Newly diagnosed - 5 year old with autism

Hi 

I'm new to all this, seeking help as I'm totally lost. My 5 year old has been diagnosed with autism, he has speech and language delay and in particular struggles with communicating with other children and initiating play but not so much adults. I want to be able to support him but I have no idea where to even start looking for ideas tips, things to try to help him not only improve the speech aspect but also socialising . Can anyone help point me in a direction of where I can find some information, and or have a child with similar traits?. 

Thanks J

  • feel free to contact the NAS via the above liinks

  • feel free to contact the NAS via the above liinks

  • My grandson is in a similar situation, made worse by the schools attitude and to my daughter his is also autistic.

    sorry to hear of your situation, but reading these post tell me we are no alone, but also, sadly, the lack of understanding out there.

    take care, he knows you love home and that is so important.

  • its worth ringing our NAS helpines they may have contacts in your area and there is a parent to parent emotional support helpline

    parent TO parent  ----- ring or online query form

    https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/parent-to-parent

    general  explore in here for helplines/online form,  also educational support 

    www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do

  • its worth ringing our NAS helpines they may have contacts in your area and there is a parent to parent emotional support helpline

    parent TO parent  ----- ring or online query form

    https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/parent-to-parent

    general  explore in here for helplines/online form,  also educational support 

    www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do

  • Hello NAS,

    My son is 9 he was diagnosed with autism on Monday.

     I too am a bit lost and don’t have much access to the school at the moment.

    I too am struggling to know how to help him but he does seem to love being home schooled at the moment so that is a silver lining I suppose.

    As my son finds interacting with other children difficult and noise at school very stressful. He seems to be content but I would like to catch him up on his school work as he is somewhat behind in English and finds writing difficult.

    please do share any links you find. I would also like to k ow about financial help so I can get him a tutor.-

    I am looking into disability allowance and carers allowance as last year I lost my job. And things are very tight financially for us at the moment.

    can I ask how long you parents are spending each day doing home schooling?

    Thanks for any tips or links for help. 
    Amanda

  • its worth ringing our NAS helpines they may have contacts in your area and there is a parent to parent emotional support helpline

    parent TO parent  ----- ring or online query form

    https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/parent-to-parent

    general  explore in here for helplines/online form,  also educational support 

    www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do

  • Maybe you will get better responses in Parents section of this website

  • Hi there ive been reading there's quite alot of helpfull people on here.... I dont know if anybody can give me any information and past experience or advice but my 2 year old daughter has constantly rocked since she could basically sit up...she twidles her fingers and is speech delayed... she loves been upside down and covers her eyes are certain sounds... she also rocks side to side and back and forth... with the covid nothing has been done for her apart from been reviewed at the nusery.... id just like to know some peoples experiences with there children

    Thank you

  • I know one mum with autistic boy, started school this year, and 1 year younger daughter not autistic,  and 11 years ago we used to rent rooms at the same flat, so we met before she got pregnant and I found out I'm autistic, she is a regular customer in a supermarket I work for 3 years now, and first thing she told me is that her boy just got diagnosed aspergers and he is just like me, it was shortly after I found out about it, I offered her advice if wanted/needed, asked how is it going with him, she said 'it's hard' and looked a lot more stressed then before, but during those 3 years she asked me once only about something, worruied it might be something bad, I told one of our 'quirks' is not something bad it's just how we communicate sometimes, and what iit probably means and she got more relaxed, I think she is doing just fine, overworrying, mums do that a lot, boy doesn't talk much yet, prefers one word communication, but I don't find it abnormal, they developed some form of comminication with sister without words I noticed, so He might be picking up body language nuances already, I never did, alexithymia is massive difficulty to me, plus he smiles back when spoken to, meaning he is happy, 

    so continue worrying, mums can't stop it, but you are most likely doing great, after all emotional support is ,what we crave for when we are kids, and when that is missing we can go off the rails.

    I did not speak until I was 4, learnt to read later then my 1 year younger sister, I was 7, and then went to school and quickly overtaken all other kids, but I was not lucky to have supporting my quirks mum

  • Yeah I done the same there’s lot online you can order! Sensory bags and all the cards also ask his schools to supply you with some stuff my sons did which was helpful x 

  • Hi, thank you for replying it's just nice to know there are others also in the same boat. I'm also clueless as to if we're supporting him correctly and the best possible way we can. Will look into the flash cards thank you for the recommendation, just hunting down any information I possibly can. X

  • Hey so I have a son of 8 now he has delayed speech and generally delayed in all areas, he was diagnosed at the age of 3 it’s been a long road! 
    but he has regular speech and language give. That’s changed now due to Covid so that’s a frustration which is now added to him...But flash cards phonics really helped I still don’t know if I’m supporting him properly he doesn’t really have friends as he prefers playing alone his in his own world most of the time probably 85% of it and it might not change I’d say keep meetings small with other children so it doesn’t become To over whelming but if his happiest with adults then that’s ok to. 

    it’s really difficult I feel very isolated with my son no parents with children around me who know what it’s like that’s why I’ve come on to see if I can find some sort of support group