Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm struggling to cope at the moment. I ended up yelling at my autistic 4 year old in shops today because he kept running off. This is normal behaviour for him but I normally manage to stay calm, at least on the outside.
I don't think I can leave home with both him and his little sister any more. It doesn't seem like it's possible to manage them both, give them both a good time and keep them both safe on my own.
Has anyone else been through this? Any suggestions?
As background, he was diagnosed earlier this year, and we are on a very long waiting list for the local equivalent of the early bird course.
Hi Kara,
I have a 4 year old ASD son and 2 other older children,
Our son was diagnised this year and starts school in September,
He is on the early bird waiting list and should get to start this in January.
We have trouble with him and his 7 year old sister. Our current strategy is to split them up wherever possible sp that they both get the full attention of 1 adult. Its not ideal, but it works for us, and we have seen it helps our daughter, who was feeling left out of everything. Nellie-mod's advice on using the Autism helpline is a good place to start if you are feeling overwhelmed. Its hard to split focus on 2 children at the best of times, but ASD can make this even worse.
If you have any questions I am happy to tell you more,
And I am sure there are even more people in the forum who have similar stories and advice