Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Autism”
It took almost six years for our paediatrician to act upon our question of whether Big Bear is autistic. We’re now in the middle of our assessment and waiting for the final piece of the jigsaw. Yet ironically now is the time when we least need a diagnosis. You see, it’s not actually going to change anything for Big Bear right …
Christmas had only just finished when Big Bear started asking about his birthday, which was six months away. Celebrating birthdays with additional needs can be a tricky process. Until the age of four he hated opening presents. He found it too overwhelming and every time someone handed him a gift he would either throw it or cry. I’m not sure …
Hospital appointments are like buses: you wait ages for one and then two come along at once. In the last two days Little Bear has had two annual reviews: one with the paediatrician and the other with his speech and language therapist. The paediatrician review was a chance to discuss what’s happened in the last year and what help he …
This morning, Little Bear was playing with his trains when I asked him to have breakfast. “No, I play train track,” he replied, not even looking up. “First you have breakfast and then you can play with the train track,” I said. “Nooooooooo,” he wailed, stamping his feet on the ground. A full-blown meltdown ensued, which resulted in me picking …
Today is Global Developmental Delay Awareness Day. A day when parents get together on social media to promote the condition, share their stories and wear yellow. Both our Bears were around 22 months old when doctors filed them under the heading ‘global developmental delay (GDD) and hypermobility’. “What’s global developmental delay?” This was the first question people asked after …
The word autism was always at the back of my mind even before Big Bear was born. My brother has Aspergers Syndrome, and although autism isn’t a genetic condition, it often runs in families. Our journey to autism diagnosis began at our first meeting with the paediatrician, when Big Bear was showing signs of developmental delay. I asked the question …
I am THAT mum. You know the one. THAT mum with the child having a meltdown in the supermarket. The one you’re glad is not you, whilst silently thinking their child is incredibly spoilt. The one whose child is lying on the floor, blocking the aisle so you have no choice but to step over them to get to the …
I was eight months pregnant with Little Bear when a work contact I was having a telephone conversation with said: “Oh, you’re having another boy? You’ll be wanting a third then.” He wasn’t even born yet and someone I barely knew had dismissed him because of his gender. This is quite common with two of the same, particularly with boys. People …
“He’s not autistic, he has eye contact.” I’ve lost count the number of times this has been said to me by the medical professionals involved in Big Bear’s care. We’ve raised the autism question at nearly every appointment he has had for the last five years and until a few months ago, this was the typical answer we got. Because …
Sometimes you accidentally stumble across someone or something amazing that completely changes your life. Last year I attended a black-tie awards ceremony for work. I’ve been to loads of them and they tend to follow a very similar format. Dinner. Speaker. Awards. Home. This particular annual event is attended by about 1,000 people, mainly men, who can get very raucous …