Published on 12, July, 2020
Good Morning,
I am looking for some help/advice. My daughter who is 10 years old has recently found out she has Autism. This came about whilst attending a Holiday Club and staff were taking about the children in their care and another child overheard this conversation. This child has then walked over to my daughter and said "eurgghh you have autism, m not playing with you as I'll catch it!"
As you can imagine this upset my daughter incredibly and also did not allow me to explain her diagnosis to her in a way that she will understand. Can anyone recommend any literature/resources that myself and School can use to explain this to my daughter.
She has googled Autism and has focussed in on a couple of words - 'very clever', 'genius' which is now impacting on her at school as she thinks that as she has autism she is a genius so her work is correct and gets very upset when her teachers ask her to check her work or repeat it.
Any help would be greatly accepted
Thank you
Hi NAS85364,If you're looking for help on talking to your daughter about her diagnosis and autism in general, there's a couple of pages here on the site that might be useful to you. Here you can find our guide for parents on talking to your child about their diagnosis - https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/Topics/diagnosis/disclosing-your-autism/parents-and-carers - and on the 'What is autism' page you can find broader information about autism spectrum disorder in general - https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism Hope this is of some help, Ross - mod
I've been thinking about this as well, my son is five and I am not sure when is the best time to explain he is autistic. I was thinking in the summer holidays as he'll have more time to process and ask questions whilst at home.
I found this video also from the National Autistic Society which might help others who want to explain autism to their children. The link to youtube - Amazing things happen
The video might be a good way for a school to play it to a class to help others have a better understanding.