Published on 12, July, 2020
Our 9 year old girl was diagnosed in December. We are yet to tell her, and trying to work out how best to do it, and what resources to have ready to support her.
Have started to look at youtube and some books, but feel that they dont quite reflect her, and dont want to tell her how she experiences her autism - as she does copy behaviours, am slightly concerned that she may even copy some traits that she currently doesnt display.
Any suggestions? or advice appreciated.
Thank you.
https://youtu.be/VAogdfYPstU
This video might be useful, it is from the perspective of many different autistic children. Obviously you can tailor the discussion to what being autistic means for her.
You could compare noticeable differences between you and her. It is really important to use a strengths based approach so she develops a positive autistic identity.
Example of autism description:
Everybody is different, some of these differences like eye or hair colour we can see. Some differences are hidden, being autistic is a difference that people cannot see and means your brain works differently to others. This is cool and makes you YOU. Being autistic also means you can make lots of new friends who think like you do. Autism may mean that some things make you really happy and you may move your body more to show other people. Autism means your senses may be stronger or weaker than other people, this may be scary sometimes but it is ok. Autism may mean that what other say is confusing, this is because people don’t say what they mean.
I hope this is helpful