Hello! Son newly diagnosed

Hi, just thouvht I'd drop by. My son is 10 and has been diagnosed with autism. This has been 5 years of referrals, doctors, melt downs, police being called etc.

Part of me knew this was possibly going to happen, but hearing the words "your child has autism" has made it real and I don't really know how to feel about it. At the moment I feel mainly numb, I guess this will wear off. 

So looking for advice, support etc. 

Also, did you tell your. Child? Does it really matter that they don't know? If you did, how did you go about it?

So bye for now, I'm sure I'll be looking back with more questions!

  • Hi,

    I have an 8 year old daughter who is still awaiting assessment, we to have been bounced around for years! 

    Give yourself time to accept the diagnosis but it really doesn't change anything he is the same child he was before but I can take time, nas have a parent to parent service on this site which can be useful for advice 

    As for telling your son that is up to you and your family but I can help him to understand why he feels the way he does. Without knowing he may start to think something is wrong with him adding to his stress and possibly causing more problems for him, we have started discussing our daughters differences with her we haven't explained it as autism yet as no official diagnosis but have made her aware of it and that she shares some of the same traits and ways of thinking and that her quirkiness is just her being different not that there is something wrong with her. This has helped her alot as she does understand that different doesn't mean wrong. Once she has been assessed we will be telling her, but like I said it is an individual decision

    Have a look round the site there is alot of info that can be really helpful 

  • We told our son and got him some books to help him understand. Depending on his reading ability there is "my autism book", "All cats have aspergers" and "can I tell you about aspergers". It helped him to understand himself better.

  • Hi I don't have any children so unable to help but I do know there are other people on here with kids, I sure they will be happy to answer any questions you may have, stick around..