Read about what you can do and what you should know if your child is diagnosed with Autism.
In this post, you will learn more about Autism and what you can do after receiving the diagnosis.
Find out how you and other professionals can support your child.
Your child was diagnosed with autism. It might come as a surprise or something you have suspected, known and felt for a while- your child got an Autism Spectrum Condition diagnosis.
For some, it may come as a relief.
Your doubts, questions and worries might be clear and justified now.
For someone else, it may cause confusion, uncertainty and fear.
You may wonder: what’s next? What do I do now?
In this post, I’m bringing together some advice, tips and information you can find on my blog.
Was your child diagnosed with Autism? Find out all about Autism!
The autism spectrum is vast.
You may have heard that if you met a child with Autism, you met a child with Autism.
No two people are the same.
There is a ton of information and advice online, and many organisations and charities also provide helpful support.
You may find it overwhelming but take it one step at a time.
The more you read, the more you know.
Gradually, it will all come together and make sense.
To start your journey in supporting your autistic child, you may want to find out what Autism is, how it is diagnosed and how it presents.
In my post, “7 reasons it takes so long to get an Autism diagnosis”, you can read about Autism features and characteristics.
In it, you will learn that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability.
Autistic people may find social interactions and communication complicated and have repetitive and restrictive behaviours and interests due to their brains working differently.
This concise description doesn’t do Autism justice because it is a complex condition.
Most of the time, it is diagnosed in childhood. It is often when the first signs appear.
Symptoms of Autism
Did you know that Autism is a complex condition with different symptoms?
Symptoms must cover TWO areas.
The first includes problems with social communication and interaction.
The second area covers restrictive and repetitive behaviour patterns.
These Symptoms must persist and be ongoing, and last for some time.
The symptoms must cause the child problems and not interfere with their daily life to indicate Autism,
In this post, you will also learn that various professionals will work with your child, including doctors, occupational and speech therapists, psychologists and special school staff.
Was your child diagnosed with autism? Find out about coexisting conditions!
You will also learn along the way that Autism often has many different comorbidities (coexisting conditions).
Some of them might be neurological (epilepsy, for example), while others will affect mental health (like anxiety), developmental (Sensory Processing Disorder or ADHD) or learning difficulties.
Was your child diagnosed with Autism? Learn how to communicate with them!
Communication difficulties
Very often, autistic children have problems with communication.
You might have already come across many difficulties in communicating with your child.
In this post, I am explaining how you can communicate with your autistic child.
Some children with Autism show delays in their use of speech, and some may not talk at all.
They may have fewer opportunities to develop and practise their language because autistic individuals may be less interested in other people.
Instead, they might obsess about and focus on their unique interests, which is typical for autistic children.
They might also need to learn how to communicate in appropriate ways.
They may need help with reciprocity in a conversation and focus too much on the topic of their interest.
Or they may have problems stopping themselves and saying something inappropriate.
Self-control or inhibition is one of the executive functions.
How to communicate with your Autistic child?
In this post, I am suggesting three ways you can communicate with your child:
First is the visual way, using PECS and Now and Next Boards.
The second one encourages you to use Social Stories.
And finally, I talk about using MAKATON to communicate with your Autistic child.
Learn about “therapy” for Autism
If your child has an Autism diagnosis, the chances are that they may come across ABA therapy and many interventions related to it.
In this post, you can read about ABA therapy, its benefits and controversies around it.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapy that aims to improve specific behaviour.
It can be communication, social skills, academics or fine motor skills.
Other behaviours that ABA might help with are self-care or skills like preparing meals, shopping or cleaning, among many others.
ABA is mainly used with Autistic people, but it can also be used with people with other developmental or psychological disorders.
Practitioners can continuously adapt ABA therapy to the person receiving it and their needs.
It can occur at home, school, the clinic or the community.
It is versatile and can be used individually with one-to-one interventions but also in groups. Schools, for example, use PECS to communicate with Autistic children.
Was your child diagnosed with Autism? Learn what support they can get in school!
It is not only you who will be supporting your child.
Your Autistic child might be successful in a mainstream school.
In this post, you can learn what type of support they can get while they are there.
You will find out that schools offer a child-centred approach and have a teacher in charge, SENCO, coordinating your child’s learning and interventions.
Your child’s school will offer them speech therapy, additional support in learning or particular interventions designed for Autistic children, like Bucket Time.
The school has to adapt their environment, tools and resources to help your child better and consider all their needs.
Was your child diagnosed with Autism? Learn about their Sensory issues!
I mentioned it before; Autism comes with many comorbidities.
Autistic children often struggle with sensory processing, and you can read all about it here.
Sensory processing disorder is a condition that makes someone experience greater sensitivity to how smoothly sensory information is processed.
They might be seeking or avoiding specific sensory inputs.
For example, they may hate loud noises but love to put non-edible things in their mouth.
This post will help you understand how children can get over or under-stimulated by sensory information.
You will also find out what you can do about it and what tools you can use to support your Autistic child’s sensory issues.
Learn about their motor skills difficulties!
Another thing common for Autistic children is motor skills difficulties.
You can read about fine motor skills here.
Fine motor skills help to develop hand-eye coordination.
They also help to develop precision, dexterity (skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands), and coordination of the hands.
Your child might struggle with writing because their fine motor skills don’t develop well.
As well as fine motor skills, they might struggle with gross motor skills.
Gross motor skills involve large muscles and are usually whole-body movements.
Balancing and coordinating your body, strength, and agility are all gross motor skills.
Gross motor skills are the first skills to develop.
We usually learn to walk, run and jump before holding a pen or a spoon which are fine motor skills.
Some studies found that some children with Autism have poor gross motor skills, which influences their social skills.
They are less likely to participate in sports and games with other children, so they have fewer chances to develop social skills.
Children with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) very often find movement challenging.
They may have trouble controlling and coordinating their body movements.
Learning gross motor skills happens thanks to the mirror neuron system in the brain.
A child will learn by observing and imitating someone else’s movements.
Children with ASD might have problems with activating the mirror neuron system.
Was your child diagnosed with Autism? Learn what can benefit them!
Now that you know more about Autism, you might also consider other things to include in your life that will benefit your autistic child.
Being outdoors can benefit your Autistic child
In this post, I wrote about the benefits of being outdoors for your autistic child.
You can learn that playing outdoors can support your Autistic child’s well-being and health and help with anxiety and stress.
It also helps meet your Autistic child’s sensory needs, can strengthen your Autistic child’s executive functions , improves motor skills, and promotes physical activity.
Spending time outdoors can also supports social interactions and helps with communication, boosts your Autistic child’s confidence and self-esteem and helps with their learning.
Getting a dog can benefit your autistic child
Another great thing that might benefit your autistic child is getting a dog.
I wrote about it here.
In my post, you will read about twenty reasons you should get a dog for your child with ASC.
Some of them are: help with overcoming fears and anxiety and developing motor skills, empathy and reciprocity.
It also helps with communication, social skills and physical health.
Speaking another language can benefit your Autistic child
Finally, learning a language or being bilingual can benefit your autistic child.
Read about these benefits here.
Parents of autistic children are often confused and concerned about the possible effects of their children speaking more than one language.
Speaking another language can help with their executive functions, especially switching between tasks.
It also creates bonds with the community and helps them with grammar (in all the languages they speak), communication and social interaction.
I hope you found it useful.
Receiving an Autism diagnosis can be scary and intimidating.
But it will all start making sense the more you learn about Autism.
Soon you will know how to support your Autistic child best.
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