We Need More Room!

We live in a 3 bedroom house and have 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. The boys share a bedroom.

There will always be friction when kids share a bedroom, but sharing with a child with ASD can cause even more friction. My oldest son is 11 and has little time or patience for his little brother with ASD. I feel quite sorry for both of them. My oldest son can be quite nasty at times, but I can understand his frustration, as his little brother is very clingy towards him and will not settle in bed without his brother being in the room. Unfortunately, this means I have to send them to bed at the same time, which does not go down with my older son, who thinks he should have a later bedtime.

Another issue is that the little one keeps getting into bed with his big brother and clinging to him, because he gets very anxious and scared at night. He cries out a lot too. This causes my older son to have a lot of difficulty sleeping and in the morning he is exhausted.

I have contaced the local Occupational therapy department, and a lady is coming round this afternoon to see if anything can be done with our home to provide extra space for the boys, or just a quiet area where one of them can go to get away from the other. It is quite a complicated process, and after the initial visit, I am also going to have to provide an official assessment from a doctor or psychologist, backing up my request.

I am not sure how feasable it will be to gain an extra room. The layout upstairs will make it awkward and the only other option is to build onto the back of the house and lose some of our garden. It may be better for us to consider selling the house and renting a bigger place, as we could not afford to buy a 4 bedroomed house.

I will update the blog as and when I get any news.