The autism thread
Discussion
dhutch said:
Testing times for all of us, certainly those who struggle with change, although it depends hugely from person to person.
A facebook post from a friend and regular contributor who as aspergers details the fact that as someone who likes their personal space, avoiding busy and noisy areas, and minimising contact with shared surfaces, it has been quite fantastic for him! This current 'hell' is what he would have as normal, and most peoples 'normal' is his idea of hell!
Personally I would like to be able to do a day or two a week in our (quiet but sociable) office, and slightly miss being able to see dome friend. But generally agree with him and am loving being at home, the quietness, and car free roads when going for a walk. We are blessed like my friend to have a good size garden and plenty to do and feel for those with less space and certainly in city center flats etc.
But it will be interesting to see how 'normal' changes with time.
Daniel
Its a mixed bag, some people are happy(ish) others are hating it. My wifes clients are in the main struggling.A facebook post from a friend and regular contributor who as aspergers details the fact that as someone who likes their personal space, avoiding busy and noisy areas, and minimising contact with shared surfaces, it has been quite fantastic for him! This current 'hell' is what he would have as normal, and most peoples 'normal' is his idea of hell!
Personally I would like to be able to do a day or two a week in our (quiet but sociable) office, and slightly miss being able to see dome friend. But generally agree with him and am loving being at home, the quietness, and car free roads when going for a walk. We are blessed like my friend to have a good size garden and plenty to do and feel for those with less space and certainly in city center flats etc.
But it will be interesting to see how 'normal' changes with time.
Daniel
wjwren said:
Glad i found this thread. I have 4 step children the 2 middle, female and male 14 and 12 are both autistic. The 12 year old has had a diagnosis. The 14 year old hasn't but she has had SEN at school. They are both very similar in their manourisms which include eating styles and also very immature. I often wonder if they will change as they get older or mature slightly. They can be very testing to the other children in the house and most days they seem to actively iritate and annoy their siblings as a way of getting by.
Girls often fall under the diagnostic radar as they tend to be better at social mimicking, camouflaging and masking. They can often get diagnosed with other things first before Autism.thepeoplespal said:
Coming to this fairly late, but I'd say that you wont get an EHCP given their current progress (school refusal, falling behind, mental health issues & self harm look to be needed in the mixture before able students get an EHCP in my experience), as this is normally a graduated response after a school has implemented changes (things like engaging an Educational Psychologist, Individual Education Plans, reasonable adjustments) and where these changes haven't improved things taking it further. If they haven't done any changes they should have, things like the assistant head knowing what not to do to your child. A council would expect a school to be spending at least £6k a year on direct intervention on a child, before considering a top up for an EHCP.
As an aside Sutton Council will always go for a LA Special School before an Independent, as even with a maximum topup of circa £31k that's way cheaper than an Independent that starts at £50k and can be considerably more. (Only successful argument I've seen used is reduced cost of transport making things cost neutral -if a place is available at a state funded school)
It sounds like in the 1st instance your school should be complying with the Equality Act 2010 (which incorporates the Disability Discrimination Act) and that they should be making reasonable adjustments. It's hard to make a school, especially an Academy, actually obey the law, especially a law that has no teeth (normally no damages or payment of costs for breaches- just ignominy of losing a case).
You could try doing a Parental Request for Assessment to the LA, search for"local offer" on their website for the form, that will almost always be turned down for lack of evidence (so dont worry that you dont have all of it, although try to do a reasonable job of it), but all is not lost, it typically forces the school to pay for an Ed Psychologist, which might actually get you some of the way to getting the school to implement reasonable adjustments. With the Ed Psych report you are out of the catch 22, as this can and should be used to force the hand of the school, if they dont go down the road of using it to make reasonable adjustments. This is what will be key for an attempt to get a future EHCP by following the report and getting the required evidence for another Parental Request or indeed the school doing a request themselves.
Good luck.
This (amongst many other posts on this thread) is really helpful for me. Our 5 year old son has last week received a diagnosis of high functioning ASD and we are currently in the early stages of discussing a possible application for an EHCP with his school. Luckily, the school has had a change of SENCO as the former SENCO had never been in touch with us or his teacher about him in the 6 months since he started Reception last September.As an aside Sutton Council will always go for a LA Special School before an Independent, as even with a maximum topup of circa £31k that's way cheaper than an Independent that starts at £50k and can be considerably more. (Only successful argument I've seen used is reduced cost of transport making things cost neutral -if a place is available at a state funded school)
It sounds like in the 1st instance your school should be complying with the Equality Act 2010 (which incorporates the Disability Discrimination Act) and that they should be making reasonable adjustments. It's hard to make a school, especially an Academy, actually obey the law, especially a law that has no teeth (normally no damages or payment of costs for breaches- just ignominy of losing a case).
You could try doing a Parental Request for Assessment to the LA, search for"local offer" on their website for the form, that will almost always be turned down for lack of evidence (so dont worry that you dont have all of it, although try to do a reasonable job of it), but all is not lost, it typically forces the school to pay for an Ed Psychologist, which might actually get you some of the way to getting the school to implement reasonable adjustments. With the Ed Psych report you are out of the catch 22, as this can and should be used to force the hand of the school, if they dont go down the road of using it to make reasonable adjustments. This is what will be key for an attempt to get a future EHCP by following the report and getting the required evidence for another Parental Request or indeed the school doing a request themselves.
Good luck.
We are also lucky that his teacher and TAs in his class have been great and do a lot for him to help him on a day to day basis (which was also the case at his pre-school), however we know that this might not always be the case as he moves up the school and transitions to environments with smaller numbers of staff per class and more of a focus on sitting at a desk and learning rather than 'learning through play'.
Sadly in a COVID-19 setting, not all of these coping strategies are possible; he can't have the fluffy blanket at school that he wraps himself in and lays under a bookcase for some 'quiet time' if things get too much, he can't be taken for a walk around the building and go and look at the fish in Class 3 like he used to. Other things are better though - he's in a bubble of six children and there is fewer competition for resources than in a class of 28, which is a big source of anxiety for him.
Like many parents of autistic children have mentioned on here, our boy is a wonderful child, he's happy, outgoing, willing to chat with anyone and well liked at school - all the teachers and other staff know him. He has all the traits outlined by other posters, he's often in a world of his own, but if you allow yourself to enter his world, it's wonderful and he's very creative albeit in quite a narrow, focussed way (everything relates back to trains). He's very numerate and his reading is good. He was in the top set for phonics, but we took a decision along with the teacher to move him down as he was finding writing a challenge and that was disrupting him and the other children in the group. Since then he's grown more confident with writing and it came on a lot during lockdown when I could sit one on one with him, though I'm no means a teacher, it was just keeping him focussed on the task in hand and reassuring him that he can do it. This really bought home how if we can try and get additional resourcing for him, we must try. He still finds it very hard to concentrate on things he's not naturally interested in.
He's extremely good at climbing and brilliant on a bike, he loves mountain biking. He's obsessed with trains, machines, marble runs etc. and pre-lockdown I'd take him to the local heritage steam railway works (with his ear defenders on) and he'd spent literally hours chatting to the volunteers about engines under restoration - I have had no interest in steam myself until he came along, but I can't wait until we can go back.
I hope people continue to post their experiences and advice on this thread.
Edited by Highway Star on Tuesday 9th June 10:41
Highway Star said:
This (amongst many other posts on this thread) is really helpful for me. Our 5 year old son has last week received a diagnosis of high functioning ASD and we are currently in the early stages of discussing a possible application for an EHCP with his school. Luckily, the school has had a change of SENCO as the former SENCO had never been in touch with us or his teacher about him in the 6 months since he started Reception last September.
We are also lucky that his teacher and TAs in his class have been great and do a lot for him to help him on a day to day basis (which was also the case at his pre-school), however we know that this might not always be the case as he moves up the school and transitions to environments with smaller numbers of staff per class and more of a focus on sitting at a desk and learning rather than 'learning through play'.
Sadly in a COVID-19 setting, not all of these coping strategies are possible; he can't have the fluffy blanket at school that he wraps himself in and lays under a bookcase for some 'quiet time' if things get too much, he can't be taken for a walk around the building and go and look at the fish in Class 3 like he used to. Other things are better though - he's in a bubble of six children and there is fewer competition for resources than in a class of 28, which is a big source of anxiety for him.
Like many parents of autistic children have mentioned on here, our boy is a wonderful child, he's happy, outgoing, willing to chat with anyone and well liked at school - all the teachers and other staff know him. He has all the traits outlined by other posters, he's often in a world of his own, but if you allow yourself to enter his world, it's wonderful and he's very creative albeit in quite a narrow, focussed way (everything relates back to trains). He's very numerate and his reading is good. He was in the top set for phonics, but we took a decision along with the teacher to move him down as he was finding writing a challenge and that was disrupting him and the other children in the group. Since then he's grown more confident with writing and it came on a lot during lockdown when I could sit one on one with him, though I'm no means a teacher, it was just keeping him focussed on the task in hand and reassuring him that he can do it. This really bought home how if we can try and get additional resourcing for him, we must try. He still finds it very hard to concentrate on things he's not naturally interested in.
He's extremely good at climbing and brilliant on a bike, he loves mountain biking. He's obsessed with trains, machines, marble runs etc. and pre-lockdown I'd take him to the local heritage steam railway works (with his ear defenders on) and he'd spent literally hours chatting to the volunteers about engines under restoration - I have had no interest in steam myself until he came along, but I can't wait until we can go back.
I hope people continue to post their experiences and advice on this thread.
Good to hear. Thanks for that. Curious as to how you got that diagnosis as it doesn't officially exist anymore and shouldn't be used. Although I have seen and heard it being used 'for the parents benefit'We are also lucky that his teacher and TAs in his class have been great and do a lot for him to help him on a day to day basis (which was also the case at his pre-school), however we know that this might not always be the case as he moves up the school and transitions to environments with smaller numbers of staff per class and more of a focus on sitting at a desk and learning rather than 'learning through play'.
Sadly in a COVID-19 setting, not all of these coping strategies are possible; he can't have the fluffy blanket at school that he wraps himself in and lays under a bookcase for some 'quiet time' if things get too much, he can't be taken for a walk around the building and go and look at the fish in Class 3 like he used to. Other things are better though - he's in a bubble of six children and there is fewer competition for resources than in a class of 28, which is a big source of anxiety for him.
Like many parents of autistic children have mentioned on here, our boy is a wonderful child, he's happy, outgoing, willing to chat with anyone and well liked at school - all the teachers and other staff know him. He has all the traits outlined by other posters, he's often in a world of his own, but if you allow yourself to enter his world, it's wonderful and he's very creative albeit in quite a narrow, focussed way (everything relates back to trains). He's very numerate and his reading is good. He was in the top set for phonics, but we took a decision along with the teacher to move him down as he was finding writing a challenge and that was disrupting him and the other children in the group. Since then he's grown more confident with writing and it came on a lot during lockdown when I could sit one on one with him, though I'm no means a teacher, it was just keeping him focussed on the task in hand and reassuring him that he can do it. This really bought home how if we can try and get additional resourcing for him, we must try. He still finds it very hard to concentrate on things he's not naturally interested in.
He's extremely good at climbing and brilliant on a bike, he loves mountain biking. He's obsessed with trains, machines, marble runs etc. and pre-lockdown I'd take him to the local heritage steam railway works (with his ear defenders on) and he'd spent literally hours chatting to the volunteers about engines under restoration - I have had no interest in steam myself until he came along, but I can't wait until we can go back.
I hope people continue to post their experiences and advice on this thread.
Edited by Highway Star on Tuesday 9th June 10:41
You and he will have many ups and downs as he gets older, great times with his creativity and not so great with anxiety etc. Its fantastic you have a diagnosis. Its so much harder to struggle thru not quite knowing whats going on. You can now focus and help your son navigate the world.
Be a good teacher and role model. On social interaction etc explain why you do things and he can build up his repertoire of learnt behaviours, explain theory of mind, what others are thinking and again to build up his repertoire or learning. He wont have a natural understanding of these things like other kids do, but it can be learnt. Learning, guidance and support is vital so he develops a range of strategies to help him cope as he grows.
Eye contact, being blunt, he wont intrinsically know he's boring the pants off someone talking about trains (or whatever his special interest is at the time). So while it may be endearing now, in a few years time as social interaction becomes more nuanced and complicated he could become the 'weird kid' who doesn't get to play with everyone else. Sometimes that's ok, but others it is not, it depends on the child and their needs and aspirations.
Good luck, p.s. I have to say Autism often doesn't spontaneously appear in families, there is usually someone with traits or undiagnosed, you or your wife. your or her brothers sisters, parents etc. Often after a diagnosis there can be a lightbulb moment about 'uncle Jimmy'.
sparkyhx said:
Good to hear. Thanks for that. Curious as to how you got that diagnosis as it doesn't officially exist anymore and shouldn't be used. Although I have seen and heard it being used 'for the parents benefit'
It was a conversation with his consultant paediatrician at the local hospital. He's been making his way through the system for a couple of years now and was getting right to the top of the list for a mini-MDA just before lockdown hit. He'd had an ADOS assessment in February which we were still waiting for a report from. The paediatrician called to say she'd received the ADOS report now and that in combination with the report from his school, her and her colleagues' observations from having met our son several times and all the other speech and language, occupational health etc. assessments he's had, she's happy to diagnose him now without the mini-MDA. She used the term 'high functioning ASD' but we'll have to see what it says when we get the written confirmation.sparkyhx said:
You and he will have many ups and downs as he gets older, great times with his creativity and not so great with anxiety etc. Its fantastic you have a diagnosis. Its so much harder to struggle thru not quite knowing whats going on. You can now focus and help your son navigate the world.
Be a good teacher and role model. On social interaction etc explain why you do things and he can build up his repertoire of learnt behaviours, explain theory of mind, what others are thinking and again to build up his repertoire or learning. He wont have a natural understanding of these things like other kids do, but it can be learnt. Learning, guidance and support is vital so he develops a range of strategies to help him cope as he grows.
Eye contact, being blunt, he wont intrinsically know he's boring the pants off someone talking about trains (or whatever his special interest is at the time). So while it may be endearing now, in a few years time as social interaction becomes more nuanced and complicated he could become the 'weird kid' who doesn't get to play with everyone else. Sometimes that's ok, but others it is not, it depends on the child and their needs and aspirations.
Thank you and we certainly understand where you are coming from. Coaching him to help explain himself better and generate relationships is an ongoing exercise in itself. We have to constantly and gently explain to him that he needs to explain what he's talking about to the person he's talking to rather than just launch into a stream of observations about the technical detail of the steam engine he's built in his room (he's actually built one during lockdown out of all manner of stuff from around the house) which leaves the listener utterly bewildered. He'll just start talking to random strangers about Swiss Victorian steam trains on railways they've clearly never heard of without giving them any context. At the mountain bike track he loves talking to the bigger boys and generally they are really nice and indulge him, but that sadly won't happen for him as he goes through life.Be a good teacher and role model. On social interaction etc explain why you do things and he can build up his repertoire of learnt behaviours, explain theory of mind, what others are thinking and again to build up his repertoire or learning. He wont have a natural understanding of these things like other kids do, but it can be learnt. Learning, guidance and support is vital so he develops a range of strategies to help him cope as he grows.
Eye contact, being blunt, he wont intrinsically know he's boring the pants off someone talking about trains (or whatever his special interest is at the time). So while it may be endearing now, in a few years time as social interaction becomes more nuanced and complicated he could become the 'weird kid' who doesn't get to play with everyone else. Sometimes that's ok, but others it is not, it depends on the child and their needs and aspirations.
He has one particular friend in his class who is not autistic but is also into trains. However he's into trains in the 'I like Thomas the Tank Engine and build a track in my room from time to time' way rather than the 'I've memorised all the classes and wheel configurations of mainline locomotives used on British Railways from 1930 onwards and can instantly tell you the top speeds of a number of Victorian broad gauge engines' way that our son is. He's going to need a lot of help as you are right, at the moment it is endearing, but I know that many of his classmates already think he's rather strange and I've heard them comment to parents on it in the playground at hometime. He's now got it into his head that a girl in his class is his new best friend, however he's barely ever spoken to her. However at times he can play and make relationships really well - he saw a boy from his class at the mountain bike track a while ago and they went around together and had a great time, agreeing on playdates etc. However the next day back at school, the lad saw my son, said hello and my lad totally blanked him as he wasn't used to interacting with him in that setting.
sparkyhx said:
Good luck, p.s. I have to say Autism often doesn't spontaneously appear in families, there is usually someone with traits or undiagnosed, you or your wife. your or her brothers sisters, parents etc. Often after a diagnosis there can be a lightbulb moment about 'uncle Jimmy'.
Thanks. I don't think I need to think about that too much as I share a lot of traits with him, his are probably more acute though. I have a lot of traits that indicate I may be on the spectrum and before my lad was born had a period of mental health issues where I was diagnosed with chronic anxiety and acute panic disorder. Discussions with my psychiatrist at the time pointed to the fact that I'm possibly on the spectrum and whether I wanted to seek a diagnosis. I'm not seeking a diagnosis for myself however, as I've made a number of changes in my life since then and I'm lucky that the care and treatments I had then have helped equip me with coping strategies I can put in place.Onwards and upwards...
sparkyhx said:
Good to hear. Thanks for that. Curious as to how you got that diagnosis as it doesn't officially exist anymore and shouldn't be used. Although I have seen and heard it being used 'for the parents benefit'
Sorry, by the way, what diagnosis would commonly be given instead of high functioning autism now? Obviously it depends on the child in question, but is there one that is commonly made for children displaying traits similar to those previously diagnosed as high functioning autistic?Highway Star said:
sparkyhx said:
Good to hear. Thanks for that. Curious as to how you got that diagnosis as it doesn't officially exist anymore and shouldn't be used. Although I have seen and heard it being used 'for the parents benefit'
Sorry, by the way, what diagnosis would commonly be given instead of high functioning autism now? Obviously it depends on the child in question, but is there one that is commonly made for children displaying traits similar to those previously diagnosed as high functioning autistic?After 2013 the only official diagnosis is Autistic Spectrum Disorder the differences being marked by the level of support needed 1-3 rather than level of intellect.
There are two diagnostic guides DSM5 and ICD-10/11. Both are basically the same except ICD lags DSM, so ICD-11 is only just available and matches DSM5 now and ICD-10 which is part still in use, still has the old diagnosis.
Nothing major nothing to worry about.
People also recognise the single diagnosis can be a shock to parents and appear to be 'added back' the old terms sometimes. I guess (only a guess), to make the parents feel better.
For anyone with kids with autism, you may know about AuKids, the magazine and Facebook community. The founders have just this week published a great new book to help kids understand about autism: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Cream-Sundae-Guide-Au...
Disclosure: I’m a non-exec advisor to AuKids, but don’t have any financial interest in either the mag or the book - just think they do an awesome job.
Disclosure: I’m a non-exec advisor to AuKids, but don’t have any financial interest in either the mag or the book - just think they do an awesome job.
I've been meaning to post on here for a few days now but struggling to find the time or the words, so I will keep this as a brief trigger for conversation and return to it later.
My simple question is: for those with children on the spectrum who have been home-schooled over the past few months - how have you found it and what have you learned?
For us, everything started off great. Victoria has always reverted to reading and writing as her "safe place" when she is stressed, and she has always loved school, so no encouragement was needed to get her doing school work. However, 2 things have happened since March:
1. her enthusiasm and ability to focus on work has diminished
2. most importantly, we have realised just how far behind her peers she really is.
It's number 2 I'd like some thoughts on.
Background: she is in year 2 of a mainstream school and whilst her teachers have always said she is behind in most areas, it seems to have been played down to us. At parents evening her teachers talk wonderfully about how great she is to have in the class, what she does, her achievements etc. But now we can see the work that is being set for her peers (they are using Google Classroom to share work with the kids), Victoria simply doesn't have the first idea of how to tackle 90% of the work being set.
This is both upsetting and worrying in equal measures. At the moment I'm feeling like I should be doing something to help her but I don't know what. We do not have an EHCP (the school put a lot of provisions in place for her pre-COVID) but always planned to look into this later this year (on advice from a local autism charity).
At the moment I cannot see how she can see out the rest of her school days in mainstream school, but know nothing about specialist provisions, or whether additional tutoring with a specialist is an option or would help.
As much as we've always wanted her to live a "normal" life, I'm really not sure this is for the best long term.
Any thoughts to this not-as-brief-as-I-planned post would be very much appreciated.
My simple question is: for those with children on the spectrum who have been home-schooled over the past few months - how have you found it and what have you learned?
For us, everything started off great. Victoria has always reverted to reading and writing as her "safe place" when she is stressed, and she has always loved school, so no encouragement was needed to get her doing school work. However, 2 things have happened since March:
1. her enthusiasm and ability to focus on work has diminished
2. most importantly, we have realised just how far behind her peers she really is.
It's number 2 I'd like some thoughts on.
Background: she is in year 2 of a mainstream school and whilst her teachers have always said she is behind in most areas, it seems to have been played down to us. At parents evening her teachers talk wonderfully about how great she is to have in the class, what she does, her achievements etc. But now we can see the work that is being set for her peers (they are using Google Classroom to share work with the kids), Victoria simply doesn't have the first idea of how to tackle 90% of the work being set.
This is both upsetting and worrying in equal measures. At the moment I'm feeling like I should be doing something to help her but I don't know what. We do not have an EHCP (the school put a lot of provisions in place for her pre-COVID) but always planned to look into this later this year (on advice from a local autism charity).
At the moment I cannot see how she can see out the rest of her school days in mainstream school, but know nothing about specialist provisions, or whether additional tutoring with a specialist is an option or would help.
As much as we've always wanted her to live a "normal" life, I'm really not sure this is for the best long term.
Any thoughts to this not-as-brief-as-I-planned post would be very much appreciated.
wiggy001 said:
I've been meaning to post on here for a few days now but struggling to find the time or the words, so I will keep this as a brief trigger for conversation and return to it later.
My simple question is: for those with children on the spectrum who have been home-schooled over the past few months - how have you found it and what have you learned?
For us, everything started off great. Victoria has always reverted to reading and writing as her "safe place" when she is stressed, and she has always loved school, so no encouragement was needed to get her doing school work. However, 2 things have happened since March:
1. her enthusiasm and ability to focus on work has diminished
2. most importantly, we have realised just how far behind her peers she really is.
It's number 2 I'd like some thoughts on.
Background: she is in year 2 of a mainstream school and whilst her teachers have always said she is behind in most areas, it seems to have been played down to us. At parents evening her teachers talk wonderfully about how great she is to have in the class, what she does, her achievements etc. But now we can see the work that is being set for her peers (they are using Google Classroom to share work with the kids), Victoria simply doesn't have the first idea of how to tackle 90% of the work being set.
This is both upsetting and worrying in equal measures. At the moment I'm feeling like I should be doing something to help her but I don't know what. We do not have an EHCP (the school put a lot of provisions in place for her pre-COVID) but always planned to look into this later this year (on advice from a local autism charity).
At the moment I cannot see how she can see out the rest of her school days in mainstream school, but know nothing about specialist provisions, or whether additional tutoring with a specialist is an option or would help.
As much as we've always wanted her to live a "normal" life, I'm really not sure this is for the best long term.
Any thoughts to this not-as-brief-as-I-planned post would be very much appreciated.
I obviously don't know your daughter or her strengths and weaknesses and can only talk in 'general terms'. I come from a place of assuming there is no intellectual impairment which If she has an EHCP would be helpful.My simple question is: for those with children on the spectrum who have been home-schooled over the past few months - how have you found it and what have you learned?
For us, everything started off great. Victoria has always reverted to reading and writing as her "safe place" when she is stressed, and she has always loved school, so no encouragement was needed to get her doing school work. However, 2 things have happened since March:
1. her enthusiasm and ability to focus on work has diminished
2. most importantly, we have realised just how far behind her peers she really is.
It's number 2 I'd like some thoughts on.
Background: she is in year 2 of a mainstream school and whilst her teachers have always said she is behind in most areas, it seems to have been played down to us. At parents evening her teachers talk wonderfully about how great she is to have in the class, what she does, her achievements etc. But now we can see the work that is being set for her peers (they are using Google Classroom to share work with the kids), Victoria simply doesn't have the first idea of how to tackle 90% of the work being set.
This is both upsetting and worrying in equal measures. At the moment I'm feeling like I should be doing something to help her but I don't know what. We do not have an EHCP (the school put a lot of provisions in place for her pre-COVID) but always planned to look into this later this year (on advice from a local autism charity).
At the moment I cannot see how she can see out the rest of her school days in mainstream school, but know nothing about specialist provisions, or whether additional tutoring with a specialist is an option or would help.
As much as we've always wanted her to live a "normal" life, I'm really not sure this is for the best long term.
Any thoughts to this not-as-brief-as-I-planned post would be very much appreciated.
So lets assume she hasn't, possible causes of under achievement are
- ADD/ADHD (you don't mention any symptoms)
- Dyslexia (unlikely given your description above)
- Dyscalculia - as above but with numbers
Most Likely is a mix of Executive Functioning issues, Weak Central Coherence and lack of Transferable skills (most likely). With this, the child basically doesnt know where to start, how to organise thoughts, sequence a series of tasks to achieve an end. Couple this with weak central coherence and lack of transferable skills means even if they are shown how to do something, unless a second task is near identical, the learnings from task 1 don't transfer easilly to task 2.
The teachers need to be more prescriptive instead of produce 'D' they need to say do A, then B then C to produce D. Over time the child may begin to develop these skills more.
Like I said, this is a most likely cause if there is no intellectual impairment. Does she need showing how to do things repeatedly,? does you often say 'come on you know how to do this'.
Any Tutor etc will probably encounter the same issues and they need to be aware of this.
Hope this helps you and others
67Dino said:
For anyone with kids with autism, you may know about AuKids, the magazine and Facebook community. The founders have just this week published a great new book to help kids understand about autism: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Cream-Sundae-Guide-Au...
Disclosure: I’m a non-exec advisor to AuKids, but don’t have any financial interest in either the mag or the book - just think they do an awesome job.
Cheers - thats a new one for me, I wasnt aware of that one.Disclosure: I’m a non-exec advisor to AuKids, but don’t have any financial interest in either the mag or the book - just think they do an awesome job.
Hi All,
My son is 7 and is Asd. What you might call high functioning, but I always find that a misleading term at times. He is extremely bright, has photographic memory, and scientific understanding well beyond his peer group. Struggles with speech delay and emotional regulation. Often can't stop talking and asking questions - non stop! He's a real character.
His experience in his first school, through Yr R and Yr 1 was utter hell. School totally failed him, and did not collaborate, failed to put in place his echp, sought to off roll him. He was subjected to an illegal part time timetable. Head teacher was a bully of us and him. We took them to court under the equalities act and smashed them, despite their heavy handed barrister. More than twelve counts of unfavourable treatment, would have been much more but for the 6 month limit. You might read about it in due course.
It's tough being an asd parent. It strains your life in more ways than you can imagine. But I love my boy to bits and I will never stop fighting for him.
My son is 7 and is Asd. What you might call high functioning, but I always find that a misleading term at times. He is extremely bright, has photographic memory, and scientific understanding well beyond his peer group. Struggles with speech delay and emotional regulation. Often can't stop talking and asking questions - non stop! He's a real character.
His experience in his first school, through Yr R and Yr 1 was utter hell. School totally failed him, and did not collaborate, failed to put in place his echp, sought to off roll him. He was subjected to an illegal part time timetable. Head teacher was a bully of us and him. We took them to court under the equalities act and smashed them, despite their heavy handed barrister. More than twelve counts of unfavourable treatment, would have been much more but for the 6 month limit. You might read about it in due course.
It's tough being an asd parent. It strains your life in more ways than you can imagine. But I love my boy to bits and I will never stop fighting for him.
sparkyhx said:
I obviously don't know your daughter or her strengths and weaknesses and can only talk in 'general terms'. I come from a place of assuming there is no intellectual impairment which If she has an EHCP would be helpful.
So lets assume she hasn't, possible causes of under achievement are
- ADD/ADHD (you don't mention any symptoms)
- Dyslexia (unlikely given your description above)
- Dyscalculia - as above but with numbers
Most Likely is a mix of Executive Functioning issues, Weak Central Coherence and lack of Transferable skills (most likely). With this, the child basically doesnt know where to start, how to organise thoughts, sequence a series of tasks to achieve an end. Couple this with weak central coherence and lack of transferable skills means even if they are shown how to do something, unless a second task is near identical, the learnings from task 1 don't transfer easilly to task 2.
The teachers need to be more prescriptive instead of produce 'D' they need to say do A, then B then C to produce D. Over time the child may begin to develop these skills more.
Like I said, this is a most likely cause if there is no intellectual impairment. Does she need showing how to do things repeatedly,? does you often say 'come on you know how to do this'.
Any Tutor etc will probably encounter the same issues and they need to be aware of this.
Hope this helps you and others
Many many thanks for your response - I think you have summed things up pretty well. No ADHD/ADD that we know of (ie no obvious signed and was never mentioned during her diagnosis for Autism), and no known dyslexia/dyscalculia - her reading and writing ability is very good, it's just her ability to understand that is severely lacking.So lets assume she hasn't, possible causes of under achievement are
- ADD/ADHD (you don't mention any symptoms)
- Dyslexia (unlikely given your description above)
- Dyscalculia - as above but with numbers
Most Likely is a mix of Executive Functioning issues, Weak Central Coherence and lack of Transferable skills (most likely). With this, the child basically doesnt know where to start, how to organise thoughts, sequence a series of tasks to achieve an end. Couple this with weak central coherence and lack of transferable skills means even if they are shown how to do something, unless a second task is near identical, the learnings from task 1 don't transfer easilly to task 2.
The teachers need to be more prescriptive instead of produce 'D' they need to say do A, then B then C to produce D. Over time the child may begin to develop these skills more.
Like I said, this is a most likely cause if there is no intellectual impairment. Does she need showing how to do things repeatedly,? does you often say 'come on you know how to do this'.
Any Tutor etc will probably encounter the same issues and they need to be aware of this.
Hope this helps you and others
"Does she need showing how to do things repeatedly,? does you often say 'come on you know how to do this'. " - Yes and Yes! For example, she has obviously (like most children I assume) first been taught to add and subtract using her fingers. Now she can't go beyond 10 and we are currently having to find different methods - so at 7 she is basically learning how to do simple addition and subtraction again. So for something like "15 plus 2" - she has no concept of starting at 15 in her head and adding 2 more using fingers or counters etc. Except that if she has seen a video tutorial on maths that happened to include 15+2 then she would repeat the answer straight away from memory making it hard to separate what she knows from what she simply remembers.
On another note - if anyone has any tips for removing splinters from the finger of a child who goes into meltdown at the mere suggestion of me looking at it then I'm all ears... that was the upsetting end to a lovely day gardening together yesterday...
Highway Star said:
Lot's of interesting stuff.
Well, it sounds like you and your wife are excellent parents and I very much enjoyed reading about how you're helping him navigate through what must be, to him, a very complicated world. Good on you both.This has been a very interesting thread. I'm pretty sure my Dad, and my Grandma, were both on the spectrum somewhere and I guess I am too to a certain degree.
My Dad is not good with change. Worked for the same firm for 40-odd years and refused various promotions, him and my Mum have been in the same house since the 60's, doesn't like pets so we couldn't have a dog or a cat when we were kids, etc, etc. He also has a habit of just blurting out something very blunt without seeming to have considered the consequences of the effects of it.
He also refuses to accept there may be an issue so whatever he has got is and will remain undiagnosed.
However, he is a lovely bloke. My brother and I had a great childhood and he's been very supportive to us both throughout our lives, he just has his oddnesses!
wiggy001 said:
On another note - if anyone has any tips for removing splinters from the finger of a child who goes into meltdown at the mere suggestion of me looking at it then I'm all ears... that was the upsetting end to a lovely day gardening together yesterday...
Chloroform?p.s. glad I could be of help understanding 'why' she is struggling unfortunately couldn't help with specifics on the 'what to do' bit.
Just about to leave to collect my son (9yrs old) from school.
Today will be his second day back in mainstream school, he also attended on Wednesday last week, these being the only 2 days since closure in March.
As a child who has struggled with the concept of personal space on occasion myself and my wife were very worried how he would deal with social distancing, he has a tendency to stand very close to people sometimes. The exact opposite if what is now needed, but that said he did fine last week so fingers crossed today has been similar.
Lockdown has meant a lot of time spent together as a family and despite both continuing to work (both in part WFH) myself and my wife have been able to do a huge amount of school work with him which we feel has been of benefit. It's been hard to juggle (as it has for lots of people of course) and we haven't heard much from the SENCO.
What we have realised is how hard he can be to teach some days and how easy on others. He really does fluctuate, and through it seems no variation in what we do - it really is dependant on whether he's having a good day or a more challenging day.
I remember reading not long after his diagnosis (aged 4/5) someone saying its all about learning how to get into his world rather than trying to make him fit into ours. If anything for us has come out of school closures and CV19 it's that we have had the time to do a lot more of this and feel we have advanced further with this than ever before.
His characteristics are so similar to others I've read of in this thread, and when i say a challenging day this presents itself in terms of difficulties concentrating and focusing. He doesn't have melt downs or tantrums, just some frustration on occasion if he can't express him himself.
Today will be his second day back in mainstream school, he also attended on Wednesday last week, these being the only 2 days since closure in March.
As a child who has struggled with the concept of personal space on occasion myself and my wife were very worried how he would deal with social distancing, he has a tendency to stand very close to people sometimes. The exact opposite if what is now needed, but that said he did fine last week so fingers crossed today has been similar.
Lockdown has meant a lot of time spent together as a family and despite both continuing to work (both in part WFH) myself and my wife have been able to do a huge amount of school work with him which we feel has been of benefit. It's been hard to juggle (as it has for lots of people of course) and we haven't heard much from the SENCO.
What we have realised is how hard he can be to teach some days and how easy on others. He really does fluctuate, and through it seems no variation in what we do - it really is dependant on whether he's having a good day or a more challenging day.
I remember reading not long after his diagnosis (aged 4/5) someone saying its all about learning how to get into his world rather than trying to make him fit into ours. If anything for us has come out of school closures and CV19 it's that we have had the time to do a lot more of this and feel we have advanced further with this than ever before.
His characteristics are so similar to others I've read of in this thread, and when i say a challenging day this presents itself in terms of difficulties concentrating and focusing. He doesn't have melt downs or tantrums, just some frustration on occasion if he can't express him himself.
Last Visit said:
Just about to leave to collect my son (9yrs old) from school.
Today will be his second day back in mainstream school, he also attended on Wednesday last week, these being the only 2 days since closure in March.
As a child who has struggled with the concept of personal space on occasion myself and my wife were very worried how he would deal with social distancing, he has a tendency to stand very close to people sometimes. The exact opposite if what is now needed, but that said he did fine last week so fingers crossed today has been similar.
Lockdown has meant a lot of time spent together as a family and despite both continuing to work (both in part WFH) myself and my wife have been able to do a huge amount of school work with him which we feel has been of benefit. It's been hard to juggle (as it has for lots of people of course) and we haven't heard much from the SENCO.
What we have realised is how hard he can be to teach some days and how easy on others. He really does fluctuate, and through it seems no variation in what we do - it really is dependant on whether he's having a good day or a more challenging day.
I remember reading not long after his diagnosis (aged 4/5) someone saying its all about learning how to get into his world rather than trying to make him fit into ours. If anything for us has come out of school closures and CV19 it's that we have had the time to do a lot more of this and feel we have advanced further with this than ever before.
His characteristics are so similar to others I've read of in this thread, and when i say a challenging day this presents itself in terms of difficulties concentrating and focusing. He doesn't have melt downs or tantrums, just some frustration on occasion if he can't express him himself.
sounds like there might be some ADD/ADHD traits there, common co-morbid condition. Worth consideringToday will be his second day back in mainstream school, he also attended on Wednesday last week, these being the only 2 days since closure in March.
As a child who has struggled with the concept of personal space on occasion myself and my wife were very worried how he would deal with social distancing, he has a tendency to stand very close to people sometimes. The exact opposite if what is now needed, but that said he did fine last week so fingers crossed today has been similar.
Lockdown has meant a lot of time spent together as a family and despite both continuing to work (both in part WFH) myself and my wife have been able to do a huge amount of school work with him which we feel has been of benefit. It's been hard to juggle (as it has for lots of people of course) and we haven't heard much from the SENCO.
What we have realised is how hard he can be to teach some days and how easy on others. He really does fluctuate, and through it seems no variation in what we do - it really is dependant on whether he's having a good day or a more challenging day.
I remember reading not long after his diagnosis (aged 4/5) someone saying its all about learning how to get into his world rather than trying to make him fit into ours. If anything for us has come out of school closures and CV19 it's that we have had the time to do a lot more of this and feel we have advanced further with this than ever before.
His characteristics are so similar to others I've read of in this thread, and when i say a challenging day this presents itself in terms of difficulties concentrating and focusing. He doesn't have melt downs or tantrums, just some frustration on occasion if he can't express him himself.
sparkyhx said:
Sorry for the delay, Until 2013 there was separate diagnosis for Autism, High Functioning Autism and Aspergers. The principle difference between High Functioning and Aspergers was around the history of language delay. (high functioning = language delay).
After 2013 the only official diagnosis is Autistic Spectrum Disorder the differences being marked by the level of support needed 1-3 rather than level of intellect.
There are two diagnostic guides DSM5 and ICD-10/11. Both are basically the same except ICD lags DSM, so ICD-11 is only just available and matches DSM5 now and ICD-10 which is part still in use, still has the old diagnosis.
Nothing major nothing to worry about.
People also recognise the single diagnosis can be a shock to parents and appear to be 'added back' the old terms sometimes. I guess (only a guess), to make the parents feel better.
Sorry for not saying thanks sooner, I completely bypassed that you'd replied and things have been pretty hectic recently. We now have a formal diagnosis for our son. We've also (finally) met with his school, the meeting had the Head, new SENCO, current teacher and both next year's teachers in attendance. The meeting was useful, we have a clearer picture of what support the school is receiving for our lad and what the options are going forward.After 2013 the only official diagnosis is Autistic Spectrum Disorder the differences being marked by the level of support needed 1-3 rather than level of intellect.
There are two diagnostic guides DSM5 and ICD-10/11. Both are basically the same except ICD lags DSM, so ICD-11 is only just available and matches DSM5 now and ICD-10 which is part still in use, still has the old diagnosis.
Nothing major nothing to worry about.
People also recognise the single diagnosis can be a shock to parents and appear to be 'added back' the old terms sometimes. I guess (only a guess), to make the parents feel better.
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