Topic : Raising a Special Needs Child

  My young niece has a form of selected Mutism, and stopped talking when she was a toddler. She is 6 now, and will whisper in her sister and Mother's ear only.  Because she is able to speak, we never made a big deal about it in front of her or tried to get her to talk.  We thought without pressure she would talk (out loud) when she was ready.

  We want to encourage her to talk, but don't want her feel self conscious about it.  I'm afraid the older she gets the harder it will be for her to start.

  If anyone has a child with the same condition, any advice would be welcome.  Kelley

I have five children and my eldest was diagnosed with Autism at four years of age but since then the Autism has faded alot compared to what he used to be like and he has now also been diagnosed with ODD (oppositional defiance disorder). Alot of people may be skeptical and say no such thing and all kids hate authority because I used to be one of those people until it happened in our family. My son reacts to authority that bad that he turns the classroom and bedroom upside down (plus hes pulled a knife on his sisters) if he doesnt like what hes been told, he will just get up and walk out his classroom and out of the school grounds just because he wants to or hes bored etc and it doesnt matter how you approach any situation he throws at us it always turns out ugly. My son is only 10years old and I have explained the dangers of him leaving the school and walking on the main road etc and he did tell me he understood now so I thought I was getting somewhere with him but its getting worse again and Im not sure how to discipline my children appropriately. I dont believe in smacking or medication but its come down to my partner and I constantly yelling which isnt achieving anything either. My autistic child is also stealing money from me and he steals toy cars at the shop which now I just dont take him to the shops and I know if my child/ren yell at me to ignore them until they speak nicely and Im just learning to ignore my autistic sons behaviour when he kicks and disrespects property (as the school told me to ignore what he does and dont speak to him whle hes acting up cos he wants the attention) but at the same time Im walking home and hes kicking other peoples fences etc and Im ignoring him then he eventually stopped but only when we were around the corner from home and when hes disrespecting other peoples stuff and Im not saying anything people are gonna wanna knock me out cos it looks like i dont care when I do and even if I explain the situation they may not care. My younger children are well behaved at school and there not a problem for me but Im really not sure what is the right way for a parent to act towards their children. I usually take something away from them but for my autistic son that doesnt work at all and explaining things doesnt work either. Somebody please help me.

MISSISSIPPI IS ABUSING MY ASPERGER SON. HE HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND!  ALL THE DOCTORS AND YEARS AND STILL NO SERVICES FOR MY SON. NICK DOCTOR WANTED TO GO INTO THE SCHOOL TO WATCH HIM. SHE WAS NOT ALLOWED INTO THE SCHOOL. THE SCHOOL HAND BOOK TELLS THAT NO ONE IS ALLOWED INTO THE SCHOOL. AT 6'0 AND 190 LBS. THE SCHOOL SENDS HOME A NOTE THAT NICK IS UNDER DESK AND LAYING OUT IN THE FLOOR. THE COACH MADE NICK CRAW ON THE GROUND UNTIL HIS HANDS BLEED. I MADE A POLICE REPORT ON THIS ONE. THE PRINCPAL TOLD THE POLICE IT WAS AN IN HOUSE PUNSHMENT. NO ONE IN THIS STATE WILL HELP GET MY NICK SERVICES. NO ONE WILL STEP ON THE STATES TOES.THE STATE LEAVES THE CHILD BEHIND! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME DEALING WITH ALL OF IT. NEED A STORY ON HOW MOMS DEAL WITH ASPERGER AND PROBLEMS! ROBIN H.