Chat for ASD families

[Ultramum]

Hi all

My son is HFA + ADHD- diagnosed first with ADHD at nursery and then, when the Ritalin had slowed him down a bit, diagnosed with HFA at age 6 1/2. I spent a lot of time fighting for educational provision, via a tribunal (!) and also ended up as chair of the local autistic society and a special needs governor at school.

Hubby decided to get tested (I knew he was on the spectrum after learning about autism with our son) and acquired an Asperger diagnosis in his early 50s.

Main difference between them is that hubby frets and worries and everything tends to go over son's head.

Son is in his third year of an MSc in Chemical Engineering at a uni about 30 miles away. First year was a bit of a trial for all of us but he found his feet the second year and is doing well.

 

[13lizanne]

Hi there,
Nice to meet yet another ASD family member and to hear about your lovely son. In one of our ASD support groups we had 4 Aspergers boys with 3 out of 4 of the boys' dads also testing positive for Aspergers as adults. All 3 dads were in full time employment, in accounting and surveying professions. It looks like the future is bright for your son also. My Autistic son is non verbal with a diagnosis of severe Autism with associated learning disabilities. On this thread we have family members at every place on the Spectrum but each person is very much loved which is, after all, what every human being wants and needs more than anything else

 

[Ultramum]

Hi there,
Nice to meet yet another ASD family member and to hear about your lovely son. In one of our ASD support groups we had 4 Aspergers boys with 3 out of 4 of the boys' dads also testing positive for Aspergers as adults. All 3 dads were in full time employment, in accounting and surveying professions. It looks like the future is bright for your son also. My Autistic son is non verbal with a diagnosis of severe Autism with associated learning disabilities. On this thread we have family members at every place on the Spectrum but each person is very much loved which is, after all, what every human being wants and needs more than anything else

Yes - quite a few dads got a diagnosis in our group. Hubby's profession is accountant!

It is such a huge spectrum isn't it?

 

[13lizanne]

And my husband is a quantity surveyor

Yes - quite a few dads got a diagnosis in our group. Hubby's profession is accountant!

It is such a huge spectrum isn't it?

 

[Diamum5972]

Hi @igual88 and @Ultramum, welcome to our thread. You both have some fascinating stories about your kids, I'm always amazed at the differences between our kids yet they still come under the spectrum. My son was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 6 yet my younger brother was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 26! My brother was at uni doing computer studies and he was having counselling. One of the counsellors said he should be tested for ASD and he was diagnosed fairly rapidly. On the other hand, my son (who is now 23) was spotted almost immediately by his reception teacher who happened to be the school SENCO. His diagnosis took several months during which I had to take him out of school regularly to be tested at Camhs. You can Imagine his reaction to the change in routine!

They have evolved enormously in the 17 years since they were both diagnosed but I'm so proud of both of them. My brother has joined a writers group and had one of his short stories published and my son has been a member of an acting group for 8 years. A couple of years ago he performed in Shakespeare's The Tempest and just a couple of weeks ago he performed his own show on a local radio station where he had been doing work experience.

 

[Marvelchick79]

Hi, my son has high functioning ASD and started secondary school last September, it's been very hard for him and with my being ill before diagnosis I think it's taken it's toll on all of us xx

 

[Diamum5972]

Hi, my son has high functioning ASD and started secondary school last September, it's been very hard for him and with my being ill before diagnosis I think it's taken it's toll on all of us xx

Hi and welcome to the thread. You have all my sympathy, transition is difficult enough without throwing illness into the mix as well! Sending hugs to all of you and I hope things settle down soon xx

 

[Ultramum]

Hi, my son has high functioning ASD and started secondary school last September, it's been very hard for him and with my being ill before diagnosis I think it's taken it's toll on all of us xx

(((Hugs)))

 

[4ratbags]

@Contralto I can relate to the separation anxiety. If I go anywhere other than the room she is in I hsve to make sure she knows whst psrt of the house or section Im in or there used to scream the house down. She's getting so much better now though, she will still cry but I find I csn cslm her down so much easier now. At daycare it was a nightmare as well for 3 1/2 years. She would be screaming and crying, I would leave with chunks of hair missing some days because she would hold onto me wherever she could grab with a death grip. Thank goodness for the play program they put in place for her last year, it worked wonders.

It's great to see so many new families on the thread, I have to make sure I get my butt back on the forum again.

 

[13lizanne]

Hello @4ratbags !

 

[Diamum5972]

@Contralto I can relate to the separation anxiety. If I go anywhere other than the room she is in I hsve to make sure she knows whst psrt of the house or section Im in or there used to scream the house down. She's getting so much better now though, she will still cry but I find I csn cslm her down so much easier now. At daycare it was a nightmare as well for 3 1/2 years. She would be screaming and crying, I would leave with chunks of hair missing some days because she would hold onto me wherever she could grab with a death grip. Thank goodness for the play program they put in place for her last year, it worked wonders.

It's great to see so many new families on the thread, I have to make sure I get my butt back on the forum again.

Welcome back! (Waves)

 

[AliceChatsworth]

Hi all
My husband is diabetic t2 and has ASD and ADD diagnosis. He finds the whole diet thing very confusing and also isn't easily full when eating. For him Full is the Monty Python man in a restaurant scene where he really can't fit anything more inside. So on lchf eating til he's full is just too much food. He also has some sensory issues with fat and has little self awareness of what 'enough' feels like against 'full'. We are trying to use low carb to help but come unstuck with volume of food and high appetite levels. Does anyone have any idea how we could move forward with this? I don't know what is going on.
Thanks

 

[13lizanne]

Hello @AliceChatsworth , Welcome! I'm going to tag @Contralto for you, she's very knowledgeable. As she's in America and a different time zone you won't hear for a few hours. Also @Diamum5972 and @Shar79 might be able to help. My boy who's at the extreme end of the spectrum has the same problem as your hubby but his food is cooked and presented to him - we decide on portion control. Sorry that I can't offer any other suggestions which would help your hubby I hope that you get some answers though, some of the family members on here are ADD and at a similar place on the spectrum as your hubby, so I hope that they see your post. Good luck Alice.

 

[4ratbags]

Hi @13lizanne it's nice to be back on the forum again, it's just been a tough year with changing of my job of 14 years and getting used to looking after 2 grandchildren instead of 1 and to top it off the little ones father dragged the guardianship out in the courts for 6 months instead of just agreeing in the first place. I hope you and your family are well and you had a great Christmas.

@Diamum5972 (waves furiously) hope you had a great Christmas

 

[13lizanne]

Just found your message @4ratbags I don't seem to be getting alerts for this thread. I don't think that Barbara is getting alerts either. We'll try her again @Diamum5972

Sorry to hear that you had a hard time with the guardianship order. It's sorted out now? I'm going to tag a few people just to bump the thread up
@Ultramum @Contralto @AliceChatsworth @igual88 @Marvelchick79
Sorry if I missed you out

 

[Diamum5972]

Thanks for the tag @13lizanne, I'm not getting alerts either. Let's hope we can get this thread active again

 

[13lizanne]

Hi Barbara, how's the fellow now? All better I hope? And your training course?

 

[hankjam]

Whilst not tagged I got the alert, so thought I would write to keep in touch with this thread.
Hj

 

[13lizanne]

Hi @hankjam I just realised that I didn't tag ANY of the original families - duh! I think that I'll wait a wee while to see if anyone is interested in reviving this thread by bumping it occasionally. What do you think? Feel free to contribute or bump it folks

 

[Diamum5972]

Hi Barbara, how's the fellow now? All better I hope? And your training course?

Hi Anna, he's slowly getting better. I took him to see the doctor yesterday to get another sicknote and we were lucky enough to get the nice doctor He listened patiently to A's explanation and gave us a sicknote for 2 months instead of 2 weeks! We do have a leaflet for a counselling service but he is rather wary of them since the last time we tried accessing them they said they didn't have any help available for someone with his particular needs. Groan!

My course is going great guns, I did have a wee break last week with my tutor being on holiday but I'm now nearly two thirds of my way through the course. I'm on track to finish next week I just found out today that my centre's funding is running out in August so I got in just in time! It's a shame it's going to be closing down, the staff there are lovely and there's only one other centre in Coventry so if I wanted to do any other courses I'd have to go to this other centre.