Mental Health

[Gronk]

This is my expertise. It’s a complex beast and the Feds are trying to hand responsibility for childhood ASD supports back to the states. @Eelementary needs rest first and foremost so he can be there as best as he can for his family.

Well said. I was actually thinking about respite. Is that a thing for carers within the NDIS space? I know it is for people that provide care for the elderly.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Well said. I was actually thinking about respite. Is that a thing for carers within the NDIS space? I know it is for people that provide care for the elderly.

Sure is a thing. But it’s sort of 100 steps down the track for Eele based on the little I know of his circumstances.
BTW, if you have heard the media reports of holidays / cruises paid for by the NDIS, calling it respite is how they do it.

 

[the phantom menace]

It's pretty clear that he's a junky and on the downhill. I hope something good happens for him soon.

Can you get addicted to ice after just one use?

Ice has been called the most dangerous drug of our times, and there's no doubt the impact of ice addiction can be devastating. But is one use enough to get you hooked?

www.abc.net.au

I think the best thing that could happen for AOK at the moment is a jail term, tbh.

 

[the phantom menace]

The magistrate said today / yesterday that jail might be the best thing for him to get him clean.

ffs

 

[the phantom menace]

I'm struggling, at the moment.

Little man - who is a beautiful boy of 4, on the ASD spectrum - is lashing out at daycare, and is close to being asked to leave daycare.

He is insisting I either sit on a chair in his room all night, or that he sleep in my bed.

I'm getting 4 hours of sleep a night - on a good night.

I keep thinking, "When will things give me a break?"

I can't keep getting 4 hours of sleep a night - I'm totally wrecked.

I think they might have some assistance like that under the NDIS - as they used to fund some respite assistance for parents under the previous HCWA (Helping Children With Autism) program.

But also hopefully also some assistance for your little man as he's now approaching the key ages for early intervention strategies, which might make things a little easier in his days - and hence also for you as parents - too.

https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/families-and-carers/how-we-can-help-carers

 

[Eelementary]

mate that sounds really tough. Have you got other supports around you that can pitch in?

Sadly, no - bothy parents are deceased, my mother-in-law passed away earlier this year, and my father-in-law has Alzheimer's.

I'm not coping, man.

I can't go to work, and pretend to give a crap about people, and their problems, on 3 hours of sleep a night.

 

[Eelementary]

Really tough mate. Can the NDIS help you in any way ?

The NDIS and Autism: How can the NDIS support you?

People with ASD may might be wondering how the NDIS can support them in their daily lives.

www.autismawareness.com.au

We've been on their list for 18 months, waiting for support.

We're desperate for help - we can't even recognise the triggers for our own son. We feel like awful parents.

 

[Eelementary]

My Father inlaw had Depression issues.
He would walk around talking to himself. He would slap his thighs and complain about his legs aching
He lost a lot of weight where I thought he had some form of cancer.
In turned out he had a chemical imbalance in his brain.
After Psychiatrist got his medication correct he returned to his old self.
As long as he stayed on his medication he was OK.
Depression also runs in his family.

I also know someone who has gone through shock therapy within the last couple of years because their depression was that bad.

That's awful to hear

I've been clinically depressed since I was 15 (I think my childhood of living in different countries every few years did me a lot of favours, but it also messed me up a bit psychologically), and I've been diagnosed with ADSD since I was 30.

The lack of sleep compounds both issues.

Incompletely understand that kids will give you a rough trot, in terms of sleep.

But my boy will give me 2 good nights in a row, and we think we've sorted out the issue, and then he goes months where he wakes up every 40 minutes.

Not only is it not good for me, but it cannot be good for him, either.

I honestly see no light at the end of the tunnel - not to be melodramatic, but it's seemingly interminable.

And nothing seems to work.

When we were reading up on raising a child who is neuro divergent, all the literature kept repeating that it is hard, hard work - they don't understand the world like neuro typical people do, and have stimuli that set them off that most people can't understand.

And they were right.

Not to mention that he's probably tired, and lashing out at daycare because of it.

It's a mess at the moment.

 

[Eelementary]

I think they might have some assistance like that under the NDIS - as they used to fund some respite assistance for parents under the previous HCWA (Helping Children With Autism) program.

But also hopefully also some assistance for your little man as he's now approaching the key ages for early intervention strategies, which might make things a little easier in his days - and hence also for you as parents - too.

https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/families-and-carers/how-we-can-help-carers

We've got a key worker from the NDIS, but funding takes months to organise.

We called the key worker last week, in tears, advising them that our son is on the cusp of being kicked out of daycare because he keeps lashing out at other kids, or the educators.

But their hands are tied, until the funding comes through.

It's torture at the moment.

 

[the phantom menace]

We've got a key worker from the NDIS, but funding takes months to organise.

We called the key worker last week, in tears, advising them that our son is on the cusp of being kicked out of daycare because he keeps lashing out at other kids, or the educators.

But their hands are tied, until the funding comes through.

It's torture at the moment.

That's really tough.

It shouldn't be this way, but sometimes it seems funding for needed things comes more quickly after the needs become higher, e.g. if you son does actually end up getting kicked out of daycare? Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but as Soren mentioned maybe there's currently a hold-up in the way it's all meant to work....

It sounds like most of all you guys could just do with some decent sleep (somehow), while you hold on until the NDIS funding (including potential for some parental respite) eventually can come through...

 

[T.S Quint]

That's awful to hear

I've been clinically depressed since I was 15 (I think my childhood of living in different countries every few years did me a lot of favours, but it also messed me up a bit psychologically), and I've been diagnosed with ADSD since I was 30.

The lack of sleep compounds both issues.

Incompletely understand that kids will give you a rough trot, in terms of sleep.

But my boy will give me 2 good nights in a row, and we think we've sorted out the issue, and then he goes months where he wakes up every 40 minutes.

Not only is it not good for me, but it cannot be good for him, either.

I honestly see no light at the end of the tunnel - not to be melodramatic, but it's seemingly interminable.

And nothing seems to work.

When we were reading up on raising a child who is neuro divergent, all the literature kept repeating that it is hard, hard work - they don't understand the world like neuro typical people do, and have stimuli that set them off that most people can't understand.

And they were right.

Not to mention that he's probably tired, and lashing out at daycare because of it.

It's a mess at the moment.

Has his daycare centre applied for extra funding to provide extra help, giving him some one-on-one time with an educator?
If your son has been diagnosed then they should be able to get this.

I’m an educator myself and have had experience with children with various disorders, and getting that extra help is incredibly beneficial, not just for the child but for the staff and other children as well.

As for getting more sleep, it’s really tricky at times when you don’t have help. Do you and your wife give each other time on the weekends to catch up on sleep? Take a day off every once in a while just to rest? Have any friends who can stay with the kid for a couple of hours? Lack of sleep is really dangerous, and I hope you can sort something out soon. Best of luck mate.