Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone!
We would like your help to create a series of practical tips about how to talk to a child about their autism diagnosis. We’re looking for wisdom from parents and carers who have told a child about their diagnosis, and from autistic people who either remember how they were told as a child or can share general tips about how to approach this.
Could you share your insights based on how you told your child about their diagnosis or talked to them about it after their diagnosis, or how you were told or talked to as a child about your own diagnosis? What worked well and what didn't? What advice would you give to parents and carers now? Are there any principles you think they could follow? Any ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ or things to consider?
You can send your tips by replying to this post or submit them anonymously by emailing stories@nas.org.uk. We will use short quotes from the tips we receive on our website and social media channels to share your wisdom with others in our community.
(To see an example of what the series may look like, here are tips about Halloween shared by our community: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy5TI2sOX49/?igsh=ZnRkeGRpMWx4YXhr )
Please remember this Community forum is public, so don’t post personal or identifying details. This includes, but is not limited to, full names, addresses, contact details, social media, or photographs of yourself.
We look forward to reading your tips!
The Content Team
My younger brother was a fair bit older than some of these posts, about 12, when he was getting assessed for autism. He knew he was struggling, and I, his older sibling was also in the process of being assessed at the time by the adult team.
I think it helped having an older person that we could point to and go 'this person also has it', we discussed strengths and difficulties, so he's very good at getting very in depth knowledge of topics (like space satellites and the immune system) and memorise very precise details (he could and would recite the first chapter of pride and prejudice perfectly) and he struggles with times like break time at school and understanding nuances in social communication. School was amazing, and quickly put in support around difficult sensory environments with safe spaces he could access with his ear defenders and blanket if he got overwhelmed. This support meant that school got a lot better with time.
He took this very well overall, and when he was finally diagnosed his response to the clinician saying he was autistic was 'Autism Pog!' which for those not up on internet speech is a positive term.