[baddmammajamma]

Nicole, thanks for sharing so many phases of your journey. Like you, I felt more relief than anything when we received our daughter's diagnosis. It gave us some understanding of her unique wiring and sense of direction re how to best support her.

We are definitely an early intervention success story!

Best of luck to you & your beautiful little boy...and all the best to other families out there who are starting their own ASD journeys.

[Nut]

pelimum2dj - Hi

Yes I have a disabled parking permit for my son. It's only a newer thing after some parents of children on the spectrum fought hard and won. It's definitely worth looking into.

For me I just had to print out the application form for the sticker and take it to my doctor. In this case it was my paed but a GP is enough. There is no box on the form but my paed ticked limited mobility and wrote a little blurb next to it. Other doctors write a brief explanation on the side or back of the form and sign it. It was handed to me over the counter when I went in to the motor registry. Luckily the lovely woman who served me also has a child with ASD and didn't question it as well.

As for school, so far we have been really lucky. He has a brilliant teacher whom he loves and is very proactive. He met Alex more than once before the year started and took time off last year to go to his 3yo preschool and just see what they do with him and how he is. And being a younger male teacher as well I think is a really positive thing for him. They put in the application early for an LSA who is there two days a week full time. He only goes two days one week and three the next so only one day per fortnight without the extra pair of hands.

There is another little boy in the class on the spectrum as well who is more severe than Alex and seems to get more aid from the LSA, but as long as she spends some time with him giving him the 1:1 he needs it doesn't phase me. I will talk to her this week and see how she is going with him anyway, just to see how she responds.