Reply from Joan, Child's Age 13 - 3/8/02 - IP#: 80.225.86.43Maggie, Tom hasn’t had messing accidents for many years now, so that hasn’t been a problem. I didn’t mention that Tom has Asperger’s Syndrome (a mild form of Autism), so he tends to be a loner and doesn’t make friends easily, as he has great difficulty with social skills. He spends hours on the computer and is reckoned to be something of an expert with them. I suppose that social skills aren’t needed with computers. One of the side effects of Asperger’s is Dyspraxia (clumsiness and poor hand/eye coordination), which probably explains why he can’t manage his own nappy pins. The other kids at school know that he needs to go to the toilet at short notice, and I think some of them try to tease him about it, but he just ignores them. As far as I know, none of them know about his nappies, as he doesn’t mix with them outside of school and if any of them see him when he is out with us, his nappies are not obvious under his loose clothing. I can imagine that this could be a real problem for most kids, sleepovers etc. How does your son manage? It would be useful to know in case Tom ever progresses to having friends and sleepovers. Perhaps what I said about holidays was a bit confusing. Tom doesn’t wear his nappies when we are at the self-catering apartment or cottage, but only when we go out in the car for a tour around, or out walking, which tends to be quite a lot of the time. One of the symptoms of Tom’s Asperger’s is obsessive behaviour and dislike of change. If I get him a brand of disposables for long trips, other than the usual one, tantrums ensue. I am sure that Tom inherited the wetting (but not the Asperger’s) from us. I had night time problems into my teens, and my husband still does, so we are very understanding of his wetting problem. |