My daughter is nearly 8 years old and whilst she may look like any other child, she has autism.
This means that her speech & language skills are delayed, her social skills can be inappropriately used – for example, she will try and hug the supermarket delivery person but be very scared of entering an unfamilar room for a family function; and she has OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) – this means strict routines without deviation and she will play with the same toy over and over again, want to watch the same DVD three times in a row etc etc.
Unfamilar situations and noises scare her. She will never be able to cross a road by herself, she may never drive a car or form a relationship that would normally lead to marriage/children.
I’d like to wrap her in bubble wrap and protect her from anything and everything that scares her but that isnt the way modern life works.
I’d like public awareness to be raised and this is one of the reasons I blog on Twitter to help those parents who have a newly diagnosed child and those who just want to chat.
Autism Mumma (Jeannette) 
Comments on: "What Autism means to me" (9)
Subscribing. Immediately. My story is on both my blogs, just click my name…well said x
Thank you, I will check your blog out too 🙂
My 2 year old son was diagnosed less than 2 weeks ago. My husband & I are still in a state of shock & at a loss of how to explain this to his 5 year old big sister…. There’s just so much to compute right now.
I can imagine…remember it very well. You’re going to feel all sorts of emotions – grief, anger, bewilderment – its natural. Give yourself as much time as you need but remember your son is the same lovely child he was before his diagnosis, he hasn’t changed.
I’m always at the end of a tweet x
Thank you so much, i came home from work yesterday (the children stay with there nan on a mon/tue) & my little girl had made a little book that had the heading ” looking after the little baby brother” today i have started to write her a short book ( she loves to read ) If all goes well i will read it to her when she gets in from school today & hope that it better explains what is going on in a format she will find easier to understand. I will let you know what the critic says 🙂
Please do 🙂 When D was first diagnosed, we explained it to her older (by 18 months) brother, who was 6 at the time, that her brain was like a puzzle and that a couple of the pieces had overlapped, which caused her to behave like she did at times – not realising that a puzzle piece is widely used as a symbol! He seemed to really understand that analogy.
Hi, I also have a daughter with autism, AJ is 5 and though she can talk, her speech is the equivalent of a 2yr old. AJ is very anxious all the time and picks either her own or other people’s nails till they bleed. She is very insular, passive and gentle most of the time but does have a temper. She hates noise, crowds and dimed lights all of which will make her flap, grunt and jump around. AJ does not acknowledge other children and has only just noticed her 2 yr old sister, however she is very trusting of all adults which can be a worry. She has learning difficulties and struggles with anything new, but having said all that AJ is a beautiful, funny, happy and at times cheeky little girl. I enjoy reading your blog as I sometimes feel quite isolated even with other parents of autistic children as I have found that I always seem to be the only parent with an autistic girl. Thank you
Your AJ sounds very similar to my D, it is difficult being a girl with autism when the majority are boys. Glad we’re found each other!
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