Countdown

[Hobo]

77 days mick....now thats one vigil worth doing : best wishes from him bm

The days are ticking away very quickly now. It will be strange to have a baby in the house again (I think I've forgotten how exhausting it is). A lot will depend on how my son reacts to the new arrival. If he chooses to be awkward, it will be a nightmare. Still, exciting times!

Good luck with the new arrival Mick.............Luckily my lads got on but they do have their days now

Cheers Colin. I suspect he will be a bit put out when he's not the centre of attention, but he's generally good and he'll soon get used to it. Besides, I'm not the plaiting hair/My Little Pony type, so he'll still get plenty of my time.

[epsilon75]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

[alipaul]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

I've got a 11 year old son who as been diagnosed with Autism something called Aspergers Syndrome school for him is a total nightmare.

He is very clever but extremely moody

[epsilon75]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

I've got a 11 year old son who as been diagnosed with Autism something called Aspergers Syndrome school for him is a total nightmare.

He is very clever but extremely moody

My lad was taken out of mainstream school aged 5.....he attended special schools until he was 19 and now attends a special needs class in college..he will never live independently and will always be with us...its sad for all of us but in a way he is safer with us........So many different forms of Autism,its a very complex complaint indeed.....

[Chris Monk]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

I've got a 11 year old son who as been diagnosed with Autism something called Aspergers Syndrome school for him is a total nightmare.

He is very clever but extremely moody

My eldest son has been diagnosed as having mild Aspergers. He finds school and sport difficult but has an amazing imagination. We are currently talking to the school about what we should do for him in the future. Got to be honest though, I wouldn't have him any other way, he is so funny and really quite bright. He certainly stands out from the other kids at school but bizarrely he's very popular with his class mates.

[epsilon75]

The one thing that stands out with my son is his memory,it is just unbelievable how he can remember things he did when he was a mere toddler..........its uncanny he has that ability amongst a lot of other problems

[alipaul]

The one thing that stands out with my son is his memory,it is just unbelievable how he can remember things he did when he was a mere toddler..........its uncanny he has that ability amongst a lot of other problems

My son has an incredible memory he remembers things he's heard or seen 2 or 3 years ago.

My son as had a very bad time since he started school due to his aspergers syndrome he was classed as troublemaker because the school had never heard of it and was sent to a refferal unit for 18 months which he as never really got over and is in constant fear of going back even though he's 11 now.
He has continual problems with sports and always clashes with other children in his class who know how to wind him up

[DSJR]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

I've got a 11 year old son who as been diagnosed with Autism something called Aspergers Syndrome school for him is a total nightmare.

He is very clever but extremely moody

My eldest son has been diagnosed as having mild Aspergers. He finds school and sport difficult but has an amazing imagination. We are currently talking to the school about what we should do for him in the future. Got to be honest though, I wouldn't have him any other way, he is so funny and really quite bright. He certainly stands out from the other kids at school but bizarrely he's very popular with his class mates.

I know EXACTLY where you are with this... Do you find that each "gear change" in his growth as a person causes huge turmoil at home until he's happy with it? Our eight year old son is a fantastic bright personality, but can be a real trial at times and is SO stubborn (why I can't show him how early Redshift is influenced by mid seventies EM for example). He finds his current school teacher a bit of a personality clash (you can't take the direct approach with him, but have to talk him round (thank heavens for his Mum...). Fortunately, many of his school mates love Star Wars, so his obsession with it doesn't stand out too much, not so his extreme fascination with Daleks.........................

Schools have to put the kids into little boxes, otherwise they can't deal with them and it's almost certain our lad will be diagnosed the same as yours shortly (wouldn't surprise me if I'm not a fellow sufferer too, judging by my deep interests in HiFi and mid fifties chiming clocks.........).

It's said that Autistic/Aspergic people can make amazing scientists and teachers. I really hope that our kids can get the assistance they need to lead fulfilling lives in the future. At least they'll inherit large music collections which, hopefully, they'll continue to enjoy!

[DSJR]

There is a four and a half year gap with my sons Mick,and as my youngest was growing up it was hard for him to get to grips with my oldest son's Autism,Stefan wanted to do things that Colin just could not do but as he got older he realised Colin's limitations..........Ive always been there for the boys and especially over the last five years with Stefan and Rugby taking up huge amounts of my time,but i was no angel in my 20's early 30,s out on the razz ...........but there is something about father & sons relationships,it can sometimes be a little fiery but its good to spend time together.......to be honest i love my lads to bits,im a soft old bugger at heart

You have one huge advantage sir! You were a young Dad, so should hopefully have many years with your sons. I was all but 42 when our son was born and really feel it sometimes as he's such a handful. Still, having a semi-retired lifestyle over the last few years (hopefully ending soon) has meant I'm always there to take him and collect him from school and other things. We have loads of fun together and share many similar interests. As my work gradually builds up again (I hope...), he should adjust as I won't be too far away with luck.

[alipaul]

The worst time for my son was when he was sent to a referral unit for 18 months.

I always remembered when he said he wanted to kill his self at 7 years of ago not a pleasant experience

[sparrow]

My wife is 46 this year & I'm 43. I'm kind of glad we decided not to have any kids. We decided not to have any because as my wife and myself both have schizophrenia the chance of our offspring developing the same illness was around 40%. I wouldn't want any child of mine going through what we did when we were younger. I do feel a wee bit sad sometimes that we will never have a family but the way we both see it it's for the best.

[Chris Monk]

The one thing that stands out with my son is his memory,it is just unbelievable how he can remember things he did when he was a mere toddler..........its uncanny he has that ability amongst a lot of other problems

My son has an incredible memory he remembers things he's heard or seen 2 or 3 years ago.

My son as had a very bad time since he started school due to his aspergers syndrome he was classed as troublemaker because the school had never heard of it and was sent to a refferal unit for 18 months which he as never really got over and is in constant fear of going back even though he's 11 now.
He has continual problems with sports and always clashes with other children in his class who know how to wind him up

Blimey, this rings so many bells for me. Every year I have to go up to the school and talk to the teachers. They need to be reminded that my son has certain needs and is vulnerable. If he's protected from the other kids and treated properly he does really well at school but I'm getting damn tired of telling them.

One of the things I have to tell them is that he finds it very difficult to make eye-contact but because he isn't looking at you it doesn't mean he isn't listening.

I've been reading quite a bit about the subject and have to say that it's been very encouraging. There are quite a few famous people over the years who would now be classed as having Aspergers including the likes of Newton, Darwin and Einstein.

[24db]

2 weeks

[epsilon75]

2 weeks

12days

[Hobo]

2 weeks

12days

The anticipation is building, but I'm getting worried as my back and legs have been causing real problems over the last few days.