Asperger's Syndrome Archives - Page 2 of 2

Resistant to Change – Meltdown or Avoid

One of the things we were asked during the assessment to determine whether our son had Autism was just how rigid our routines have to be – is our son resistant to change? No he doesn’t like his routine changed and, especially at Christmas, this can be a big thing. However, we do not have to have a really strict routine, with many rituals. Personally we feel that this is because we couldn’t do it, so don’t. My brother (who has Aspergers) was resistant to change – he is now approaching 30 years old and is most likely still playing with his wooden blocks with letters on that he had as a child. Growing up I remember that he had to make sure all his teddies were a certain way before he could even leave the room. Possibly we are ‘lucky’ that our son’s needs are not like that. We do feel that a certain amount of forcing our children beyond their comfort zones, and handling meltdowns (as opposed to avoiding them) is beneficial for the long run.

Resistant to Change Experiences with our Oldest Son

Our oldest son, who has a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, was resistant to change. We would tell him that we would be going to place X via place Y, and if something cropped up and you had to go to place B too he would have a meltdown. It went from changes and big disruptions, to him wanting to know every minute detail, and nothing could change. We were exhausted trying to even plan taking him anywhere, and wished we didn’t have to take him. Days out were so much less stressful without him – which made us feel awful as of course we felt he was a valued member of our family. Even now he is resistant to change, he does not understand why he should go anywhere, or do anything, that isn’t going to directly benefit himself. We are keen to work on this straight away with our little Sensory Seeker.

How does your child deal with changes? We find that even small changes at school can be really upsetting for The Sensory Seeker. Currently he has been wetting himself more often. Does anyone have any tips?

Last week we had the big appointment, the next step in the Autism assessment. As you would expect we still do not really have any answers. The paediatrician took me and my husband into one room whilst two speech and language therapists went into another room to play with our little Sensory Seeker. It was checked several times that we were clear and okay with the fact that they would be video recording his behaviour.

At the beginning of the Autism assessment it was made clear what we and they hoped would come out of the appointment. I was clear in the fact that I believe him to have high functioning Autism and would like a diagnosis if that were the case; and if not to discover what it was.

Autism Assessment – Pregnancy, Birth and the First 2 years

During the Autism assessment the paediatrician asked a lot of questions about the pregnancy and first two years of his life. It makes me feel pretty bad because it is all a bit of a blur and to be honest he cried a lot, I found it hard to play with him (he still has limited attention span), and can’t really remember much mother-baby communication (apart from a smacking of his lips kind of clucking sound when he wanted feeding).

The paediatrician could not have been lovelier for the duration of the Autism assessment, asking how I’d coped with 4 boys (especially since I had been breastfeeding both of the youngest 2 at the same time). I did remember how empowered I had felt when our little Sensory Seeker was a baby, especially when I did not give up and let people tell me that my breastfeeding was the cause of his weight loss.

She reassured us me that his behaviour was not down to parenting, and nor did she believe that he was suffering from a developmental delay (although I’m sure I would prefer this to be the case so he could catch up I just know it not to be true). That they had enough experience to be unpick the complicated nature of his behaviour and see which boxes he ticks, and categories he falls into. That actually, mainly due to his language developmental delay, he may end up diagnosed as something now, and then a few more years down the line reassessed and re-diagnosed. That the important thing was to establish what help would suit him best right now. The thing is I know this Autism assessment will question his imaginative play and language delay coupled with just how bright he can be – which conflicts an Autism and Aspergers diagnosis. He may still remain undiagnosed.

Autism Assessment – Different view points

There’s always a worry that people do not see what we see – and I am sure I can say we here and it’s not just me. So it was reassuring that at the end she went and spoke to the language therapists, who took part in the Autism assessment, they described him (and the way he plays) exactly as we just had. What that all means I do not know.

I know the paediatrician has arranged a meeting with the school next month – so there will not be any answers until after then. But things are coming along well. His one to one support is looking after him well, and I can see he is popular among some of the children. I saw a couple of boys doing this special ‘tickle’ thing our boy does yesterday to him.

Every morning we go in and we look at his visual book together. His one to one shows him the picture of what he is going to do and then he finds it in his book and puts it on the next page, then the next picture, then the next – until he can see what he is doing for the whole day. His one to one has copies of the pictures and together they pin them to a wall in the book corner. As the day goes on, and the activities are done, she takes them away. This means he can see what is left to come, and sort of a judge of how much of the day is left. I take the book home and we can then ‘discuss’ what he has done at home. I’m finding he is getting more and more patient with it all, a clear sign his attention span is developing too.