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Advice for sharing recent diagnosis with Son (8 Years old)

Naomi

Hi All i'm new to the group

I'm after some tips and advice for sharing our 8 year old sons recent ASC diagnosis with him. I've read up the advice from the NAS website.I'm after some insider insight from experiences of parents who have already been through this, or adults who have been through the sharing of their diagnosis.

I am really conscious to do this in the best possible way for our very much loved son. He was diagnosed in the last 4-5 months and it is not sitting right with me that we havent yet shared the information about him with him yet. We dont want it to be a secret and we are so proud of who he is.

I would love it please if you can share any personal do and dont's or words of caution.

Many thanks in Advance 

Parents

  • Hi Naomi,

    My son is also 8 and has just been formally diagnosed. We decided to tell him in the first week. Partially because the telephone was none stop and I didn't want him to feel that he was being talked about or hear bits of information and become upset. We sat him down quietly and spoke to him in a way he would understand. We ensured that he knew he was gifted, we explained that it may be why he reacts to certain situations and we explained that there would be people contacting us wanting to learn more about how special he was. He hugged me and thanked me for telling him. He had lots of questions for the first week or so and we were honest in an age appropriate manner. He wanted to tell the world how amazing he was. We don't want him to feel ashamed of his diagnosis, or feel that everything has to be hush hush. This is part of who he is and being a part of the journey will hopefully give him more confidence, independence and control as he grows. You know your child better than anyone. You know his triggers, his responses and the best way to communicate with him. Keep it simple and make sure he knows its nothing to be ashamed of.

    Good Luck and please feel free to PM if you just want to chat about it.

Reply

  • Hi Naomi,

    My son is also 8 and has just been formally diagnosed. We decided to tell him in the first week. Partially because the telephone was none stop and I didn't want him to feel that he was being talked about or hear bits of information and become upset. We sat him down quietly and spoke to him in a way he would understand. We ensured that he knew he was gifted, we explained that it may be why he reacts to certain situations and we explained that there would be people contacting us wanting to learn more about how special he was. He hugged me and thanked me for telling him. He had lots of questions for the first week or so and we were honest in an age appropriate manner. He wanted to tell the world how amazing he was. We don't want him to feel ashamed of his diagnosis, or feel that everything has to be hush hush. This is part of who he is and being a part of the journey will hopefully give him more confidence, independence and control as he grows. You know your child better than anyone. You know his triggers, his responses and the best way to communicate with him. Keep it simple and make sure he knows its nothing to be ashamed of.

    Good Luck and please feel free to PM if you just want to chat about it.

Children
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