I have a 13 year old autistic daughter who claims that I don't understand her and now doesn’t trust me anymore to the point that she doesn’t want me in the family home. I believed I had a good relationship with my daughter and whilst I admit I don’t have the same level of understanding or close relationship that she does with her mother I thought we were ok. The other day we had what I thought was a really good talk about the main symptoms of autism and how and if they effected her. The following day I was confronted and told that I didn’t understand her and questioned what I had done to understand autism and why I hadn't done more to understand her so that I could help her more. To be honest similar conversations have happened previously and I have said I will do more to understand her but because I had thought we had been getting on ok I maybe haven’t done as much as I could. The situation got to such a point that my wife and I were so concerned about her mental health that it was decided I would leave the family home for a few days to allow things to settle down. I am extremely concerned that I have now done so much damage that there is no going back. I have spoken to her on the phone and promised that I will find out more to help her and try to reassure her but now she doesn’t believe me and states that I have said that before but nothing changes. I or my wife don’t seem to be able to reassure or convince her otherwise. I really don’t know how to come back from this and would appreciate any help and advice from anybody who has experienced a similar situation.
