Living with Autism

For once I am going to hand over to another writer;
this article when I read it causes me a shortness of breath. The kind of tight chest I used to associate with considering second level. Why? Because my kids fall into the group that cannot cope with the "eclectic" or state special school model. And even the school knows it.

After 5 years of home based ABA after school to try and supplement what the teachers CAN do in a disruptive 6 -1 setting we have had to accept defeat and stop borrowing to pay for it; because interest rates have pushed our mortgage beyond our reasonable means.

We are on a waiting list for a place in a school, 40 kilometres away, even though there is a perfectly good pre-school up the road that is waiting to be recognised and fully funded as a primary school for kids like mine.

We didn't choose to have the kids who fall through the cracks, we certainly don't choose to have the kids who actually break the system in the first place. Just imagine how it …

I posted a question here a few weeks ago:

Can kids move along the spectrum?

In other words; can they be correctly diagnosed as having autism or ASD. And then later move on to Aspergers or PDDNOS or some other "benign" form of autism.
Or perhaps even even pick up some optional extras like Hyperactivity and Attention Deficit?

And tell me, who believes that their kids are who they are to begin with; but with intervention the test results can change?

I decided to look at this again after a conversation with Mr Hammie.
Who told me, I kid you not, that he didn't believe in this "nonsense" about Bratty's recent secondary diagnosis of Attention Deficit. (!!)

When I patiently explained how a respected Occupational Therapist had spent almost 6 months analysing and then explaining the results of a sensory profile test (The Winnie Dunne, if you are interested) and pointed out that Bratty was scoring highly in areas which would indicate attention deficit; AND that a respect…

Best advice we ever got was from another parent in an outreach program who said
"Get a TV. and video for the bedroom" And that was in the olden days when TV’s were expensive and big!
Apart from the peace it gives you to have them entertained, it is a good bargaining tool. If you can reason with your child you can tell them that the volume goes down at bedtime, we tell our Boo "5 quiet" and if he turns it up we say "Bye Bye T.V and gesture to unplug it.
I have unplugged it and removed it on occasion. (Actually just last night) so it helps to have a video or dvd combined unit or even better; a mini player)


You can also work on a sleep settling routine, bath, jammies, bedtime snack or drink, tooth brushing and one last nappy or toilet trip and then it is:
Stay in Bed Time.

I found a "do to learn" visual schedule helpful in a flip card style so my Boo could fold down each step.


I made this one by downloading and printing off the pictures I needed to suit Boo …

I have just watched an interupted version of "After Thomas". A movie of the week made by Utv about a little boy and the impact that a dog had on his family and ultimately his autism.
Interupted because my own little girl with autism was dancing in front of the kitchen t.v. in perfect harmony with the lead character "Kyle" the 6 year old with ASD. Irony runs rich in our house as my Bratty girl put on a DVD "The Best of Ernie and Bert" and I decamped to the living room to try and watch it there. After a negotiation with Boo who was watching Sky Movies; I got back on track to see the puppy being brought into the room and placed in the Mum's arms.
It was very moving. Firstly to see how accurately they had researched "Kyle's" behaviours but also for the friction between his parents. Dad wanting to have a life. Mum totally stressed but not willing to go for the residential option that they were investigating when I tuned in. Been there man!
I th…

In the spirit of the End of Year clip shows, I thought I would compile a list of songs that form the soundtrack to our lives.
Some we would never choose to listen to because when they come on the radio we have to pull off the road and cry a bit. Some make us feel joyful and we sing along or dance. And some make us say:


"Yes, that is exactly how it is"

With Thanks to: Blackcat, Jacqui, Joy, Wah, Ohhh, Alice, Radio, Hidihi and Tinkerbell for the suggestions.....

"The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel

"Nessun Dorma" Luciano Pavarotti (none shall sleep)

"open your eyes" by snow patrol

"Under Pressure" Freddie Mercury and David Bowie

"Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen

"Scorn not his Simplicity" melodically sung by Luke Kelly

"always look on the bright side of life": Monty Python; The Life of Brian.

"The itchy and scratchy show" (they fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight..........)

Crash Test Du…

Children with autism suffer from a range of sensory interference. Everything they hear, see, feel, taste and smell is distorted into a range of “overs and unders” in accounting terms. Some may see every hair on your head in individual detail and others may just see an amorphous blur where your head is. Some may hear the wind blowing through the trees on the calmest day, as if it were a gale. Others may hear a pleasant blur of white noise, like a mistuned radio. A touch can feel like a squeeze, a squeeze can feel like nothing, like when your foot goes to sleep, except it is their whole body, ALL THE TIME!

They find it difficult to tune in to their human environment as a result and do not learn the baseline skills of communication and self care naturally, through imitation of their parents and peers.

Why do we find that ABA helps?

ABA stands for Applied Behavioural Analysis. It is an applied science using observable behaviour to determine how someone learns, and how they may be best taught…

Hi there.
By now Saint Nicholas will be putting his feet up having delivered his last parcel somewhere over the pacific.
The little hammies are settled if not asleep in their beds and I have time to reflect and regret how the day went.
After spending 360 days maintaining that we would do Christmasour way, to suit our kids, I went and weakened at the last minute and committed to meeting up with the in-laws on the day.
Not to Christmas dinner of course. We managed to eliminate that nightmare of being stuck behind a table groaning with food and panicking as the little hammies potentially messed with cigarette lighters, full on caffeine soft drinks, caramels and doors left unlocked. Feeling dreadful having to climb over everyone to confiscate caffeine and caramels; but never actually getting the message across that we needed to sit where we could get up from the table easily.
Following the feast there would be a similar conflict as by now someone would have lit the open the open fire meaning o…