My son is just 5years old.

Last night we were sitting as usual in his playroom with his AAC device. We were talking about his daily activities, school etc. usually it was like me (his mother) asks questions and he responds with pictures or keyboard (typing)

After a while he willingly took the device and typed “You Look tired?” And then go to picture and navigated to some folder and clicked why

So the question is “you look tired? Why?”

One part of My heart healed at that moment and I kissed him and said it’s nothing mom has a cold.

He said “Ok”

I said I love you

He replied “I love you”

Best day of my life

I’m son is 3, and has level two autism. I was originally doing data entry for my mils business. However, I kept having to leave work because daycare was constantly calling me to pick him up. (For context, this was when he was one year old, and before we got his diagnosis) so she moved me to working from home part time. I definitely don’t make enough doing what I do and I’d love a career change. I have 2 children so paying for daycare is crazy expensive, then with picking up and dropping him off at ABA, Speech and OT. It just seems so impossible to have a job, but in this economy it’s almost impossible to live off of my husbands paycheck. I’ve always been independent, and have no family of my own, so the thought of my husband and me getting divorced for whatever reason and me falling flat on my face keeps me up at night 😅. Anyways, what do you guys do for work? That actually allows you to be flexible due to your child’s tight schedules. I wouldn’t mind going back to school for it, as long as the degree wouldn’t take tooooo long.

My brother has two sons, one 7 year old (neurotypical) and one 4 year old who I just found out has level 3 autism or at least that's the diagnosis so far. Apparently he and his wife have known for a couple of years now but were in denial. I emigrated almost 10 years ago and can't travel back often so I haven't seen them in two years. Anyway...

Now that I have this information I want to educate myself, particularly on how to interact with him, how to be helpful to my brother, how to help the other little one understand, how to help my dad who is having a really hard time trying to be the best grandpa he can be but doesn't understand well how to interact with neurodivergent children.

What books, youtube channels, content creators, whatever, would you recommend to this auntie? And any advice, really.

Thank you <3

Late last night my son's school friend showed up out of the blue, his parents were arguing and he eloped, thankfully came to ours.

I said to my son (who was doing his bed routine) his friend is downstairs and is a bit sad, and could he look after him?

I got an emphatic no and a door slam, I was a bit disappointed, but he hates his routine being interrupted.

But in the next minute (with no input from me), he came downstairs with his blanket, wrapped his friend up and put on a kids show. They sat there for 30 minutes until one of his parents showed up.

I've never been prouder.

We're unsure what food to give my two nieces with autism. 5 years old. One girl doesn't talk much while the other can do short sentences.

We know they have several home-cooked 'safe food' but when we've tried those, it's been rejected. (Most likely different than their home version). 

My mom noticed they haven't rejected sweets, so has already filled them with cakes, cookies, ice cream, etc. I don't think they have a dietary restrictions, but I don't feel this is the way to go.

My sister (their mom) suddenly caught a bad sickness a couple days ago and dropped my nieces off with my parents and me. She's been sleeping mostly since. Since her family has had a rough past couple months, we don't want to bother her. I also don't see her recovering very soon, so any suggestions from this community is appreciated

EDIT ADD ON: thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think once the initial shock of 'ack this was unexpected' wore off, we realized we had more at our disposal than just desserts. Mangoes, applesauce, smooth peanut butter... We're going to be okay, and my sister is doing better too.

I just love him. Some periods of our lives have been so sad and isolating and scary, so I acknowledge those. And I’m fully aware we will have more challenges in the future that may overwhelm me in a way that changes my current outlook BUT… my god I just love my son so much and really, really enjoy this season of our lives.

I’m so grateful for the things in our life that work well for him and allow him to thrive and be himself. Every time I look at him so full of joy and excitement over his interests I just swell with pride and love.

He’s changed my life for the better, taught me so much about the world and what’s important, and I’m so lucky I get to be his parent.

I think about those who are struggling at this time and I want you to know that I don’t take for granted the experience I’m having. I want that for all of us so badly. I’m honoured to be part of this parenting ‘club’ because I know how fiercely we love and fight for our kids. We are amazing and I hope everyone gets to experience many seasons of joy on this journey ♥️

Recently I noticed when my daughter becomes disregulated or unfocused and we try to refocus her, the default response is to automatically apologize. I will give two recent examples and I am not sure how to teach her the tools. I feel like she suffering already from low confidence ( I also did the same thing as a child and I suffer from low self esteem).

1. The other day we had swimming class, due to a mix up the teacher was not there and she couldn’t swim. I explained to her that we could not swim that day and she was upset (understandably). She continued to apologize hoping that it would allow her to get access to swim; I apologized to my daughter multiple times and let her know she has nothing to apologize about and she did nothing wrong.

2. We are still potty training and it has been a massive uphill battle. She will say she has to go to the bathroom get distracted by something random, I will say let’s go to the bathroom to refocus her. She will get upset and start apologizing to me instead of refocusing to go to the bathroom.

I am bringing this up for various reasons but her over eagerness to apologize makes me worried that she will be seen as easily taken advantage of (it happened to me). I want her to guide her to understand that things that do not always go our way are not our fault. This scares me because we are starting kindergarten next month and she will be in a class with both neurotypical and neurodivergent kids.

What has worked with your kids?

Our son is 3 and a half and has an NHS autism diagnosis. He is non-verbal (0 words), has substantial sensory-seeking needs, struggles a lot with social interaction, and has very limited personal care skills.

We live in London, where he attends a local nursery. We are completely lost on when we should actually apply for an EHCP and have no idea whose advice to trust at this point.

Initially, the nursery staff told us not to apply for an EHCP yet. They said it would be really difficult to get and that "mainstream schools are very good these days." They seemed to know their stuff, so we were okay with that at first. Later, we spoke to someone we know who actually works with our local authority on EHCPs, and they backed up the same story. Apparently, in our council, there is only one special school that accepts children in Reception, so it's strictly reserved for the 6 to 8 most severe cases across all disabilities in that school year. Because it's so unlikely he'd get a spot there, they advised waiting, letting him go to mainstream Reception, and then reassessing during that year with the school—possibly writing the EHCP with them to transfer him to an autism-specialist school for Year 1, as there are a few more of those available.

We were fine following that plan until two things happened. First, during his NHS assessment, the SLT verbally told us something similar to the nursery, but then wrote something totally different in the report—basically asking us to visit both mainstream and special settings to make an informed choice. She also recommended a local charity that gives tips to parents. When we spoke to the charity, they immediately told us "it's already late, start that EHCP application ASAP." They warned that putting him into mainstream Reception without support could be potentially traumatic, likening it to throwing someone in the ocean to see if they can swim.

The second thing is that we started private SLT recently, and this therapist also told us to apply straight away without waiting a single second. We informed the nursery, and they agreed to kick off the process and asked us to send a few lines from the private SLT. But as soon as we asked, the private SLT immediately started talking about fees and charges for providing those few lines. That suddenly gave me huge pause... is she giving us this urgent advice just so she can charge us a ton of money for reports and potential tribunal support?

We genuinely have zero idea what is best right now. It feels like everyone has a reason for saying what they say. The nursery and local authority might be delaying to avoid paperwork or save money because LA budgets are stretched. On the flip side, the private SLT could be financially biased, and while the charity is great, they've never actually met my child. I'm also worried I might just be overinterpreting the NHS report.

Has anyone in London been through something similar? Is it really better to apply for the EHCP now before Reception, or wait and do it through a mainstream school? Would really appreciate any insights from parents who've been there.

My son (4yo level 2 verbal, recently diagnosed) spends hours every day happily playing with legos. Basically any downtime we have at home he's building little Lego creations. At what point does it become too much??

I’m looking for some guidance and help please. For background I have Audhd (diagnosed) and my son who is 14 was diagnosed with ASD/C around 12 months ago and also has a lot of anxiety. He has some friends at school and a girlfriend but he struggles to fit into social norms and can be very quiet. When you get to know him he is very funny and he’s so caring and kind.

Over the last year I have noticed that my dresses in my wardrobe have been moved or inside out and my makeup items left in different places. I suspected my son has been experimenting so haven’t mentioned anything but also tell him that he can talk to me about anything, I am non judgmental and only want him to be happy. I reaffirm regularly that our relationship is a safe space to be who he wants to be. A few weeks ago he opened up that he tries on my dresses, I reassured that it’s ok. I asked a few questions like do you feel like you want to be a girl and he said i don’t know I juts like how they feel. I said to him that he is so young he doesn’t have to have the answers now and he can continue to be curious and explore his identity and if he needed to talk I am always here.

Now he will put a particular dress of mine on in front of me but he’s very shy about it, I act completely normal with him because I truly do just want him to be himself.

But I am conscious of his vulnerability being autistic and I suspect OCD too (I also have this) so don’t want to lead him in any direction. However I have noticed he has become more withdrawn lately and I know it’s coupled with hormones too but I am worried about him.

He had some counselling with the WHAT centre but he didn’t open up at all and kept it superficial so I know therapy alone won’t help.

Really need some advice on what to do.

My 5 yo son is doing summer school. He rides the bus with other mix aged special ed students. Today a boy who looks like he’s in middle school loudly screamed before we came on the bus. I didn’t think anything of it as I walked on the bus with my son. All of a sudden this kid lunges out of his seat & hits my son. I loudly tell him not to do that again. The bus driver immediately comes to the back to deal with the situation. She tells the boy to sit in his seat & not hit. The kid is completely disregulated & starts yelling and hitting himself and the seat behind him super hard. The bus driver tries to calm him down & semi succeeds. She is flustered by the situation and immediately drives away, not even waiting for the other kid who waits at the bus stop with us.

Tomorrow is the last day of summer school. My husband is on a work trip, & so it’s just me at home with 4 kids. I’m scared to put my son on the bus tomorrow but it’s also difficult to get everyone awake & ready to drive him to school

My boys, ADHD and ASD (1) severe ADHD cannot walk in any sort of vaguely organized pattern if it kills them. If I walk along side them I literally have to put my arm out so they don’t run into me, walk in front of me, step on my shoes, or trip me. Have chipped my teeth several times after losing my balance being near them.

We took them to the city and walking around was a minefield for me- who has horrible coordination to begin with. Both kids are in OT and have been for years.

He (5 yr old, level 2 autistic) had it in the morning and by 3pm, I noticed it was gone. Like what? Lol

When I asked about it, he just nonchalantly says "yeah its gone". I asked why he didnt tell me, he says "I dont want too, momma".

Ok? 🤣 his first tooth and he didn't even care. For all i know, he swallowed it because its gone. 🤷‍♀️.

If you have not read/seen - There is a currently an 11-yo non-verbal boy with ASD missing in Calgary Canada. He eloped from his day home (a specialty child care center) 5 days ago. Staff discovered he was gone and called very help very early on... I believe they said they he could not have left more than 33 minutes before they called authorities. About an hour later he was captured on a business camera, then another one like 15 minutes after that... by that time he was 2.5 miles away, had taken off his shirt, and was walking quickly. That was the last sighting. It's like they are looking a human needle in a haystack.

I'm really struggling to not let my emotions get overwhelmed by yet another disappearance of one of our babies, and one that I can't do anything about. If I were possible for me to travel there and help search, I would. I couldn't sleep last night imagining what may have happened to the boy and what the family is going through.

• Please consider using a GPS if you do not (or any kind of tracking). If this kid had even had just an AirTag in his shoe they would have been able to either locate him, or at least track which way he going better than two random camera sightings.
• The way Calgary is showing up for this kid is incredible. They have over 300 official persons looking for him, and then thousands of private citizens just out looking under bridges, in trees and any spot a kid might go to for shelter. They have been using heat-seeking drones, helicopters, patrols (foot, horse and vehicle), divers/ships and scent dogs. They only use that kind of technology and manpower in the US if it's a high profile criminal on the loose. They are playing Disney songs through patrol car speakers to try to draw him out and leaving food in various places around waterways. The way they are searching really touches my heart in a good way. But of course the fact that he's been missing without any sightings for 5 days, especially when an entire community has their eyes out for him, is very bad.
• I'm the kind of person that generally needs to act to feel better... like hoping and praying they find him is not cutting it. Any suggestions on an activity I could do that would really help? I'm trying to stay off my computer, but it's hard for me not to check every few minutes.

I once had this amazing coffee while in Mexico that was made locally, and I often think about it…. But I don’t even think that could do the job right now.

The summer has me so extremely exhausted, with early mornings, no naps, and long ass days. It’s like a core exhaustion that I can’t even describe.

Hi parents! I wanted to ask for those of you who don't have your kiddos on any sleep medication, how is that going for you. For awhile my daughter who's now 7 has been on a clonidine compound. Before that it was another medication also including melatonin. Recently the pharmacy who made it stop, because a new med came out and her insurance Medicaid doesn't cover it. I ask the doctor office but they didn't offer any other solutions, other than try another pharmacy that takes the insurance.

So my daughter has been going to bed just fine for a few weeks now, maybe here & there it takes awhile but outside of that no real issue. School is going to start back soon, that usually helps regulate her even more. So I'm considering just opting out all together in not continuing any meds. I don't care for medicine unless absolutely necessary.

Just curious for those who don't give your kids anything, how is it going? Where they always medication free or did you just wean them off? Also what routine or tips that you have for getting kids to sleep? Sorry for the long post thanks to anyone who chooses to comment.

My 10 year old sold has mild ASD. He has come MILES from a few years ago and his biggest issues are self-regulation and some physical boundaries. He is way more talkative than be used to be. He doesn't really elope anymore.

My wife and I are wondering about getting him a really basic phone. He does do some YouTube, with supervision. He does NOT need social media on his phone at all otherwise. Maybe some games. It just needs to be durable and able to call someone who we pre-decide when he feels the need, including a couple of autistic friends.

We use Google Fi, though that probably doesn't matter a whole lot.

Any thoughts?

Does any of your children suffer from acid reflux or gerd? Mine have recently started complaining of chest pain he cant explain whether its pain or burning. He burps alot. Avoids dinner, when i give him only fruit at night he is okay. Dont know if he chews too fast or doesnt chew much. But does autistic kids suffer from acid reflux issues?

So my (almost) 4 year old was diagnosed level 2 a few months ago. Myself, was late diagnosed a few weeks ago, and my 5 year old is in the process of be diagnosed.

My 5 year old has aggressive (what I think to be) meltdowns. (I used to think they were tantrums). She will esp target her little sister. Hitting, pushing ect

When they play together it is incredibly overwhelming and stressful. My 5 year old sets the rules, tells her sister how to play..ie. with Barbie’s tells her exactly what she needs to dress her Barbie’s in, the scripts for the play line. And of my 4 year old doesn’t go along it’s chaos. And my 4 year old defense mechanism is to just scream.

While my 5 year is not finished with her diagnostics, I am wondering is she just being bossy? Is this related to her possibly Autism. Does it get better? Will they ever be able to play together. Help me help them! Please.

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My son is 9.5 years old and has mild autism. About 1.5 years ago, he started having episodes of laughing for no obvious reason.

Most of the time it seems voluntary, but at other times it feels almost involuntary or as if he just can't stop. It can happen multiple times a day. He's fully conscious during these episodes, responds when spoken to, and there are no jerking movements, blank stares, or loss of awareness.

We've consulted a pediatric neurologist, who doesn't think it's seizures based on his symptoms, but we're still trying to understand what's causing it. A child psychiatrist has also been suggested.

I'm wondering if anyone else's child has experienced something similar.

- Did you ever find out what was causing it?

- Was it sensory seeking, anxiety, emotional regulation, ADHD, autism-related, or something else?

- Did it improve over time or with therapy/medication?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you.

Hi!

For context I have a 3 year old, non/pre verbal child who is on pathway for ASD assessment and is very obviously autistic. He never learnt how to use a fork, didn’t start pointing until 2 (even now he doesn’t do it correctly), hand leads, doesn’t engage etc etc etc

My second child is 12 months - could hold a pen to draw at 8 months, point at 9 months, said mum and dad at 10 months, clapped at 10 months but has slowly stopped doing things… He will clap our hands for us but not his own really. He is much less vocal than my first was (which worries me as my first doesn’t talk at 3 lol), rarely says mum or dad now and a lot of the time has blank expressions. He is hard to make laugh. He hates being hugged and always has. He doesn’t babble very much which does concern me.

On the contrary, he seems to have more joint attention than my first did, seems to recognise people more, is interested in books and will let me read a whole book to him and make me do it again, will pretend to feed me, will give me a toy if i say ‘give mummy the toy’ etc which i’m not sure if my first child ever did. My first still won’t pass toys.

I’m confused because I guess with my first there were more obvious signs but having compared the two (which i know you shouldn’t do) he seems more advanced in some areas but then the question of is he going to be autistic too pops up when i notice regression in behaviours or simply not even smiling at you. Even our first child’s SLT made a comment on ‘look how baby’s joint attention is good’ when trying to describe something to me, using the younger child as a good example of what they should be doing.

Any advice / experiences welcome!

My son is 19 months and I’m just feeling so mixed on what his behaviors could mean.

This is how everything has gone down:

I’m a first time mom and my husband works all day, and we have minimal family or friends that have been present in his life. So he has gotten minimal interaction from others aside from me during the day and his father in the evenings.

When he was 9-15 months and becoming more mobile I had him in a playpen so I could get chores done. He was amazing at independent play but would make noises to get my attention and I’d come and hug him and acknowledge him etc. but he still would be able to play independently for lots of time no problem. Around 9 months he started to throw his toys out of his play pen instead of playing with them. I’ve honestly never noticed him play with toys properly but that could be because I’ve never taken time to show him? I always just assumed he wasn’t interested or that he was too young and didn’t wanna force him.

Around 15 months I realized he was delayed. He had regressed on the three words he knew: dog dada baba, BUT during this time we had a few stressful family emergencies and I was definitely not reading as much or practicing those words. I took his playpen down & and let him explore around the house to help teach him new words and interact more and this is when I realized his attention span was so low.

From 15 months up until now I’ve worked with him very motivated to catch him up. Within that time this is what he’s developed :
-he has learned to play with a few toys properly (BUT he still prefers to throw them for fun bc he likes the sound they make or spin).. unsure if this is because of habit
-he has learned wave clap and tap and can sign for more
-started saying banana, started saying dada and dog again
-has started babbling way more
-does a lot more back and forth sounds with us
-has started to make sounds for different words
-has started engaging with himself mirrors
-continues to make great eye contact
-brings us certain things (DVDs we have in living room, certain toys he knows we like)
-feeds us his food
-responds to his name 100% of time when he’s is in crib, highchair, car seat , or stroller
-looks where we’re pointing
-I will say he is most focused on us when he’s in his highchair, crib, or stroller, BUT when he’s exploring the house he has zero focus and doesn’t respond to us (but he does respond to his dad more)
-overall his social intent / eye contact seems so neurotypical when he’s confined to highchair car seat crib etc.
-comes to us for comfort
-does not throw any severe tantrums and anytime he’s upset he calms down and self soothes within seconds.
-has great fine motor skills
-he is starting to point SOMETIMES if we direct him while reading books
-if we ask him “where’s (dog/outside/dada etc)” he will look at it across room but he does not point. He learns words quickly because when we ask he will look wherever it’s at.
-he does certain things that he will know will make me laugh
-he has learned his ears toes and nose (doesn’t point but will use his whole hand) and even will touch his toes and look at me because he knows I’ll say “toes”

But he still is:
-toe walking (when he wears shoes he doesn’t toe walk)
-low attention span (moves on quickly from one toy to next)
-unless he’s in high chair, stroller, or car seat / confined, he doesn’t respond to us because he’s too distracted
-throws his toys not because he’s mad but because he likes how they sound
-I have seen him flap one hand for like two seconds sometimes when he throws a toy because he knows it’s gonna make a sound and he likes it
-dysfunctionally plays with toys even tho he knows how to play right
-is not pointing
-still behind on speech even tho he’s improving so much
-When he’s exploring he gets so distracted but anytime we are able to get his attention he does make eye contact smiles and interacts

He’s currently receiving ABA, OT, and speech and I’ll continue those for as long as he needs and I’ll support him and love him no matter what but I’m so worried about his future. Could this be level 1 autism? Or a higher level? Or could this just be ADHD + sensory seeking + improving speech delay? I’m seeing so much improvement with speech and feel that he’ll start talking soon but my biggest worries are his attention span and dysfunctional toy play