General Chat

If you go to the adders website you can read up on all autistic spectrum - add/adhd/aspergers - Im sure you will receive so much support.

HI Dawn Just stand your ground and keep asking for help Ask to be refered to a paeditrician by your GP Tell the school that you need to see the Ed Psych and dont be put off. Ask the school to let you see a community paeditrician if they refuse the Ed Psych. just keep badgering and badgering your son is worth it Lot of love and luck Linda P Ps please don't worry about lay diagnosises until you have had a specialist one

This is so sad especially to think the School system is becoming so uncaring of the children. My daughter (now 28) when at primary school (1st school in her day) had trouble with her reading and writing...great imagination just couldn't put the words to paper. Her teacher asked for a meeting with me and asked if they could have her tested for dyslexia, I said anything that you can do to help.. the result came back that she had dyslexic traits and from thence foreward had special classes for reading and writing. The way her School did it was wonderful they were not looked upon as being dim but being lucky to have a special class where they were given prizes for good work. When she went on to Senior School her English teacher told me what wonderful stories she could write but because she spent so much time puzzling over words she lost her thread. She allowed my daughter to write it out her own way and then they went through it together, she was also allowed to use a computer to help with her course work! She is now a Manager of a fairly large child Day Nursery with complete responsibility of children ranging in age from almost new born to school age. Do as all these people have told you...they have given you good advice...I hope things work out for you and your son. Jacquie xxxx

Hi Dawn Have sent you a pm Tilda X

Having had a step son with aspergers i too am thinking the same thing. Ask for help/advice/assesment/....ask again ...and again...and again even, if if gets him noticed and helped, he is entitled to that help. Health visitor a possibility? jess x

Dawn There is nothing I can help you with I'm afraid. I have never been in the situation you are in but I really feel for you. You have had some great advice with all these lovely people on this thread so Please do something about it soon. Your son deserves better from the System and Keep hounding the authorities until he gets some help. I wish you and your son well Kindest regards Jackie

Jen - Aspergers was top of my list of possibilities as well.

Heather We go through phases of him bed wetting. Things frighten him easily so have to be careful what he watches. Doctor Who was a nightmare so me and him used to go upstairs to do something else while that was on. We also have the fun of him not watching what he is doing while going to the loo so we end up with it all round the toilet

Dawn - mine is 14 and still has a problem with that. He ended up with quite a few diagnoses because he was always on the peripheral of each 'problem'

Does he have any problems re messing/wetting?

Dawn, You have mail. Gwynne

He defo sounds like ADD/ADHD/and or dyslexic to me. My son would write phonetically (though he rarely wrote at all). That is, pretty would be spelt p-r-t. You must ask the school for the Ed Psych to come in. Dont feel grateful, dont feel a pain. My son was put in a study booth at the back of the class facing a wall for one year (I didnt know about it til I went in unexpectantly one day). He was taken in straight away in the morning so he didnt get into fights or bullied, he was always left out in any games that required teams. At 9 he was threatening suicide. Dont hang about - the school will do their best to do as very little as possible, hoping that he is off their hands before he gets a statement. Dont be put off by them.

Gwynne Just down the road from you. Heather will promise to go and have a look.

Heather In his tests hes just had (just finished year 4) he came out at level 1. If he is interested in things hes ok like science/history but then to get him to write it down is an impossibility. Bought his books home and one of the comments in there is 'expect more writing than this try harder next time' he had written 3 lines in the whole lesson. In year 3 his teacher used to write the date in his books for him so that he could have that little extra time writing his work. We have worked on his reading this year and he has gone up he started at 2c is now 3c. His writing he writes as he hears which you can understand what he is saying but doesn't look right. He goes into 'Nathan World' where he doesn't hear anything else and you really have to shout at him to bring him out of it. Dawn

OH Dawn, please go to adders.org as everything you need to be explained is there. It will give you help in writing to the LEA, ways of getting support in any meetings with LEA/school. Statemented is when the child is assessed for special needs and a statement is produce by the LEA and agreed by you for extra provision for his special needs.

Hi Dawn, Which county do you live in? Gwynne

Statement of Special Educational Needs, if your lad is struggling at school this will help, issued by the LEA, school will get extra money to put things in place for him, its a legally binding document so they have to abide by it. Write to LEA request a statutory assessment of special educational needs, giving your reasons why. Lisa

Thanks for all your replies. Will phone doctors this afternoon for an appointment can't do now as have to go to Hydrotherapy (we're a good family aren't we) People keep saying Statmented what is that? Sorry for rambling earlier didn't help that when took tiddler to nursery she cried and clung onto me. Dawn

Back to the doctor Dawn and keep pushing for him to be seen, Community Paediatrician or child psychologist. Keep on at the school too, don't let them fob you off. You can request statement assessment yourself, it is not up to the school, have been thru all this myself. Good luck Lisa

Dawn, I really wish you would go to the adders.org website, it would help you SO much. Not sure what it is with your son. Certainly having no fear of dangerous situations is an ADHD trait as is short term memory. Can he recite the months of the year in order or the days in the week? (At 10 my son would forget May and October, even though May was his birthday month). Why is he behind at school? In what way? Whats his writing and reading like. Can he do times tables. Is he a loner? Does he lose everything? Does he know left from right? Can he remember when things happened - what day, what sort of time span? My son was above average IQ but 5 years behind in reading and writing - he has ADHD/severe dyslexia and autistic traits. If you arent getting anywhere with the school then demand to see the governor in charge of special needs there. Demand from your LEA that the educational psychologist assesses him for special needs. Contact Parent Partnership. Go back to your GP and ask for an appointment for your local CAMHS - children and adolescent mental health team for an assessment. AND please go to the adders.org website for lots and lots of info and support.