it as more people might see it there and respond.

Hope you'll find it helpful here.

Sandra

Hamster, I was interested to read your post as I have just been diagnosed myself (see my post). How did you find adjusting to life after being diagnosed? Although I kind of knew I was "different" and have always had the typical AS problems, being formally diagnosed came as a bit of a shock. Its hard to describe it but I'm feeling very low just now. I'm also relieved to discover just why I am as I am, though!

Hello!

I'm new to this site and pleased to see so much helpful information and support.

I have just been diagnosed with AS at the grand old age of 52; this is a double-edged sword which is going to take me a while to come to terms with. I'm feeling very low just now but hope that will pass. I'd be very interested to hear from any others, especially women, who have been diagnosed as older adults.

Hello  Hamster and asChrisD

Welcome to the forum.  I hope that you will find all sorts of things that will interest you or help you in some way.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to post again

ColinCat x

Hello everyone. 

I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome four years ago and with ADHD this year.

I'm in my fifties and just discovering the joys of being an 'empty nester'  after 30 years of single motherhood.

I have two grown-up girls of whom I'm extremely proud, both fending for themselves now out in the wide world. One of them also recently received an autism diagnosis, of which regretably so far   she's not so proud. 

I look forward to meeting people here. The internet, and online forums especially, have been such a great boost for so many otherwise isolated autistic people, including me.

I'm Chris, 21, currently in the assessment process after a long wait. I attend an autism support group and a self-advocacy group. Makes sense to join here as well.

Hi Char xx

Welcome to the the community. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Sandra

hi im charlene im 23 i have a 3 year old non verbal son with asd,

Hi Lady Valkyrie,

Thanks for your post - you're very welcome here.

Sandra

Hello everybody. I'm Sharron, aged 36, single mum to Daniel aged 4 who has high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Dan has many of the classic symptoms of ASD: irrational fears (narrators on TV programmes, talking toys, and noisy appliances being the worst of them); unusual body movements (flapping when excited); inability to voice his needs and worries (often phrases talk as we would, we have to flip our speech round now as if he is saying it to teach him stock phrases); generally becoming overwhelmed in unfamiliar, busy or noisy situations (we went through a terrible time when he started school and had to cope within a class of nursery children).

I have an incredible support system, namely my mum, Dan's official daytime carer, who we live with; and my wonderful new partner Shaun, who works with students with learning disabilities and brings his experience into the fantastic relationship he's building with Dan. Not to forget Dan's father who has him each Saturday and gives us a rest!

I'm also a student currently on Edge Hill's Return to Teaching course (seeking to return to primary teaching) so have access to a wonderful education library with some very interesting books on ASD. It's taken a long hard journey to get to where we are now, with support from school and the paediatrician, so I hope I'll be able to support others but also connect with other parents of ASD children and learn from them.

Dan and I are looking forward to meeting you all!

Hi liz1969, welcome to the Community, hope you find it a helpful place for you and your son :)

i have an 18 year old son who has autism with adhd, i am a single parent and sole carer of my son and life hasnt been easy , my son is hypersensitve to noises it can be lullabye of a childs toy , church bells that chime or even a bussing fly sound that can trigger him off , you can see in his eyes the look of fear and then he will lash out when i say lash out i mean like a frightend puppy well thats what he use to do , but i have tuned into him as best as i can over the years and now i can talk him out of reacting but i have to walk him away from the offenining noises that scare him. he didnt say mamma till he was seven and he says about 15 words now although he reapeats himself a lot.. i have given my life to try to help my son and i will give him as many years as is possible for me to give him the care he needs.. I found  myself writing little stories while i have been caring for my son at home and have enjoyed writing poems i would love to share some with you one day if you allow im also trying to make a little calender in hope to show people poems i wrote to try tot alk for kids like my son to show others how they feel cos they cant tell people themselves.. cos i have been through my sons probems with him every step of the way.. my social worker said to me about five years ago ' liz have yuo thought of putting ryan in residential  cos you have no life, you do so much for him youre worn out' i said to him my son deserves a life i borhgt him into this world and he is importnat not me and this will always be the case for me, God willing as long as my health stays strong i will give my son another happy twenty years..  Autistic children  and kids with adhd are so speical they can teach us all just what is really improtant in this life and society i just wish there was more help out here for us.. I cant even get a youth club for my son that will be suitable for him i live in machester.. anyway bye for now and thank you for ebing here and trying to make the future less lonely for carers.parnets like me and also autisic people to x

Thank you Sandra

Hello AspieMum2Twinsplus1 and Nicky

Welcome both of you to the community. Sounds like you've got lots of interesting experience to talk about. Looking forward to getting to know you better.

Sandra

Hi

I live in Kent with my lovely hubby and 2 boys - the youngest is 8 and was diagnosed with autism 4 years ago. He attended mainstream school until last September. We managed to get a statement for him after much fighting and stress, and he is now at an ASD unit and doing really, really well

We have been through a rollersoaster of emotions over the last few years, especially when dealing with the education system, but things have now settled down. I am interested in helping others to negotiate the often confusing and sometimes stressful system we have regarding SEN in our schools.

We've also had many behaviour and sensory issued to deal with, and I hope I can be of some help to others who are experiencing similar problems.

There are always things that we need help with, too, so I'm sure I'll be asking for plenty of advice from you all as well!

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here

Nicky x

Auntie Ann said:

Hi, my name is Ann and I'm from Cambridgeshire. I had my sons diagnosed in February on the 9th and 10th of this year. My eldest son Ciaran, (now 7), has aspergers and ADHD. My youngest son Frazier, (now 3), has classic autism.

 

It was pretty tough to be told that they both have the problems they have within the space of two days. I have always known that Ciaran had some issues and I spent years pushing for him to be seen. It took five years for him to be assessed and they said he needs medication but three months later nothing has happened. I haven't even got the report back and without it I can't get the medicines that Ciaran needs. I have been on their case to try and get some help but they can't even find the report so we've had no help at all!

 

As I said, I knew Ciaran had problems from the minute he was born... But I thought Frazier was just a tantrum throwing toddler with speech problems. There is a history of speech problems in my family so I didn't read too much into it. I suppose I just loved him as he is and overlooked his problems. When I look back I feel quite foolish that I didn't see the signs and symptoms, because he has pretty much all of them! But to be fair I didn't really know much about autism as I'd never encountered it myself. If you don't know what you are looking for then even if it's right under your nose you still wouldn't recognise it.

 

Frazier has echolalia but doesn't seem to put words to meaning. He is just starting to learn a few words which he matches to the right objects now, but it is a very recent thing. He can throw tantrums that last up to five hours and he can stay awake for up to 36 hours with only a couple of hours sleep in between. Odd things freak him out, and I get a lot of nasty comments and evil glances from onlookers who think I am a bad mum and Frazier is a result of my bad parenting. I am gradually getting support for Frazier, but it is slow in coming. I start the 'early birds course' in a few weeks so I am looking forward to that. Frazier has a speech therapist, early years support worker, a pediatrician and another person that I don't really see and can't remember what she does. I have only just come to terms with the diagnosis of both of my children but I am okay now. I have been doing a lot of reading about autism, (this website is brilliant for information), so things are improving slowly. 

 

Anyway, I'm sure you are bored by now so I shall say cheerio xx

One of my twins had a lot of problems with echolalia and he ended up using it as his way of commincating for several years. Now he can use speech in a much more normal way but he does frequently repeat phrases from adverts and TV programs, etc or even whole adverts just because he likes doing that. His echolalia was always the delayed variety anyway and he has a memory like the proverbial elephant except for what he needs to do or where he's put things (and then he has a brain like a sieve). My twins are 11 and still prone to tantrums but ussually at home rather than school these days. Having Aspergers Syndrome myself when in the past they had tantrums when we are out I never noticed people's facial expressions but I was aware afterwards that people probably were giving nasty looks I didn't see. I never had the option of the early bird course- I forget now why. We knew they were on the Autistic Spectrum for years before they actually got a diagnosis- they were assessed using an assessment questionaire by an ordinary peadiatrician at a hospital (the sort that sees outpatients) at the age 0f 2 that came up as probably being on the Autsitc Spectrum and mild ASD.