Thread: Autism Spectrum Disorder - top resource

G`day Lionel ,

well done , very diplomatic though .

We have a 21 year old daughter and i`d suggest that anyone that lives with it wouldn`t have the slightest thought that everyone has it .

All the best , Peter .

Due to some early admission and unrelated problems our son was in the hospital system already when the pead suggested autism spectrum, now diagnosed with assbergers. Early intervention was the biggest factor in our son acting in a way that makes society more comfortable.
We were just undertaking some tests and they stop the tests as he was starting to show signs of stress when he was doing the 14-16 year old maths questions at 3 1/2 years old, he wasn't getting them wrong it was just starting to upset him.
When he was very young his doctors asked us not to rush ahead with his education, as it can leave him isolated and disillusioned with education, and school had the potential to chew him up and spit him out, as history has shown with those that have been diagnosed later in life.
Tough work when I told him how to spell his name once. That afternoon he not only spelt it, he wrote his name cause he remembered the letters from the alphabet. He was 3 at the time. He knows more dinosaurs in 4 years then I have accrued in my 35 years.

All that being said he is the most loving boy, with the quirkiest sense of humor and he builds up everyone around him, and never tears them down. Disability I think not.

I definately think everyone features somewhere on the spectrum, but not enough to face the sort of challenges my sons faces. And it really is the number of boxes you tick in order to qualify.

I don't expect the world to change for my son, but I am working my ass off to help him fit in without compromising any of the characteristics that make him so unique, intelligent, funny and uplifting and fulfill his destiny.

Originally Posted by PLR

G`day Lionel ,

well done , very diplomatic though .

We have a 21 year old daughter and i`d suggest that anyone that lives with it wouldn`t have the slightest thought that everyone has it .

All the best , Peter .

G'day Peter,

Me diplomatic - I used to be like my good mate Banjo; and that was most of the time. I still have links to the attack dog aspect when needed - but someone once said to me, "you can attract more flies with honey than vinegar." Now that saying took a while for me to work out . You know taking things a bit too literally ....

I hope your daughter is going okay. Also that so are you and the rest of your family. Take care Peter

King Regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by RisingSun

Due to some early admission and unrelated problems our son was in the hospital system already when the pead suggested autism spectrum, now diagnosed with assbergers. Early intervention was the biggest factor in our son acting in a way that makes society more comfortable.
We were just undertaking some tests and they stop the tests as he was starting to show signs of stress when he was doing the 14-16 year old maths questions at 3 1/2 years old, he wasn't getting them wrong it was just starting to upset him.
When he was very young his doctors asked us not to rush ahead with his education, as it can leave him isolated and disillusioned with education, and school had the potential to chew him up and spit him out, as history has shown with those that have been diagnosed later in life.
Tough work when I told him how to spell his name once. That afternoon he not only spelt it, he wrote his name cause he remembered the letters from the alphabet. He was 3 at the time. He knows more dinosaurs in 4 years then I have accrued in my 35 years.

All that being said he is the most loving boy, with the quirkiest sense of humor and he builds up everyone around him, and never tears them down. Disability I think not.

I definately think everyone features somewhere on the spectrum, but not enough to face the sort of challenges my sons faces. And it really is the number of boxes you tick in order to qualify.

I don't expect the world to change for my son, but I am working my ass off to help him fit in without compromising any of the characteristics that make him so unique, intelligent, funny and uplifting and fulfill his destiny.

G'day Rising Sun,

Thank you for the post and sharing with us some of you and your son's experiences. I can only agree with the bit about what the doctor said about... "it can leave him isolated and disillusioned with education". There are something like classes for the " Gifted or talented or advanced" which keep active minds still ticking over. A normal classroom can be very boring an make kids shut themselves down because they are not being sufficiently challenged. Regardless of them being on the spectrum or not!

Anyway Hawaii 5 Oh is on and it is my compulsory viewing so I will bolt

Take care. Catch up soon Aye!

Kind Regards
Lionel

Lionel,
Keep em coming, there are more on this forum with either Aspy's or Autism Spectrum kids.
Having a 28 year old Severely Autistic son - we are pioneers -and a 26 year old profoundly - yes it can get worse- autistic son, we now have a 16 year old girl who is highly intelligent & a very well rounded personality. Talk about chalk & cheese
When asked my kids ages, I have to add quickly it is the same wife, as there is a 10 year gap- no wonder.
Then along came our last boy, he's now 12 and an Aspy -refer to Sashadidi's post for a summary of him!! ( Its getting past my bedtime)
I think what 87 County was getting to with his post & link - which I've yet to read - is that (& I agree) when you look at individuals, most have a compulsive or cognative disorder to some degree, you just have to get to know them. I dont quite get the relationship between the black dog & Autism you wrote of though
Temple Grandin, & I have met her- we ( Autism Vic- I was a comittee member at the time) brought her out for a National Conference, is someting else again & made the transition from full on Autism to what she now is. I only have heard of a handfull having done that worldwide.
Was your Aspergers Syndrome from birth- given it is classified as a developmental disorder- or late onset?
Regards,
David

Originally Posted by DeeJay

Lionel,
Keep em coming, there are more on this forum with either Aspy's or Autism Spectrum kids.
Having a 28 year old Severely Autistic son - we are pioneers -and a 26 year old profoundly - yes it can get worse- autistic son, we now have a 16 year old girl who is highly intelligent & a very well rounded personality. Talk about chalk & cheese
When asked my kids ages, I have to add quickly it is the same wife, as there is a 10 year gap- no wonder.
Then along came our last boy, he's now 12 and an Aspy -refer to Sashadidi's post for a summary of him!! ( Its getting past my bedtime)
I think what 87 County was getting to with his post & link - which I've yet to read - is that (& I agree) when you look at individuals, most have a compulsive or cognative disorder to some degree, you just have to get to know them. I dont quite get the relationship between the black dog & Autism you wrote of though
Temple Grandin, & I have met her- we ( Autism Vic- I was a comittee member at the time) brought her out for a National Conference, is someting else again & made the transition from full on Autism to what she now is. I only have heard of a handfull having done that worldwide.
Was your Aspergers Syndrome from birth- given it is classified as a developmental disorder- or late onset?
Regards,
David

G'day David,

Lucky you - I was just doing a last sweep before shutting down for the night.

You are dead straight about you being one of the pioneers. We had stuff all information when my kids were diagnosed. You must have been close to the refrigerator mother era. How destructive was that to the family!

Yep - I probably should have counted to 100 before getting my digits loose on the keyboard. I have had people use that expression on me before and it still touches a nerve. I do think the expression is damaging and trivialises the condition and brings it down to the realm of take a spoon full of cement and toughen up. Probably not something to say to me in jest to push my buttons for fun either.

Yes I met Temple when she came to Lismore and a couple of us parents travelled down from Bundy. Temple is great.

Winston Churchill was known as calling his periods of depression or Melancholia (from Greek μελαγχολία - melancholia, "sadness", literally black bile). Probably saying the "black dog" is nicer than saying being covered in black spew!

How it relates to what I wrote... I experience periods of depression and anxiety. The research into Autism suggests a higher than average incidence of depression, stress and anxiety in people with Autism Spectrum. Also similar research suggests that parents of children on the spectrum also experience higher than average levels of stress than other parents.

The current stuff out of the USA Center for Disease Control suggest that a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental triggers can lead to developing an Autism Spectrum. Some people have the genetic predisposition before birth yet they can get along through life without one of the environmental triggers ever being flicked on. Hence one of a pair of twins may be profoundly Autistic and the other sibling can be totally - for want of a better term "normal".

The PBS Newshour had a series of lead features on Autism where some of the leading researchers were interviewed. It is hitting 11:30 PM here so I will fossick for the links tomorrow.

Yep so me I was born with it- I can probably trace it back to some ancestors who were a tad "eccentric". Not sure if they liked Land Rovers though? Why wasn't I picked up earlier with a diagnosis earlier? Well I was diagnosed at 40 years old and back then the official diagnosis of Asperger's was what... 1994 (DSM IV & ICD International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) and it was back in 2003 when I was identified. I burnt out - yet again had to ditch another career and it got to me - wondered how some people can last in the same job for 30 years+ and I fell to pieces. Put a big strain on my marriage we had just shifted lock stock and barrel from one town to another with the whole family and I lost the plot after three weeks. I thought that since I taught ex-prisoners at TAFE that I could handle high school kids - nope. Anyway I had shifted my wife 3 young kids - two on the autism spectrum - wasn't pretty and one very hacked off wife who wondered if it was all worth it. So I hit a crisis point and this made me take my sorry arse off to a psychiatrist and I received a diagnosis. Since getting the diagnosis and studying my PhD about Wellness and Identity, I have learnt a lot about things such as the concept of work life balance. This has allowed me to improve my quality of life in every domain including my career.

So that is about it for now, been a big day and my little cave is calling and I might rock backward and forward for a while.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by RisingSun

Due to some early admission and unrelated problems our son was in the hospital system already when the pead suggested autism spectrum, now diagnosed with assbergers. Early intervention was the biggest factor in our son acting in a way that makes society more comfortable.
We were just undertaking some tests and they stop the tests as he was starting to show signs of stress when he was doing the 14-16 year old maths questions at 3 1/2 years old, he wasn't getting them wrong it was just starting to upset him.
When he was very young his doctors asked us not to rush ahead with his education, as it can leave him isolated and disillusioned with education, and school had the potential to chew him up and spit him out, as history has shown with those that have been diagnosed later in life.
Tough work when I told him how to spell his name once. That afternoon he not only spelt it, he wrote his name cause he remembered the letters from the alphabet. He was 3 at the time. He knows more dinosaurs in 4 years then I have accrued in my 35 years.

All that being said he is the most loving boy, with the quirkiest sense of humor and he builds up everyone around him, and never tears them down. Disability I think not.

I definately think everyone features somewhere on the spectrum, but not enough to face the sort of challenges my sons faces. And it really is the number of boxes you tick in order to qualify.

I don't expect the world to change for my son, but I am working my ass off to help him fit in without compromising any of the characteristics that make him so unique, intelligent, funny and uplifting and fulfill his destiny.

HI, thanks for your post, I can relate to your education problems, we used (with the help of a very able speech therapist) the Scerts model out of the USA. It is a lot of work but once you understand it it really helps as it records where your child "is" and how he progresses as you soon forget !!!
It will put everything in order and give you a baseline and timeline to refer back to which is useful in dealing with " professionals" especially ministry of Education ones who would not know their bum from their elbow.

Scerts is divided into three areas: SC” - Social Communication, “ER” - Emotional Regulation, TS” – Transactional Support.
Link here:
The SCERTS® Model

Originally Posted by RisingSun

Due to some early admission and unrelated problems our son was in the hospital system already when the pead suggested autism spectrum, now diagnosed with assbergers. Early intervention was the biggest factor in our son acting in a way that makes society more comfortable.
We were just undertaking some tests and they stop the tests as he was starting to show signs of stress when he was doing the 14-16 year old maths questions at 3 1/2 years old, he wasn't getting them wrong it was just starting to upset him.
When he was very young his doctors asked us not to rush ahead with his education, as it can leave him isolated and disillusioned with education, and school had the potential to chew him up and spit him out, as history has shown with those that have been diagnosed later in life.
Tough work when I told him how to spell his name once. That afternoon he not only spelt it, he wrote his name cause he remembered the letters from the alphabet. He was 3 at the time. He knows more dinosaurs in 4 years then I have accrued in my 35 years.

All that being said he is the most loving boy, with the quirkiest sense of humor and he builds up everyone around him, and never tears them down. Disability I think not.

I definately think everyone features somewhere on the spectrum, but not enough to face the sort of challenges my sons faces. And it really is the number of boxes you tick in order to qualify.

I don't expect the world to change for my son, but I am working my ass off to help him fit in without compromising any of the characteristics that make him so unique, intelligent, funny and uplifting and fulfill his destiny.

I would like to put our boys in the same sand pit for a couple of hours, I reckon the conversation would be amazing