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I am new here. I have a soon to be 7 year old son who has just been dx in Jan with AS and SID.

We have always known he was a bit different since about 1.
We thought it was he was gifted.
Then as the years passed he became more and more not like the other children his age and even more so with his motor skills.

We had him tested so we could just know what it was we are dealing with to help be better parents to him as well.

He tested high on IQ but not high enough for AS/HF. So he is gifted in reading and verbal comprehension and missed math by a point. The psych said if we tuned up his fine motor he may have tested even higher in some other areas. He pretty much tested to the letter for an Aspie textbook style.

He loves to read and is ripping through a lot of childcraft encyclopedias just given to us (what a blessing!). He loves oil pump jacks and the Cambrain Period (hence my trilobite avitar). He hums when he eats, flaps his hands when he is excited, and holds on for dear life going down stairs or playground slides.
He walked up to a little boy the other day and said "what's your name?" the little boy said "Adam." My son said "wow! That is the coolest name ever! You are named after a element!-Do you know everything is made out of atoms?" the boy just looked at my son like "What?!' and walked away .....felt so bad for my son.

We are taking a break from OT/PT for the summer as it was just getting to be to much. Twice a week since Janurary and we homeschool, so it was crimping our style. It helped him some with his GM skills and his FM too.

I have purchased Carol Grey's Social Stories book and have yet to make great strides with that and I just got ISpeek which I am still fumbling with.

My son needs schedules to live by and we are now trying to help him socially-understand peoples body language-personal space and tantrums-oh the tantrums.
He is very emotional.
He cannot handle change very well even more so if we take a different route home from the grocery store. He knows all the routes we take, how many pumps and what kind are on each road, and if we do not tell him which pump road we are taking to or from the store all is lost.

We are now on a GF/CF/SF diet.
It has helped his gut tremendously. We also use homeopathy and see an applied kinesologist/nutritionalist to treat him too.

I teeter on the vax issue with him as well as genetics. I find sometimes I may have self dx AS in some aspects, and my 1st cousin has ASHF and was dx early-like at 3y/o.

I have a little girl who we did not vax and she is fine. No signs of anything even remotely like we saw with my son at her age (2.5y/o). My only problem with her is she imitates her brother so she is making the sounds he makes and following his obsessions. He is a great teacher for her of the world and things but she has a hard time whne he cries and she does not understand why he is upset.

I am hoping to find support here and how to manage along this journey.

Welcome! It is good to talk to another mom who believes in the GF-CF diet! Can you please let me know what homeopathic solutions you are using for your son?
Thanks,
Lauri

Hi Laurie
We see a classical homeopath and his constitutionals have changed quite a bit over the years.
He is now currently taking aurum metallicum which I was hoping help curb his tantrums but it is not doing so well. It has taken the edge off a bit but not what I was hoping for.

The best change we have had was taking out the dietary allergens. That was by far the best move we made. It is hard to keep up with it and costly too

I find with both homeopathy and the AK body work on my son working together, we get the best results.

We also use Bach flower remedies too and even get quick fixes with those on our harder days.

There's a set of social skills DVD's called Model Me Kids that parents on another forum were raving about if you're looking for a different option from social stories:
http://www.modelmekids.com/

We found that setting up the home so that OT was just part of everyday life helped make huge strides both in motor skills and in helping regulate sensori-wise. We have a mini gym in the basement with a variety of therapy swings for spinning/swinging, some IKEA play furniture (rocker and thick air mattress), huge foam blocks, trampoline, etc. For fine motor we kept a "hand tub" near the kitchen table and I would always be adding new or different activities such as silly putty, hand games, etc. It was fun and all the kids liked it so it never seemed like therapy.

Hello Enemamma,

Our 7 year old son was diagnosed AS just before his 7th birthday.

We tried the GF-CF diet but didn't notice any difference.

Our son is 'AS free' on school holidays. So a 'school-free' diet works best for him!

Actually, school have finally implemented his IEP and he's really good at school now.

Smelena

Welcome.

Our son is being dx'd. He's 8. w/help from his dr things are starting to improve lately. We have homeschooled him for 2 years, but are planning on putting him back in public school next. I just really need a break.

There are a lot awesome parents here w/great insight.

Welcome,
I am a mom of four three on the spectrum. A 16 yr old aspie, a 7 yr old HFA and a 2 1/2 yr old ASD, my middle guy (12) lurks around there too but his higher social skills and functioning keep him from needing as much help and so we have not had him tested. I have learned so much being here on WP, but the most important thing I learned was that I am not alone.

Welcome, hope you soon feel at home here. You will a lot of great people here, and a lot of help, I have.

Z is 10, dx of AS and ADHD, other things are still pending. Looking forward to getting to know you.

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes..

Do any of you ever have time to chat here?
I have tried but never seems to find any parents chatting here.

Pippen I love your idea of a hand tub. I am going to try that. I love to be able to do things more out of fun than make them seem like "therapy." Great idea! TY! TY too for the link.

tam1klt2
HS'ing is tough. I know I really got burnt at the end of this year. You have to do what is best for everyone in your family. "If Mamma ain't happy- ain't no body happy." SO it goes, eh?

Smelena
The GF/CF diet for us has helped in other ways besides the AS. He was always stuffy and always having some sort of cough. It was definitaley the milk. He was also very stuck on a high carb diet-typical of AS kiddos from what I read (OCD about foods) which was causing his gut to be very distented.

OK off to post about our day