Are there any parents on here with Sen Children or suspected Sen?
Would be good to get a support group going
Would be good to get a support group going
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Yes here! 2.5 year old daughter has a speech delay and has been referred to the paediatrician as she is showing some traits of ASD.
The past 4 months she’s progressed so much with her understanding, attention, eye contact and speech saying around 30 words now although they are not said consistently.
The past 4 months she’s progressed so much with her understanding, attention, eye contact and speech saying around 30 words now although they are not said consistently.
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Mine is also 2.5, we got referred at the 2 year check to peads, s&l, child development centre etc. health visitor said she knew he had autism the minute we walked in. She use to be involved with the diagnosis of children with autism.
We have no words still, I’m trying to introduce pecs etc but he has no real understanding of them yet. Eye contact I work on using intensive interaction- plenty of videos on YouTube if anyone’s interested. Sleep is the worst, he’s up 4 times a night at least. He gets off to sleep fine but can’t stay asleep.
We have no words still, I’m trying to introduce pecs etc but he has no real understanding of them yet. Eye contact I work on using intensive interaction- plenty of videos on YouTube if anyone’s interested. Sleep is the worst, he’s up 4 times a night at least. He gets off to sleep fine but can’t stay asleep.
got a nearly 4 year old, diagnosed ASD, pending ADHD, suuuuuuper demand avoidant, chatters endlessly but it’s all echolalia, and yet somehow even though they can’t tell me much I somehow find myself bossed around all day everyday 
Yesssss, I've found my people 
.
My just turned 3 year old non verbal girl was referred in March for Autism and she has also been referred for speech and language. The wait times are insaaaannee and I was going out of my mind so we also paid for a senior Educational psychologist to come and do the ADOS assessment so we know she has autism.
My health visitor was shockingly shite. She's dipped now after putting in the referrals and passed us on to portage. I'd been telling her my worries since my girl was 16 months old and she fobbed me off for so long
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Have you thought about making your own? I've just ordered a laminator off Amazon (I never realized how cheap they are!) and I'm going to take pictures of everything (snacks, juice, us, the car, the park, play group etc etc) and see if that's grabs her interest.
With his sleep, has he always been like that or does he do it in cycles?
My girl does 2-3 months great sleep, 2-3 months constant waking in the night and a new cycle of not going up until we go to bed
.My just turned 3 year old non verbal girl was referred in March for Autism and she has also been referred for speech and language. The wait times are insaaaannee and I was going out of my mind so we also paid for a senior Educational psychologist to come and do the ADOS assessment so we know she has autism.
My health visitor was shockingly shite. She's dipped now after putting in the referrals and passed us on to portage
. I'd been telling her my worries since my girl was 16 months old and she fobbed me off for so long---
We tried pecs but she wasn't interested, just wanted to play with them lol.
Have you thought about making your own? I've just ordered a laminator off Amazon (I never realized how cheap they are!) and I'm going to take pictures of everything (snacks, juice, us, the car, the park, play group etc etc) and see if that's grabs her interest.
With his sleep, has he always been like that or does he do it in cycles?
My girl does 2-3 months great sleep, 2-3 months constant waking in the night and a new cycle of not going up until we go to bed
The wait in our area for s&l is 18 weeks, which isn’t too bad compared to some. Paeds is 18 months. If we havnt heard anything by the time he’s 3, we are planning to get a private assessment done. We also have his name down for a private Sen nursery for September 2024. Who will support with EHCP etc.Yesssss, I've found my people
My just turned 3 year old non verbal girl was referred in March for Autism and she has also been referred for speech and language. The wait times are insaaaannee and I was going out of my mind so we also paid for a senior Educational psychologist to come and do the ADOS assessment so we know she has autism.
My health visitor was shockingly shite. She's dipped now after putting in the referrals and passed us on to portage
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We tried pecs but she wasn't interested, just wanted to play with them lol.
Have you thought about making your own? I've just ordered a laminator off Amazon (I never realized how cheap they are!) and I'm going to take pictures of everything (snacks, juice, us, the car, the park, play group etc etc) and see if that's grabs her interest.
With his sleep, has he always been like that or does he do it in cycles?
My girl does 2-3 months great sleep, 2-3 months constant waking in the night and a new cycle of not going up until we go to bed
My health visitor was so nice, they seem to vary so much.
We have made our own pecs, photoing familiar things like his toys, the car etc and laminating it. I made him a communication book which I’m hoping he will grow into as his understanding increases.
His sleeps always been rubbish, it’s never changed from when he was born. Given up thinking it will change at least for now. I’ve got 3 other kids, two with autism and they still don’t sleep through the night. Just how it is for us.
Photos of communication book-
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Check out ASD Bright Ideas on Facebook, they make really low cost tools for helping to communicate, we recently purchased a daily calendar and it’s really helped!
www.facebook.com
ASD Bright Ideas | Exeter
ASD Bright Ideas, St Leonard's. 47,178 likes · 321 talking about this · 37 were here. Visuals PECs routines & more to help families like mine with children on the ASD spectrum hug Sandra
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Can I ask if you think you think your little one is getting harder work, or if things are getting a bit easier? I have a 2.5 year old and the past month she’s been so grizzly at the littlest things now, not sure if it’s going to get worse!
So I would say the month prior to turning 3 and then the month after were the worst by far, we had the usual 3 year old upsets but on steroids because of sensory overload or anxiety, it’s not an easy time for anyone but we’re almost at 4 now and can see the light! I noticed her behaviour was way worse when she was overtired and having consecutive days at nursery, I switched her to alternate days with a day of rest at home with me inbetween each session and it’s like having a new child, she’s started participating in games and has actually been spotted playing WITH another child, not just near!!! It’s been a hit financially to accommodate but really made our lives more pleasant allowing her that rest time, I’d fully recommend it!
2 1/2 year old had hearing test yesterday. I thought he coped really well considering. They want to monitor him because he didn’t respond to quiet noises, but then he doesn’t respond to much tbh.
They want to monitor the responses to quiet noises and wish to sedate after the next session.
They also seemed concerned he had antibiotics at birth due to having sepsis.
Should I be concerned about the lack of response in relation to hearing? My other kids had the hearing test as well, few years ago now but I wasn’t questioned in the same way about birth, illness, can they hear in a different room etc and we weren’t asked to come back despite them not engaging.
Hearing issue or not I know he has some autistic traits. Poor little guy.
They want to monitor the responses to quiet noises and wish to sedate after the next session.
They also seemed concerned he had antibiotics at birth due to having sepsis.
Should I be concerned about the lack of response in relation to hearing? My other kids had the hearing test as well, few years ago now but I wasn’t questioned in the same way about birth, illness, can they hear in a different room etc and we weren’t asked to come back despite them not engaging.
Hearing issue or not I know he has some autistic traits. Poor little guy.
My daughter had to go back 3 times for hearing tests as they didn’t get all the results they needed as she just lost interest each time, but after the third time they did get all the answers and her results do fall in the normal range. I never got asked all those questions but my daughter hadn’t been referred to the paediatrician at that point, maybe they ask those extra questions when a child has been referred?
As lack of response to name etc can be an autistic trait maybe they wanted to get as much information as they could there and then.
I wouldn’t worry too much at this stage, they will just book him in for another hearing test in a month or so time.
As lack of response to name etc can be an autistic trait maybe they wanted to get as much information as they could there and then.
I wouldn’t worry too much at this stage, they will just book him in for another hearing test in a month or so time.
Your son’s story sounds very similar to my eldest son’s. He’s almost 8 now and diagnosed autistic. He had sepsis at birth and was on the antibiotic Gentamicin to treat it. When we first suspected that he could be autistic the first port of call was a hearing assessment at 17 months because he didn’t respond to his name or being called. Prior to this, when he was about 6 months old, he was called for a hearing test as apparently gentamicin carries a risk of causing hearing loss. He passed all hearing tests and was discharged. He had significant speech and language delay when he was younger but is now a very chatty boy who responds fine to being called (except when engrossed in his video games
). I’m sure your wee one will be ok Thank you so much for this reply, it helps to know my little boy isn’t the only one going through this.Your son’s story sounds very similar to my eldest son’s. He’s almost 8 now and diagnosed autistic. He had sepsis at birth and was on the antibiotic Gentamicin to treat it. When we first suspected that he could be autistic the first port of call was a hearing assessment at 17 months because he didn’t respond to his name or being called. Prior to this, when he was about 6 months old, he was called for a hearing test as apparently gentamicin carries a risk of causing hearing loss. He passed all hearing tests and was discharged. He had significant speech and language delay when he was younger but is now a very chatty boy who responds fine to being called (except when engrossed in his video games
I was sure he didn’t respond to the sounds because that’s just part of how he presents, rather than a hearing issue. And I’d hate to think any medication he’d been given had effected him in anyway- even though there was no choice. (He had been given Gentamicin for a week at birth).
It’s an added stress that’s not really helpful tbh but I understand why they have to test.
SLT here 
so lovely to hear some of your success stories and strategies! Here for any advice if needed x
so lovely to hear some of your success stories and strategies! Here for any advice if needed xWould loooooove to pick your brains about something if that's okay?SLT here
My little is 3 years old and non verbal. She's surprising us alot recently by pointing to things in books that we had no idea she knew. For example we said "where's the wheelchair" and she pointed straight to it. Then when we asked "where's the fire?", again she pointed straight to it.
My question is, when does a child go from understanding words to using them? (How long is a piece of string lol)
Of course! It’s different for everyone, but it sounds as if your child is now following 1 key word (fire, wheelchair). You’ll aim to build this up to two, such as “where’s the fire and fish” or with concepts like “where’s the big fire”. A child has to hear a word SO many times before it’s fully understood and then used. So now she knows the word fire, try and point it out in looooads of different contexts and settings (e.g there’s another fire, it’s hot like a fire etc).
The other thing is, children don’t just speak first. They have to understand sounds, explore sounds, mimic sounds, put them together etc. Is your child able to imitate sounds etc? Encourage her to mimic animal noises, other noises such as car/train be a good place to start
I find myself in such a negative hole that I just can’t seem to get out of at the moment.
I know it’s absolutely pointless comparing my child to others but I’m doing it a lot lately. For example this morning we went to a play group that we usually go to each week and my 2.5 year old daughter does play with toys but also wants to climb on everything she shouldn’t constantly, escape and turn off the lights etc whereas all the other children play so nice all the time.
I also have a 7 month baby and a lot of the other children make a fuss of the baby wanting to hold her etc and my daughter doesn’t give her the time of day, so they don’t have the bond that I always imagined I would have with 2 children. My baby always looks at her older sister with smiles and love and my daughter just isn’t interested and ignores her.
Also things like going out with my friends and their children who are similar in age and they are engaging and playing ‘typically’ and life seems so much simpler for them, especially with the communication side of things.
I know she is who is meant to be and is happy and healthy and that ‘comparison is the thief of joy’ but I can’t seem to shift this negative cloud over my head.
There isn’t any point to this post really, just putting it out there that I personally do struggle with her being ‘different’ to what I always imagined it would be a parent of a toddler.
I know it’s absolutely pointless comparing my child to others but I’m doing it a lot lately. For example this morning we went to a play group that we usually go to each week and my 2.5 year old daughter does play with toys but also wants to climb on everything she shouldn’t constantly, escape and turn off the lights etc whereas all the other children play so nice all the time.
I also have a 7 month baby and a lot of the other children make a fuss of the baby wanting to hold her etc and my daughter doesn’t give her the time of day, so they don’t have the bond that I always imagined I would have with 2 children. My baby always looks at her older sister with smiles and love and my daughter just isn’t interested and ignores her.
Also things like going out with my friends and their children who are similar in age and they are engaging and playing ‘typically’ and life seems so much simpler for them, especially with the communication side of things.
I know she is who is meant to be and is happy and healthy and that ‘comparison is the thief of joy’ but I can’t seem to shift this negative cloud over my head.
There isn’t any point to this post really, just putting it out there that I personally do struggle with her being ‘different’ to what I always imagined it would be a parent of a toddler.
I completely understand. Toddler hood is hard anyway but when you factor in Sen needs it can be very very overwhelming.
First things first - do you have any local Sen play groups? They are a total game changer. I tried so sooo many typical playgroups and it just sucked. For my 3 year old AND for myself. But at a Sen group all the other parents just *get* it. The climbing/screaming/meltdown/the not sharing... absolutely no judgement.
In terms of the sibling bond? My 3 year old is only just now finding her 5 year old interesting. She'll watch him jumping and running around and only now will she want to join in.
That bond will come eventually when baby is more "interesting".
It IS hard seeing typical kids the same age doing things your kids can't. I'm not gonna lie, I struggle seeing them talk when mine can't yet. What really helps is seeing the progress my girl is making within the last 6 months. Today, she used a banana as a telephone. 6 months ago her imaginative play was none existent. I was literally beaming.
I've taken to typing down all the new things she does. It helps to see the progress!
Don't listen to those aUtIsM mOmS who say autism is a super power and all that other bollocks. It hard. Especially when theres no village to help you.
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Yeah she doesn't imitate lol. Trust me, we've been working on animal noises for years. She's a gestalt language processor so "quack quack" means we are going to the lake to feed the ducks.Of course! It’s different for everyone, but it sounds as if your child is now following 1 key word (fire, wheelchair). You’ll aim to build this up to two, such as “where’s the fire and fish” or with concepts like “where’s the big fire”. A child has to hear a word SO many times before it’s fully understood and then used. So now she knows the word fire, try and point it out in looooads of different contexts and settings (e.g there’s another fire, it’s hot like a fire etc).
The other thing is, children don’t just speak first. They have to understand sounds, explore sounds, mimic sounds, put them together etc. Is your child able to imitate sounds etc? Encourage her to mimic animal noises, other noises such as car/train be a good place to start
She'll watch my mouth when I'm talking/singing but won't copy.
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Thanks for your honest reply, it certainly is hard. I definitely need to go to more SEN classes as I’ve only been to one before, also need to meet some SEN mums who ‘get it’!