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Why won't my child sleep? 
He's still awake, although that's not unusual for this time but he's done three 'all nighters' recently. He's not disruptive in the night but that's almost worse because we don't know he's up until we come down in the morning and he's there (he's usually the last one up when he does sleep).
He has melatonin meds and they have made a difference in terms of the quality of sleep when he does sleep but he seems to be able to power through the sleepiness.
Also, he's now become obsessed with ducks. This could last three days or three years but he wants to see them at the park every day and take them food. I know it's minor in the grand scheme of things but it's the fall out of we can't go or if they aren't there that I'm worried about.
He's still awake, although that's not unusual for this time but he's done three 'all nighters' recently. He's not disruptive in the night but that's almost worse because we don't know he's up until we come down in the morning and he's there (he's usually the last one up when he does sleep).
He has melatonin meds and they have made a difference in terms of the quality of sleep when he does sleep but he seems to be able to power through the sleepiness.
Also, he's now become obsessed with ducks. This could last three days or three years but he wants to see them at the park every day and take them food. I know it's minor in the grand scheme of things but it's the fall out of we can't go or if they aren't there that I'm worried about.
How is everyone coping? We stopped school work (not sure we ever really started) and it's made everyone happier and much more relaxed. The senco contacted me for the first time in 12 weeks last week, unfortunately for me its too little too late and I'm not interested in speaking to her. My sons teachers havent been bad throughout but it's taken them 12 weeks to offer to arrange work specifically targeted to my son and I feel this should have been offered weeks ago?! To top it off on tonight's dog walk he did a runner (he often does but hides rather than runs off) absolutely no sense of danger and I cannot get through to him about not running off.
We are surviving. I've still be bashing away at the school work. We do three tasks a day, although sometimes a task only take a few mins to complete. To be honest though I feel like I'm coming to the end of my tether with it. I think the the only thing keeping me going is the hideous amount of guilt I'll feel, like I'm somehow failing them if we stop doing work.
My son has had several massive meltdowns and is now point blank refusing to take his ADHD medication.
Our youngest, who is in the middle of the diagnostic process has suddenly become very obviously autistic. I think he's going to be at a huge disadvantage socially when life goes back to normal. I couldn't send him back now though, even though he's year one - he's just too anxious.
My son who is due to start secondary, who isn't diagnosed but we suspect has high functioning autism, (just not enough to need a diagnosis) has become very down. I'm worried enough to speak to his teacher tomorrow and see if they can fit him in at school. They sent an email saying they were nearly at capacity though so I'm not sure what will come of it.
All in all I just want life to go back to normal really. Hope everyone else is doing ok.
Yeah I have this worry. I'm having a baby in the next week so that was the main reason I stopped, if not I would have tried to persevere. I'm just annoyed that school are very pushy now, but when he was in school and I was voicing my concerns they were all calm and not interested!
My 10 yo is epileptic and has high functioning ASD. My 4 yo is being assessed right but I'm pretty sure he's adhd and/or also high functioning ASD. I just know they're hesitant to diagnose the former.
Oldest is 16 and NT, and youngest two are 2 year old twins who so far are NT.
Oldest is 16 and NT, and youngest two are 2 year old twins who so far are NT.
There seems to have been a switch around over the years in terms of willingness to diagnose Adhd. My eldest was diagnosed with Adhd before he was diagnosed with autism (this was in 2005 ish). Whereas last year they would only diagnose my middle one with autism to start off with, despite the questionnaires from both home and school clearly indicating he had adhd. They wanted to reassess him a year later. We didn't have to wait that long in the end because things reached crisis point and the school contacted his consultant, making it clear that they would have to expel him if he wasn't diagnosed and medicated. I'm not really sure why things have changed so much. Thresholds? Targets? Who knows but it's such a pain to navigate. Especially when the referral and diagnosis process is such a wait as it is.
Oh god I didn't mean to make you worry.
Jesus if I was having a baby in the next week there would be no home schooling going on here ever! I hope it all goes well! Xx
Thankyou! I worry anyway. I thought it would go better than it did as I work as a 1-1 for a child with autism so know what to do in terms of helping with school work, but obviously it's different when its your own child. I'm just disappointed with the schools approach. The senco just tells me to do all these parenting courses and I find it quite insulting and have voiced this! X
I'm not surprised you're insulted. Glad you've felt able to voice how you feel!
Hi everyone, I have a 10 year old boy who is type 1 diabetic, he was diagnosed April last year after a bad bout of chickenpox. It has quite probably been the hardest year of our lifes, it was a massive lifechanger and I can't help but feel guilt and sadness he has to go through this. He also had an operation on both legs August last year to lengthen his tendons as he's walked on his tip toes since he was able to walk. For years I pointed this out as family members also suffered from the same condition and had corrective surgery, he had years in casts to try lengthen his muscles, PT, splints. It took years of pushing for him and now he is on his flat feet, desperately in need of PT but due to the virus we are still waiting to hear back. I'm so proud of him though, he genuinely inspires me with his determination to just get on with it
Donât suppose anyone here has a child with cerebral palsy?
Was wondering at what age they were diagnosed?
Xxxx
Was wondering at what age they were diagnosed?
Xxxx
Hi everyone 
hope you're all well? My 7 year olds teacher pulled me after school today to say she's put his name down for the Sen team to I dunno assess him? It's not for a dyslexic diagnoses but she says it's getting the wheels in motion, I'm impressed as this is very early on in the school year and she's remembered my concerns from back when I was the teacher. She said he's highly intelligent but struggles to get it on paper x
hope you're all well? My 7 year olds teacher pulled me after school today to say she's put his name down for the Sen team to I dunno assess him? It's not for a dyslexic diagnoses but she says it's getting the wheels in motion, I'm impressed as this is very early on in the school year and she's remembered my concerns from back when I was the teacher. She said he's highly intelligent but struggles to get it on paper xWeâre just going through the EHCP process. My sons keyworker and the early years team think heâs going to need a special school 
My [almost] 3 has her first portage meeting tomorrow 
She doesnât talk and even though they wonât elaborate i think they are assessing her for autism
She doesnât talk and even though they wonât elaborate i think they are assessing her for autismThis thread has been dead for months so I'm not sure if it's the done thing to revive it but I need to...
The last few months have been really difficult (for everyone, I'm aware it's not just me!). Before Covid my son had a place arranged in Assisted Living. They phoned us in April, after the lockdown to explain we needed to go ahead then or come off the list. I will be providing over half the care hours and at the time I wouldn't have been allowed in. So with heavy hearts we pulled out, having been told it would all be recorded as due to Covid so we could come back to the process.
During this time my son's dad died (Covid with underlying health issues). So his meltdowns have increased.
We re-started the Assisted Living process months ago. A few months ago I had a phone call with someone who claimed to be an expert but who literally had to google ADHD on the phone. Don't get me wrong, she was lovely but WTF!?
The last appointment with his psychiatrist she suggested stopping his Risperidone. Before he was on this his meltdowns were daily and they were violent. We both (me and son) said no that can't happen.
I've just had to prepare my child that if they do stop him taking it, I'll have to ask them to put him in emergency accommodation. I cannot even begin to explain how crap I feel but it is the right choice.
Before medication he was violently melting down every day. It honestly was akin to being in an abusive relationship.
These days, the younger ones are older, two of them are also autistic so need extra input.
Maybe I am asking for someone to say I get it. You're saving who you can. That's how it feels. The others will drown otherwise and I won't be in a place to save them.
Sorry, so much waffle.
The last few months have been really difficult (for everyone, I'm aware it's not just me!). Before Covid my son had a place arranged in Assisted Living. They phoned us in April, after the lockdown to explain we needed to go ahead then or come off the list. I will be providing over half the care hours and at the time I wouldn't have been allowed in. So with heavy hearts we pulled out, having been told it would all be recorded as due to Covid so we could come back to the process.
During this time my son's dad died (Covid with underlying health issues). So his meltdowns have increased.
We re-started the Assisted Living process months ago. A few months ago I had a phone call with someone who claimed to be an expert but who literally had to google ADHD on the phone. Don't get me wrong, she was lovely but WTF!?
The last appointment with his psychiatrist she suggested stopping his Risperidone. Before he was on this his meltdowns were daily and they were violent. We both (me and son) said no that can't happen.
I've just had to prepare my child that if they do stop him taking it, I'll have to ask them to put him in emergency accommodation. I cannot even begin to explain how crap I feel but it is the right choice.
Before medication he was violently melting down every day. It honestly was akin to being in an abusive relationship.
These days, the younger ones are older, two of them are also autistic so need extra input.
Maybe I am asking for someone to say I get it. You're saving who you can. That's how it feels. The others will drown otherwise and I won't be in a place to save them.
Sorry, so much waffle.
Sending hugs your way. It sounds like youâve all been through the mill. Iâm so sorry for the loss of your sonâs father.
Thatâs such a tough decision to have to make, but itâs like you say; you have to think of everyone on the scene and whatâs best for all of you as a whole. I can only imagine how difficult it must be and the guilt you feel, that so often comes with being a parent of any child particularly those with additional support needs, must be intense.
Thatâs strange that the âexpertâ had to Google ADHD. Doesnât sound like an expert to me. Have they said why they recommend your son stop his medication? It sounds like he really needs it so I can see why youâre both against that idea.
My sons are still very young so itâs hard to tell where they will be at or how they will cope as they get older, but my mind very often wanders there and it worries me that one day they might become too strong for us to manage by ourselves and their meltdowns become too much to cope with. Youâre a good mum, youâre trying to do right by all of your children and itâs not easy. Take care of yourself, youâre doing the best you can.
Thank you so much.Sending hugs your way. It sounds like youâve all been through the mill. Iâm so sorry for the loss of your sonâs father.
Thatâs such a tough decision to have to make, but itâs like you say; you have to think of everyone on the scene and whatâs best for all of you as a whole. I can only imagine how difficult it must be and the guilt you feel, that so often comes with being a parent of any child particularly those with additional support needs, must be intense.
Thatâs strange that the âexpertâ had to Google ADHD. Doesnât sound like an expert to me. Have they said why they recommend your son stop his medication? It sounds like he really needs it so I can see why youâre both against that idea.
My sons are still very young so itâs hard to tell where they will be at or how they will cope as they get older, but my mind very often wanders there and it worries me that one day they might become too strong for us to manage by ourselves and their meltdowns become too much to cope with. Youâre a good mum, youâre trying to do right by all of your children and itâs not easy. Take care of yourself, youâre doing the best you can.
They haven't said why they would consider stopping it so I'll just have to wait until the next appointment to ask. Hopefully it will be ok.
I understand your position. I'm almost in it again, looking at the younger ones who may or may not have similar difficulties to my eldest going through life.
Thanks again for your reply. I find it really hard to ask for help so wouldn't have mentioned it to friends etc. On here is easier.