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BOY INSIDE IN AUSTRALIA

Hi all, I have been inspired by this doco on Adam by Marianne. What agreat expression of love from a Mum, but also Adam, you are a leader in a sense as you are now paving the way for others, showing us all that there is no stopping anyone! My partner's son has Aspergers, and at 11 he is coming along well. Yes we have fears for the future, but we also embrace it for him as well. L and I have been in one another's life for just over 3 years now from when I strted seeing his Dad. I like to think we entered one another's lives for a reason!!! Anyway, all the best everyone, Maree
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Vancouver screenings of The Boy Inside and panel of youth speakers with ASD

A group of mums brought together by inclusion activist and life coach Lynn Skotnitsky and myself have banded together to run a series of community events around the Lower Mainland to promote awareness and educate our community about ASD. We have already had 3 very successful events in Abbotsford, North Vancouver and Richmond. The next three are coming up in June and July in Vancouver and Surrey. Deatils below. We show the film with Punjabi or Chinese subtitles, but the most exciting part is that we have a panel of six youth with ASD, ranging in age from 12- 17 who talk about their experiences with ASD and answer questions from the audience. This is followed by a facilitated community discussion and informal reception where the audience gets to meet the boys and the mums and continue the conversation. The boys are brilliant, and people are inspired by them. Educators, parents, and students have been attending. At the end of our project we will have a handbook so other communities can create their own version of this event. To see how the boys have grown in self confidence through the process of this project is truly incredible. There is so much power in giving youth with ASD an opportunity to express themselves in public, something I learned from seeing how much Adam gained in speaking at screenings. The next events are as follows: Vancouver: Langara College, Sunday, June 7th, 1:00pm Registration: 604-323-5322 (Please mention CRN# 60614). Indicate if you would like a certificate. Vancouver: Fifth Avenue Cinema, Saturday, June 13th, 10:00am Registration: On Line at www.kitscc.com or call 604 257-6976 Course number 36605.201KT. Indicate if you'd like a certificate. Surrey Arts Centre, Thursday, July 9th, 6:00pm The film will be shown with Punjabi subtitles. Registration #: 4183675 Call (604) 501-5100 OR Visit any City of Surrey Recreation Centre. For further details please visit www.outreach.surrey.ca or call (604) 598-5864 or (604) 502-6353. Indicate if you would like a certificate. Come to learn and be inspired.
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Hello from Australia

On Saturday On Bio channel here in Australia they aired the film the boy inside I can't tell you how much of my daughter I saw in Adam. Dana is 13 years old I am a mother of 6 children, recently lost my eldest son in a car accident in August 2007, Dana is #4 child followed by twins of which one of them is also in doubt for AS I need as much information as possible. Dana entered High school this year and I really don't think she was socially ready for the transition and that reflected already in her first school report. The school is very quick to say that a lot of my kids issues are environmental when they have been like this since babyhood and toddlers. and I have had enough experience with my other children to know what is "normal" and what is not. I had both Dana and Luke watch the film and Dana agreed with some of it. Thanks for putting it out there, I am off to the paediatrican today to demand both Dana and Luke ( 11yrs) get assessed.
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Mums and Dads Forum | Online Childcare Network Magazine for Single Parents.

common childhood illnesses, childcare network for single parents, children toys for sale, parenting magazine, mum dad forum, today's single parents
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parents wanted

Hello:) I am a grade 12 student doing a research report on Aspergers Syndrome. I need to conduct interviews with parents of AS children in order to collect my own primary research if anyone is willing to participate please answer the following questions and either post them here or message/ email them to me. Your answers will be kept confidential if you wish. Thanks for your help! 1. When was your child diagnosed, at what age? 2. What signs or symptoms was s/he showing? 3. Who helped in identifying the signs or symptoms? 4. Was getting an accurate diagnosis a difficulty? 5. Where did you seek help? 6. What were some complications you found throughout the process of diagnosis? 7. Would you have done anything differently while seeking a diagnosis? 8. Who/what has supported your Aspergers child the most? 9. What role, if any, did the school play in the diagnosis of your child? 10. How much did you know before of this topic? 11. How were you educated on the topic of Aspergers? 12. Who/what helped you the most on understanding Aspergers? 13. How important is it for a parent with an Aspergers child to be educated? 14. What treatment did your child receive? (Medication, behavior) 15. Who supported you throughout the treatment? (school, doctors, AS group)
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There Is A Treatment; It Worked For Us!

My son now has a bustling social life! He is in Grade 12 and gets invitations to parties and outings every Friday and Saturday night. This is an AS mother's dream come true. I can remember feeling such deep sadness watching the lonliness and repeated rejections that my son went through while his brother and sister had so many friends and parties to attend. I'm sure I probably felt worse than he did. It no longer mattered to me whether or not he would finish high school despite having such a brilliant mind. All I wanted for him was to have just one good friend. My son had severe ADHD to go with his borderline AS. Can you imagine what this combination was like? Picture someone with uncontrollable impulsive behaviour, accentuated with hyperactivity and then not having the ability to read social cues and realize that he was infuriating the very people he was trying to impress. This went on for 15 years! We are coming up to three years this June 25th of being free of ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome symptoms. We owe my son's whole future success and our whole family's peace and normalcy to a husband and wife team of psychologists at The ADD Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. Although both doctors seem to be familiar with both conditions, as I understand it, Dr. Lynda Thompson is the ADD expert while Dr. Michael Thompson, lucky for us, is an internationaly recognized expert on AS. Their treatment uses very non-invasive neuro-biofeedback. The treatment helps the patients engage, use, and exercise the apparently weak part of the brain associated with ADD or AS, as the case may be. The centre is meant for ADD patients and for adults sometimes with very impressive careers who just want to increse their level of concentration. Every once in awhile, they come across an ADD patient who also has AS. So I hope that they can manage to take your child on as an AS patient. The ADD Centre has tremendous success with ADD patients. Just sit in the waiting room and chat with the parents there. These doctors do not claim to cure. They claim to help the patients handle their condition. But from my perspective, the problems and symptoms just go away....long term. To be sure that I have not misrepresented The ADD Centre or the doctors in any way, please visit their website and give them a call. I know the pain, suffering and stress that being a parent of an AS child can bring. So I hope that some of you will find the enormous relief that my husband and I have found and the joy of friendships that my son now enjoys with the help Dr.'s Lynda and Michael Thompson.
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Discussion Forums open again

Hi there we got spammed so had to shut down for a while. We are back now and require you to register to join the discussion group. Its fast and easy. Hope to chat with you soon. Marianne
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Looking for a Good Dr. - For a Diagnosis

My son is yet to be diagnosed officially. But I have lived with him for 13 years, and from all of the reading that I have done about AS, and all of the conversations I have had with teachers, my son, and his brother, I am pretty much convinced what the root of his problems is. I visited his GP today, to get a referral to get him assessed thinking that it will make a difference. But after reading all that I have tonight, and witnessing again the pill-pushing easy-way-out attitude of our medical community (my son was previously diagnosed as ADD, which I hear is common) I see that I will have a long hard fight ahead of us to get him what he needs. But I'm ready. He's worth it. What we need right now is the right doctor ... one with an open mind, not too far from the Golden Horseshoe who would take the time to arrive at a proper diagnosis. If you do, please respond.
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there is a school for children with AS and behaviours

To all you parents out there looking for a school solution for you child. My son was kicked out of one district, we uprooted moved to a completely knew town and started all over again. It started well, but quickly went down hill to the point that he recieved one hour per week of instruction in our home provided three adults were present, teacher, child and youth worker and myself. I contact the ministry of education and the district was satisfying there requirement for giving him an education much to my dismay, I tried to find a lawyer, but this is such a specialized and rare area of the law, that no one could help me, if anyone knows of a lawyer please post their name, not that I need one now but there are lots of other parents that may. In all he missed nearly three years of school. Thru perseverence and determination i demanded meeting after meeting to find something for him. After a year and a half in our new district the District Principal came to me with an idea for my son a new school program was created called the Discovery Program. It started last January as a pilot project with 4 teachers / ea's and 5 elementary children, it was so successful that it is now running full time. My son is in a class mornings only with 5 students and 5 teachers /ea's and this month will start being integrated back into a regular classroom. My son since January has gone from running away, threatening verbal and physical violence towards teachers and students, threatening suicide to a child that is doing work in the classroom, homework most nights quite willingly, and has friends who come to our home and he goes to theirs, problems and all. While he still has his outbursts, they are fewer and fewer and he is learning to cope in a classroom. And all the behavioural programming that the teachers have spent the last year learning from him and teaching him will follow him as one of those ea's will go to the regular school with him and teach it to the teachers. He is always going to have more difficulties at school and have the label of being different, but know he has a fighting chance at finishing school with an education (modified), and going into the community as an adult and contributing. The school district we are in is #68 Nanaimo Ladysmith British Columbia. Anyone wanting more info can contact me at wakefields101@shaw.ca Parents demand programs like this in your school district, it can be done and is successful. Julie Wakefield
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Living in the Moment - the downside

Just caught the documentary last night and can't stop thinking about it. It was fantastic and I will recommend it to my relatives who don't understand what we've been going through. My 17-yr-old has AS and went through very similar times in Gr. 7/8. He's in a better place now, socially - he says it's because he works so much harder than anyone else. Since he was diagnosed in Gr. 8 he has put real effort into studying social norms. He even thinks he's better at it than most people. (Not exactly true, but he has made great strides, and I hope it offers encouragement to some of the parents of younger kids here, that aspies can learn these skills.) However, we still struggle with him. The 'In the Moment' concept has me bothered right now, because I agree, that is one of the key characteristics of his aspieness - and at my son's age, you CAN"T just live in the moment. He is going to university (he hopes) in the next year or two and keeps saying he's got to really work this year to get the grades etc., and yet his 'in-the-moment' mindset leads him to immerse himself in video games or his obsession(mountain biking) rather than schoolwork that doesn't interest him in the least. I am wondering if there is any way to get around this problem. He is tested as gifted, and yet even with a reduced schedule, an extra spare and lots of tutoring, he rarely does homework, he's only getting marks in the 60s, and thinks he's going to be a doctor one day! As I see it, this is a result of living in the moment. Cause and effect don't mean anything to him, so I feel at a loss as to how we can help him 'connect the dots' - how to encourage him to stop living in the moment and start thinking about the future. Does anyone have any advice or btdt? With a 'normal' kid, we'd just let him take the fall (fail) but with my son, and suicidal ideation in the past, that really scares me. Thanks so much! - Kim in Ontario
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