Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello
I am new to this site and this is my first post! I am after some advise please..........my son (aged 11) was diagnosed with Autism around 3 weeks ago and is also being assessed for ADHD. He struggles with school life and has social and emotional difficulties. He is talented at sport and is able to communicate verbally no problem. I wanted some advise on how to tell him about his diagnosis with Autism and how best to approach it? Is there any books/links that can explain it in a child friendly way?
TIA. kate
Hi Kate,
If you are looking for post-diagnostic support there is an advice page here on the NAS site about the subject - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/children/recently-diagnosed.aspx - which explains about social and educational support that is available, financial support, and has advice on talking to your child about their diagnosis, which it sounds like would help you - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/children/recently-diagnosed.aspx##tell - There are links to books and other resources we recommend on the subject there as well.
Hope this is of some help,
Ross - mod
Hi Kate, it’s a tough one to offer generic advice on because we are all different and handle news in our own way. Was he aware that the assessments were for a potential diagnosis of autism? If so you can probably broach it that way, if he wasn’t made aware what the assessments were for, maybe explain that first and talk about the positives of being diagnosed. There is a tendency to assume a medical diagnosis has to be a bad thing, but with autism it’s not necessarily the case, if he is mature enough you can possibly discuss how autism contributes to some of his struggles (done in a reassuring way of course) but critically I’d say talk about how the diagnosis will be better for him in the long run, so more support, understanding etc. Just my views anyway.