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Sharron, I've heard it said that most people have a touch of autism somewhere along the line. It's when it interferes with life that it becomes a problem. :-D
Carol, that Consultant must be worth his weight in gold :-D
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Yes you are right there Sharron :-D :-D
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Now,I have a theory.
I think everybody is autistic but each to a different degree.
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Sharron
Dyspraxia is just one in the many disorders in the Autistic spectrum.
It’s symptoms of course vary with the severity.
The Dyspraxia foundation has been a godsend to us ever since B was diagnosed, so rather than type out a long post I will do a bit of c&p: :-D
Poor balance. Difficulty in riding a bicycle, going up and down hills
Poor posture and difficulty in standing for a long time as a result of weak muscle tone. Floppy, unstable round the joints. Some people with dyspraxia may have flat feet
Poor integration of the two sides of the body & hand-eye co-ordination, which causes difficulties with team sports especially those which involve catching a ball and batting. Difficulties with driving a car
Lack of rhythm when dancing, doing aerobics
Clumsy gait and movements’, difficulty changing direction, stopping and starting actions
Exaggerated 'accessory movements' such as flapping arms when running
Tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people
Poor at two-handed tasks, causing problems with using cutlery, cleaning, cooking, ironing, craft work, playing musical instruments
Difficulty with typing, handwriting and drawing. May have a poor pen grip, press too hard when writing and have difficulty when writing along a line
Inadequate grasp causes difficulty using tools and domestic implements, locks and keys
Difficulty with dressing and grooming activities,doing hair, fastening clothes and tying shoelaces
Talk continuously and repeat themselves. Some people with dyspraxia have difficulty with organising the content and sequence of their language & may have unclear speech and be unable to pronounce some words
Speech may have uncontrolled pitch, volume and rate
Difficulty in following a moving object smoothly with eyes without moving head excessively. Tendency to lose the place while reading
Cannot look quickly and effectively from one object to another (for example, looking from a TV to a magazine)
Over-sensitive to light
Difficulty in distinguishing sounds from background noise. Tendency to be over-sensitive to noise
Over- or under-sensitive to touch, which can result in dislike of being touched and/or aversion to over-loose or tight clothing - tactile defensiveness
Over- or under-sensitive to smell and taste, temperature and pain
Lack of awareness of body position in space and spatial relationships, which result in bumping into and tripping over things and people, dropping and spilling things
Difficulty in planning and organising thought
Poor memory, especially short-term memory so may forget and lose things
Unfocused and erratic, can be messy and cluttered
Poor sequencing causes problems with maths, reading and spelling and writing reports at work
Accuracy problems: so difficulty with copying sounds, writing, movements, proofreading
Difficulty in following instructions, especially more than one at a time
Difficulty with concentration, easily distracted
May do only one thing at a time properly, though may try to do many things at once
Slow to finish a task. May daydream and wander about aimlessly
Difficulty in listening to people, especially in large groups, also can be be tactless, interrupt frequently. Problems with team work
Difficulty in picking up non-verbal signals or in judging tone or pitch of voice in themselves and or others- Tendency to take things literally- May listen but not understand
Slow to adapt to new or unpredictable situations. Sometimes avoiding them altogether
Impulsive, Tendency to be easily frustrated, wanting immediate gratification
Tendency to be erratic have 'good and bad days'
Tendency to opt out of things that are too difficult
Tend to get stressed, depressed and anxious easily
May have difficulty sleeping
Prone to low self-esteem, emotional outbursts, phobias, fears, obsessions, compulsions and addictive behaviour
Many of these characteristics are not unique to people with dyspraxia and not even the most severe case will have all the above characteristics. But adults with dyspraxia will tend to have more than their fair share of co-ordination and perceptual difficulties.
B does seem to be coping better now he is a teenager, but some of his 'outbursts' in the past have been very scary.
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Could you explain to me what dyspraxia is please.
I know I could Google it but I know you could tell me better.
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Several years ago my Grandson had to go to visit a new Autistic consultant. They had waited 8months for this appointment with a Consultant.
He has dyspraxia & was having quite violent outbursts, my daughter had asked his social worker several times for advice on how to cope at these times, but realized that she knew more about his condition that the social worker, when she was told to “Very calmly stroke his brow, ask him to calm down & to take deep breaths.”--- Oh yes... the last thing he wants is to be touched.
During this visit B inspected the whole office, asking nonstop questions. He then crawled under the desk & came out looking puzzled.
The following conversation:
B “Why is your computer screwed to your table, like mine?”
Consultant “Why do you think it might be?”
B “So when you have a strop it doesn’t get smashed”
Consultant “After 2 got smashed, they would only let me have another one if it was screwed down”
B “It sometimes helps if you go to your room, sit on the floor, close your eyes & count to 100 very slowly, but I feel better if I punch my mattress”, “When you feel better, you need to check if you have broke something & say sorry”
Consultant “I will have to try that B” “& Mum just carry on what you are doing, you are doing good”
The consultant then explained that he knew firsthand of B’s condition as he too had dyspraxia & that was the reason he had chosen the Autistic Spectrum to Specialize in. He also said that as the spectrum was wide, many social workers needed to do a bit more ‘homework’ on the individual needs of their clients.
B is now older, managing to control his outbursts, but still has problems at times with his concentration if an ambulance races past his school, a butterfly flutters by & of not talking in class. Having said this he is doing well in main stream school & passed another examination as a St. Johns Ambulance Cadet. We were told when he was small that he was ‘a banana baby’ & would never ride a bicycle... try telling that to the lad doing stunts on his ‘wheels’
Every case is original, perhaps those working with them should take the time to actually read their notes & not make visits or decisions until they actually know who their client is & their problems.
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In one conversation I had with someone from Adult Services several years ago, I remember being totally lost, having no idea what she was talking about. I said, "I'm really sorry, but I feel as though I am in the middle of a Ronnie Barker sketch here - I just don't know what you mean". She was not amused... :-(
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times to different professionals, "You WORK with autism, I LIVE with it. That is also true of so many people struggling in different scenarios to myself.
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It surprises me how many people have little empathy with others.
Steven must be an adult so he will know what he wants, and that is to live with his dad. It will not endanger him.
When Fred came home I was told, by an occupational therapist, that he would only ever go out on foot(being pushed) or in a taxi.
My immediate thought was "We'll see about that!". No doubt many would have listened and immediately given up hope of anything better because they were being told by a professional who must know best.
My idea is that social services are to support and protect, it's the prison service that keeps people all together and out of the way under their control.
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Difficult enough for people who have family or friends to speak up for them, but just very frightening for the ones who are at the mercy of the inadequate system... scarey!!
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I think I am probably doing better without them.
My jargon generally does the trick.
I would have thought that autism was hard enough to deal with without having to find a way into their funny little world as well!
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You'd better gen up on the jargon then Sharron......you may get somewhere!!! :-D
When I am at our autism steering group meetings, I quite often have to politely interrupt and ask what the professionals are talking about as I am unable to follow them. They have the grace to look shamefaced most times.
I actually sent the link to all of those on the group!!! :-D :-D
I notice people have gone from being a person with a name, to a 'client and now on to 'service users'. Sheeeeeeesh.... :-|
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All that yet I have never seen a social worker.
The only ones we see are the ones who come out to assess Fred's care plan to see if they can take a bit away somewhere.
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Unbelievable ........
and what a great Dad he has ....
x
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I received this on my newsfeed on FB and thought I would share it with you because it is so, so true.
By Mark Neary
My son Steven is 23. He has autism and other learning difficulties. And the language of the social care system seems to make his life sound even less "normal" than it is.
The adult social care world is about many things, but one thing that I feel it's not about is care. The language seems to mislead you right from the start. Processes seem to come before people in a system of impenetrable management where money is the biggest consideration.
Day centres are closed down. Although you may have considered them a helpful lifeline, this closure is not a negative thing because it's been done to promote independence.
Service user choice is also a fabulous phrase until you find it results in being given a sum of money to purchase your own care provider but no one provides care at those rates which are calculated for you by a fairer charging policy. Which also sounds good but isn't.
Steven was transitioned into adult services six years ago. Soon after, he was taken into a care unit against all our wishes which resulted in a well-documented court case (Autistic man unlawfully detained, June 2011).
One of the unit's ideas was that he should have a person-centred plan. He had to create a wish list, and came up with six things:
Live at home with Dad
Go on holiday to Somerset
Have Christmas presents at home
See Toy Story 3 at the cinema
Have breakfast in the bacon shop
Go swimming at Hampton open-air pool
All six wishes were refused because they were not considered to be in his best interests. To me, that's not a person-centred plan, that's a system-centred plan.
A service user, like Steven, is a case and every piece of minutiae from his life must be recorded and analysed. For two years I had to keep logs of everything my son did. I still have 565 sheets of paper, all saying: "Steven had pears, grapes, bananas and oranges for breakfast." For 126 consecutive Mondays, a support worker recorded "Steven watched a Mr Bean DVD with his father."
I was never once asked to hand over the logs I'd written.
One manager explained to me once that everything learning disabled people do must have a value - not too bad until you realise that someone else is setting the value and its parameters are very narrow. Who on high decreed that everything we do must have some value?
I write a lot about the language of the social care world. I love it when I read stuff like transparency because the reality seems to be the opposite. I therefore tend to work on the principle that the opposite of what is being presented is probably closer to the reality.
If Steven chooses either steak or fish for his tea, he is being empowered”
But the thing that really gets my goat is when a person's entire life, everything they do, is jargonised.
I was recently comparing with a friend the way I present the everyday norms of my own life with the way the social care world presents Steven's life. We were having the conversation in a pub. If Steven were to go to that pub, or to a gym or swimming pool, for instance, he might be described as accessing the community.
Here are 10 jargon phrases I jotted down on the back of a beer mat, the kind of things which make Steven's life sound even less "normal":
1. I live in my home. Steven's current placement is in the family home.
2. When I make a pizza, I'm making a pizza. When Steven makes a pizza, he's increasing his independence skills (as overseen by an occupational therapist).
3. If I cry, I'm sad about something. If Steven cries, it is logged and analysed by the psychologist and positive behaviour team.
4. If I shout or swear, I'm angry about something. If Steven shouts or swears, it is challenging behaviour and new behaviour management plans need to be drawn up.
5. If I choose between steak or fish for my tea, I'm making a choice. If Steven chooses either steak or fish for his tea, he is being empowered.
6. I have friends. Steven has a circle of support and influence.
7. If I'm asked what I want to do with my free time, I'm planning my hobbies. If Steven is asked what he wants to do with his free time, it's his person-centred plan.
8. If I make an unwise choice, I've messed up. If Steven makes an unwise choice he may be lacking mental capacity.
9. If I sort my CDs into alphabetical order, I'm being a bit anal. If Steven sorts his Mr Bean DVDs into colour order, he is being inappropriately obsessive.
10. If I eat two Mars bars, I'm being a pig. If Steven eats two Mars bars, he is challenging boundaries.
Anyone can add their thoughts to his item.....here is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-23423541
Cx
Edit.....oooops....the item can be read but is now closed for comments :-(
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