Calling for all mums who have autism children

Hi,

Thought i would try and find all you mums who have autism children. If your comfortable with telling me all your stories i would love to hear from you as our 17 month old son has autism and i would love to have a chat.

Thanks all for your time and help

Cheers xx smile

Hi Hun

We are fortunate that iur DS is fine.

I feel for you. A girlfriend has an autistic son also. He'd be about 15 now He can't talk, just grunts or moans, can't eat so he is fed a liquid through a tube which goes direct to his stomach.

It is very difficult for her. She & her DH split up a few years ago, partly because he was embarrassed & never helped out with his son. They have 2 other children as well.

She has found a great support group which has been her lifeline.

Can't be easy for you or anyone with a special needs child.

Sorry I have no personal experience I can share with you.

Big hugs hun. xxx He is a cute looking boy.

Hi Hun

We are fortunate that iur DS is fine.

I feel for you. A girlfriend has an autistic son also. He'd be about 15 now He can't talk, just grunts or moans, can't eat so he is fed a liquid through a tube which goes direct to his stomach.

It is very difficult for her. She & her DH split up a few years ago, partly because he was embarrassed & never helped out with his son. They have 2 other children as well.

She has found a great support group which has been her lifeline.

Can't be easy for you or anyone with a special needs child.

Sorry I have no personal experience I can share with you.

Big hugs hun. xxx He is a cute looking boy.

Hey hun,

Thanks for your reply, iam just looking for another mummy going through the same things as us and someone to talk to about it.

Our son doesnt talk at all he just yells and he is always banging his head on the tiles, walls, tv cabinet, his cot, the back of our legs etc when he gets into trouble or fraustrated, angry, sad etc he cant communicate with us and he is constantly scratching us and any objects around him and biting throwing things and his toys he also doesnt like playing with other kids/babies and is always blocking us out when he is doing something when we call his name or try and talk to him. He is also very fussy on his foods and only likes certain foods.

We know he has it just waiting for the right age to go and get him tested for it.

I know other mums say "you'll be right he doesnt have Autism" but we have researched about it on the net and he has basicually every sign for Autism.

He was also born with Clubfoot very bad case and Autism is also common in Clubfoot kids/babies.

Thanks for your comment much appreciated and thanks again for your help

Much luv xx

Hi,

Only just noticed your post as I haven't been on this website for a while. I have a little boy with high functioning autism.
We are currently going through the process of having him formally assessed.

I'd be more than happy to chat anytime.

Cheers

Hi , My son has mild autism he is 5 years old, Sounds like the PECS system may be good for you, dunno if you have read or heard of it but its a picture card system, can work really with autistic children but then like everything sometimes it doesn't work for some .
But would help your child communicate with you. i used them for a while with my son and he actually enjoyed using them.

Regards Rachel.

Hi, my little autism angel is 5, she started prep this year.
She has alot of developmental delays, and some autistic traits, but is mild compared to some others.
We knew there was something not right from when she was about 6mths old. I had workd in childcare and knew what kids her age should and shouldnt be doing, but of course no one would believe me "let her be a kid, she'll come good" so i didnt do anything about it. Then when she started kindy when she was 3, they picked up on all the things I had known about, and got the ball rolling with checklists, assessments, and we went from there. We were put on the waiting list for the public paed whom we didnt see til mid last year (after we had taken it on to get her speech/ot/psych assessments and help. We had one paed say it is "highly likely" but come back in 3 mths, then wen we went back, he was away and there was a locum who said, "no, its not asd, just developmental delay" i was so confused, all the evidence was pointing at it, yet no one would say, so we finally went private back in september last year and got a diagnosis, straight up. The kindy was saying that she might be better off doing another year with them, that she wasnt ready for prep, etc, but we chose to enrol her in prep in a mainstream school, with a seu. So shes been there now for 4 wks, and has started at the seu just this week. She came so far in the last 2 years with the extra help and support we got, we are just hoping she doesnt revert back, as the paed has warned us.

hi i have a boy who will be 3 in a few weeks and i have been trying to get him tested for over a year as i worked in a childrens hospital and picked up things he was doing as signs so did alot of my friends and family . My only thing is alot of people say oh but he is friendly he cant be but then they are the ones who after spending a few hours with him say yeah something is wrong he doesnt talk does hand signs is obsessed with music and lights etc lots more doesnt hold eye contact
Finally we have been referred to the local health center

Hi, My 3 yr old has an ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Diagnosed originally as Aspergers/PDD-NOS (pervausive develepmental disorder not otherwise specified) and now after attending an Early Childhood Depelopment Program (ECDP)aspergers seems most fitting.

Being diagnosed is often the lengthiest wait when dealing with the fun of autism so if that hasn't been formally done do it asap. Once diagnosed access Autism Qld so that you can recieve HCWA funding (helping children with autism funding is $12000 spread out until your child turns 7, max. of $6000 can be used in financial year).

Treatments are expensive so access as much govt. funded services as you can. Early Days runs awesome workshops on ASD so check out their website and Raising Children Network has great information.

I have brisbane developmental pead list if anyone needs it and loads of interesting links. Currently looking into immunisation and autism debate as my brother is a scientist at QUT in Brisbane and has warned me to check research for myself. Jenny McCarthy has written some great books and even though we will still be immunising our new bub we have decided to slow down the schedule so it is not too much too soon for his immune system.

Would love to chat to other mums on the journey of autism. Every day seems to bring about new challenges but yet can also surprise you with how amazing our little people are. Their lists of 'uniqueness' as I like to call it can be daunting but hang in there and try hard to enjoy the ride.

My son Jacob was diagnosed at 22 months he has just turned 8. He had just started daycare about a month before his diagnosis. We kept him in daycare until he was 5 so he will learn to be around other kids before starting school.

He ended up being mainstreamed as the special schools we looked at all the kids were worse off than he was and he would have picked up on their
"habits". He has done very well in a mainstream school and became very popular around the school. We have moved town to be closer to family and stuff and decided to send him to a special school to work on some things that he is lacking in.

He is still non-verbal at 8 years but can say some single words and has some good understanding when he wants to.

Hi,

I'm Paula and my DS, Dion, will be 4 in 4 weeks and has mild Autism. He was diagnosed at 2.5years.

We are very fortunate that Dion is a well behaved little boy. A very gentle soul and is rarely angry. We do have our meltdown days but other than that he is pretty good. He started Kindy (both normal, and a special Autism Kindy) at the beginning of the year. He loves both!

Our big signs were that he didn't walk until he was 20+ months old and wasn't talking at 2.5yrs. He also does the hand flapping and feet paddling - lots when he was younger but not so much now. Generally when he is really excited.

We started speech therapy when he was first diagnosed and have had really good results to the point where by the time he goes to school he should've caught up vocab wise with kids his own age. Still working on clarity and grammar. He is very much into echolalia at the moment (repeating everything he hears) but also has a fantastic memory for everything! He has done OT for 3/4 of a year now and just struggles a little with fine motor skills.

Our biggest hurdle is the Toilet training. Getting nowhere fast at the moment and getting very frustrated. Hoping it all falls into place really soon.

We also have a DD who is 20 months and #3 is on the way due in October. DD has been a godsend for Dion and pushes him to do things he wouldn't normally do and now he interracts with her quite well - not all the time - but it's getting there. She loves him to bits and while she is a bit bossy, she is his little defender!

Hi
I too have a son that is in the process of being diagnosed with Austism. He is only 2yrs old so we are lucky that they have found it early. I noticed that you said you are waiting for him to be the right age to be tested and didn't think there was an age that you had to wait to. I'm a teacher and I have taught kids with autism before and I noticed similarities in my boy at an early age. I ended up reading literature on autism to get a better understanding of it. I then took him to the doctors and demanded that they look into it. Luckily they took notice because we've had numerous doctor say they are certain that he is autistic. Now we are just waiting for appointment for him to see specialist which can take months or even years. On the upside we have been fortunate to get into a pediatrician early. They said it's because he is still so young and the earlier they can treat it, the best chance he has. My son is a handful but I wouldn't change himmfor the world. He is very unique in his own special way and that's what gets you through each day. Your life will be full of ups and downs but helping your child learn little things that we take for granted is soo worth it.
As this is only a recent thing I too am hoping to find other mums that are going through a similar situation. Anyway I hope all goes well with your child and I hope that this gives you some ideas on what to expect.

my son has just turned 3

i have felt there was something a little off for about a year,
at first plunket and doctors would say hes fine boys are often
late talking etc, but it has come very obvious now at 3 there is
something not quite right he has been diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder and we awaiting further tests to pin point where on the spectrum
he lies, he has a few traits and a speech delay his speech does progress
but very slowly but i have noticed his meltdowns do decrease as the speech
comes further so im hopeful that if his speech can be fully formed hel have
a better and easier life, it is horrible to watch him a preschool the other
kids will approach him and want to interact theyll say something like "what did you do in the weekend i went to the beach" and hell look uncomfortable and slightly confused and say beach beach, so of course he has problems interacting socially but overall his autism is mild and is prpobably asbergers but in the back of my mind im hoping that maybe he has a speech delay
which is causing all the other problems and bahaviours it could be possible but like most mums who find out their toddler has autism its a big process in accepting your child may have difficulties long term and might not live the full life you always assumed they would and for me im getting on top of it and doing the right things my son needs but every now and then i sit down and feel sad.