Hiya everyone Im new here! :)

Birthdays are always hard without reliable friends.     I'd suggest doing some kind of amazing experience with her that other kids don't get to do.

You'd be amazed at the number of things you can organise if you talk to the management of interesting places - also, as her carer, you often get to do the same experience for free so it's effectively half price..

My daughter's pretty much grown up but when she was little, she's done a behind the scenes tour of Legoland and has met all the model builders and they eventually set her free to help herself in their parts warehouse with a big bag to fill.

She's also done a VIP tour of Hamleys in London where we handed her over to the PR lady while we went to the top-floor cafe to wait - a couple of hours later, she'd been taken all around the entire shop and has been introduced to all the staff and had almost every toy demonstrated to her and they'd given her some dressing up outfits, a load of books, a ton of sweets etc so when it was time to take her to buy the toy that she had decided on, all the staff were greeting her so she was like a little superstar - and all the tourists were taking her picture because they thought she was someone famous.

Lots of zoos do animal interactions - she's met & fed and interacted with everything from, penguins, dolphins, red pandas, young lions, birds of prey, meerkats, sea lions etc.    The smaller the park, the more personal they can be - and March is the quiet season so they often quietly give a lot more for your money.   She's meeting a pack of wild wolves and taking them for a hunt this year.

She's also flown a glider, done go-karting, wild animal photography days and had a go at scuba diving.  

Don't forget to take her out for something to eat - every restaurant will make it special and sing happy birthday to her and a cake & candles can be arranged.

Make her day special for her on a personal level - an experience to remember.

Wow! That’s a heavy load to carry! Children can be so cruel sometimes. I hope the school is doing all they can to support you and your daughter.

If it were me (after phoning the helpline) I would be trying to join a local ASD group outside of school so she could be in a more forgiving environment and hopefully make friends that way. I’m speaking as an ASD adult with one daughter on the pathway to diagnosis. Plus I was ‘different’ because I was the mixed race kid in very ‘white’ areas - I would have had a better time as a kid if I was just around more children who looked like me regardless of my ASD traits so finding affinity is always something I value in friendships. Whatever you decide to do tomorrow for her birthday, I hope she enjoys it

Welcome!x

Hello MumaBear89

I am sorry to hear what is happening with your daughter at the moment.

You may like to contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice . You can contact the team via telephone on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm). Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor. Alternatively, should you prefer to send a message, you can do so via their webform:

https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main/questions.aspx

In addition

You may like to contact our Parent to Parent service who offers emotional support to parents and carers of children or adults with autism. This service is confidential and run by trained parent volunteers who are all parents themselves of a child or adult with autism . 

You contact the team on 0808 800 4106. Please leave a message and the team will call you back as soon as possible at a time that suits you, including evenings and weekends. Alternatively you can use contact the team via web form: https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/parent-to-parent/enquiry.aspx

I hope you find this useful

Best Wishes

Lorraine  Mod