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Recent diagnosis

Hope5

Hi, we had an assessment for our 10 year old son yesterday and we were told he has ASD.  Not really sure how we are feeling - very mixed emotions at the moment.  Finally I feel that we have an answer however I am worried about the future.  Can anyone suggest how I tell our son that he has autism - he is only 10, don't think he would really understand.  I would be grateful for any advice.

  • When you tell him, don't make it out to be some really awful condition. 

  • Thank you all for your comments and suggestions - I feel more confident in speaking to him now.

  • Knittermum said:

    The thing that concerns me about telling him that he has a diagnosis is that he overheard a conversation about him possibly having autism a while ago, and suddenly that was his excuse for behaving badly at school - "it's not my fault, it's my autism".  Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

    Firstly you need to be sure what is, and is not, a product of his autism.

    A lot of behaviour, that to NTs may seem like just 'bad behaviour', displayed by those on the spectrum, is a product of the stress that having autism causes, so whilst it may not be a direct symptom, it can be a by-product, and is often not something the person with autism can easily control.

  • I hope no-one minds me posting in here, but we are in exactly the same position.  Our 10 year old son has also just been diagnosed with asd.  I'm glad he's been diagnosed because he is moving school this year and I think it will make the school pay attention to the fact that he needs a little help, but I'm finding it very difficult thinking that my son has asd.

    The thing that concerns me about telling him that he has a diagnosis is that he overheard a conversation about him possibly having autism a while ago, and suddenly that was his excuse for behaving badly at school - "it's not my fault, it's my autism".  Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

  • You don't need to hit him with all the facts at once. But definately start telling him. As questions and incidents naturally occur you now have the insight to start attempting to explain. One important thing to establish is that 'difference is not bad.........in fact it is good and should be acknowledged and embraced'.

    There are a number of books available that you might find useful. Have a search on amazon and google......

    Aimed more squarely at Aspergers, this one is pretty good:

    www.amazon.co.uk/.../1843102404

    I am sure there are ones that will be even more helpful and specific to your requirements, if you have a browse.

    good Luck Smile

  • Just tell him.

    Tell him he has this thing called Autism, and that means he'll find some things hard that other people find easy, and some things easy that other people find hard, but it doesn't mean he's bad, or abnormal, just different.

    Sure he probably won't fully understand, but he will, in time.

    And telling him is better than not.