Autism – the lived experience of a parent of autistic kids.
Dee Thomson is the Leap in! Learning and Development Specialist and a neuro-divergent mum parenting two autistic children. We recently asked her to answer some of our Members’ most commonly asked questions about autism. What should I do if I think my child is autistic? If you are concerned about your child’s development, it’s a good idea to start a conversation with an early childhood professional. This could be an early childhood educator who works with your child and can share their observations, or a GP who focuses on child development and discusses development milestones. Often early observations can include delays in either speech or communication, a difference in how your child plays and engages with you and their peers, and struggles with behaviour, which may indicate that your child is experiencing distress. There is a lot of information available, and some good sites to start your research include Autism: What Next? and Reframing Autism. I hear a lot about autistic boys. What about girls? This is now an area that has significant focus. Previously, diagnostic criteria were based on how boys present. However, our autistic girls don’t present autism in the same way. For example, autistic girls are often experts at masking. What this
