**AUTISM / ASPERGERS SUPPORT GROUP**

[doll*obsession]

A safe place for all members with friends or family with ASD

Come and have a cuppa, share your joys, and vent your problems with other people who understand.

[catsnknots]

good luck with it Doll..

[catsnknots]

Autism and Aspergers are already covered for medicare rebates... but the 12K is only going to be available to those under 7 years of age.

From all the people I have spoken to Aspergers kids tend to be diagnosed later than that so I think they should expand it to older kids too.

[syrupsmummy]

This will only be able to children 7 years and under..

My son was diagnosed last Monday, he is 12 yrs old and we don't even qualify for the Helping children with Autism package because my son is now too old.

I have not read this thread yet but I thought I would post this link although I am sure you have all seen it before.

Helping Children With Autism

I'm sorry to hear your son got autism or asperger's.

I agree that cutting off at 7 and under isn't really good idea.

My son was diagnosed at 5. He needed a lot of help and support at least up to 10.

But now he is 13 going to 14 in a few months. He doesn't need a lot of help and support like before anymore. The condition won't get better but he has learned how to handle situations which he couldn't handle before. And he couldn't be him now if he didn't get help and support when he was younger.

I think supports in early stage is important key for the future.

In your case, he wasn't diagnosed till 12. He must have been handling many situations well enough not make other people notice his autism. Now he is diagnosed and he is old enough to learn his conditions as a big boy. I think he will be ok with your support.

There are a lot of information and support around nowadays compare to 8 years ago.

I think kids 12 years old still entitle for yearly autism support payment (I don't know what is the official name of payment). My son got one this year already and he is 13.

[catsnknots]

He has Aspergers...

he has always had issues.. I have tried for years to get help from the school.. the diagnosis is a relief.

He always has good grades, has finally made friends in the last few years and is generally a good kid. I think it will be OK.

We will be getting carer payment soon and that will help.

He had been diagnosed with ODD and egocentric tendencies which makes life a bit difficult.

[syrupsmummy]

My son has only one friend now. The friend has high functional autism. Both go to normal public school and strangely they found each others and became friends.

He had a normal kid best friend when they were year 3 and year 4. But the friend dumped my son when they were year 5 with the harsh words "I don't like you anymore". He became friends with cool kids group and didn't want to hang around with a weird Aspy kid anymore.

There will be always some sort of issues with aspy kids. But there is a bright side. Autistic kids likes to follow routine and rules. My son is now a teenager but he is still a good boy. Not naughty teenager.

I'm more worry about my normal daughter going to be a teenager.

(((Hugs)))

[krazy.kiwi]

Welcome to the group Mad cats. :-x

Glad you know where you stand now, it's easier to help our kids if we can sort of figure out where they are coming from.

My boy is now 12 and he was diagnosed at 7. We sure could have used more help and services in that time!

We won't benefit much from it, but others might have it easier than us. It's cost us a small fortune to get him the therapy/equipment/support that he needs.

[doll*obsession]

Thank you Mad cat 🙂
*waves to syrups and kiwi* :-x
I am so hoping to get somewhere with this new paed, I got a lovely long letter from joes teacher today to give to the paed, the principal is going to write one to, and I will ask the teachers in the special ed department if they could do so aswell, the more ammo I have when I go in the better, specialy after the last idiot we went to.
all I need is that piece of paper, and it will help joe so much at school 😞
Joe will be 7 in november.

[islandretro]

Good luck Doll, keep us up to date with your progress.

The focus of the disability package is on early intervention, and for all disabilities, not just ASD. That is a problem with Aspergers as it is often not diagnosed until the child is a bit older. As pointed out, you can already get refunded by Medicare under the allied health programme for most therapies, but it is restricted, hopefully this will mean if your kid has a diagnosis they will be able to claim ALL psychology, speech OT etc, not just one for a limited number of visits. Again, it is a shame it cuts out at 13 - adolescence and Aspergers and all the associated mental health risks means support is still needed through the teenage years, though perhaps in different areas to earlier.

My son was 7 when he was diagnosed, 17 now, we have had NO funding aside from a support worker for respite 4 hrs a week when he was homeschooled for 3 years (through a NGO not govt).

We have been fortunate that in his senior years at high school to have absolutely wonderful counselling and practical support, he is at uni now and is receiving similar, he sees a counsellor as often as he needs and she liaises with lecturers and tutors etc as necessary. None of these are directly funded by the govt though. Primary school was haphazard and school support varied with how clued the teacher was really, some were good, some were just hopeless.

I think early intervention support is vital, I did read it was to help with early diagnosis and therapy - hopefully it will mean people like Doll will find it much easier to get the bottom of their child's issues and get help happening at a much earlier age.

cheers
Rae

[doll*obsession]

Hi Rae, Thank you for the luck, much appreciated 🙂
how is your Mr 17 going with uni?I often think of him, but havn't come in to ask :^O

[doll*obsession]

cue the balloons and streamers...
WE HAVE THE OFFICIAL DIAGNOSIS!!!!!!!!!!!
*cries tears of joy*