Hello all

Hello JennyB , I'm just finding myself again, but I had wanted to say hi as I'm also an autistic mother in my 40's who got diagnosed in November.

My kids are younger, 11(diagnosed December) and 8(suspected). 

I'm an animator, and love to do art when I get the chance (which is about every 6 months currently).  I like reading and I do like poetry too, I like to memorise and recite ones I like, along with more mathematical things like pi.

I look forward to reading more of your posts!

Hello Cinnabar_wing 

Im glad you messaged me, thank you - good to meet you.  My son isnt that much older than your eldest and is just about to become a teen. Ive suspected others in my family have it too, younger and older. It seemed more pressing to find out for myself first. I expect my diagnosis may pave the way for others in my family to investigate too eventually. To start with I just wanted to do this for myself - for various reasons.

Thats so brilliant you are an animator - my son dabbles with animation and would think it very cool to have a parent who is an animator. Im wondering if you make animation for adults /children or both.

For me the best Poetry has a musicality about it and therefore can be very mathematical too. I mostly write 'free-verse' poetry. Im impressed you recite from memory - i love listening to poems freely expressed in this way. I recently read one out at an open mic in this way though it wasnt a very long one and it was liberating! I tend to read from the page. Im also fairly new to sharing my work - i went to my first open mic last year.

Im also wondering if you share your work and if you share any in the creative group on this website? I just learned about this group and may head there now to take a look! Ive some time to myself this weekend while my son is away with his father. Please take your time - no pressure with responding as I know being a mother is all-consuming at times.  Best wishes

Yeah I know that what you mean about autism being in the family, I managed to speak to some of my siblings over Christmas and one already knew they must have it too though not diagnosed. My son had been on the NHS waiting list for ages, but in the summer I had suffered from burnout and needed to know if it was me too, so I went for private, it's the only option for adults in my area.

I mostly animate for computer games, though I've dabbled in narrative based animation in my spare time. Some people I've worked with went into film and TV, but you tend to need to be a London which isn't a place I wanted to move to. My husband is a video game programmer and he's been teaching coding in the school for a few years, and this year I've been going in too now my daughter's old enough to join and teaching them some animation tricks too. I love to see how young people have such ideas and energy to make their own stuff! 

Your poetry sounds amazing, there is a poetry thread too, I enjoy reading others work on there but haven't contributed anything myself yet, there is some great stuff on there. I'm so impressed you've done an open mic night, delivery is such a big part of a poetry reading, so must have been immensely satisfying. I would like to go to something like that, but where I live now is more rural.

I learned The Raven most recently, mainly as my daughter decided to learn it last year when she was 7. I learned it both to help her and as it sparked my interest too. Reciting the whole myself is fun for the nuance, but was highly impressed she managed to get up to about 5-6 verses with a few prompts! I know some Robbie Burns too, so I can annoy the kids on Burns night (we are on Scotland).

And thank you for your comment on my rabbit sketch on the creative thread, there is a lot of variety there, feel free to drop anything on it youself -though I know how hard it is to find the time. I do hope you enjoy the poetry thread!

Sorry yes I wasn't very clear! He has just been diagnosed too in December just after me. It takes a very long time here, but it wasn't such a big deal as his teachers had accomodations for him since then, so it was more getting it just in time before high school.

Yes it's really rewarding to get to show the kids about animation, it's just some basic stuff I've been doing so far, but it's gone down well! Showing how you can add character to a simple bouncing ball really engaged them! I had brought in a great book, 'The Animators Survival Kit', as it's got some great examples in case your son was interested, though Christmas has just passed!

And very kind about the art, you can see what I spent most of my childhood doing! I was adament I was going to do something with art as a child, and watching animation was always a big love, so I've been very lucky getting to do what I wanted to (it helped my husband, then boyfriend helped get me my first job at a games company after uni, it can be a tough industry to break into). 

I hope your son gets invited for assessment soon or perhaps i miss understand and he went private too. It took a while for my nephew through nhs - seems to be longer for children because i suppose needs to be in person. I feel very lucky to have got an assessment via nhs after about a year waiting. I hope others still can. Well done for taking action for yourself too. 

I know so little of the video games world - how many worlds within worlds there are - in this world!!Thats wonderful to take your creative skills into schools - so valuable an opportunity for children to explore. My son loves having a go at animation when given the chance.

Thats so impressive to recite Raven - especially your daughter. I find poetry is always there for us - whatever challenges or indeed joy that we face. Ahhh Robbie Burns  -so full of passion

You are clearly a talented artist. I look forward to seeing more. Im having a think about what to share - thank you for encouragement (my confidence in my work is a little up and down tbh - im finding my feet with it)

I hope your son gets invited for assessment soon or perhaps i miss understand and he went private too. It took a while for my nephew through nhs - seems to be longer for children because i suppose needs to be in person. I feel very lucky to have got an assessment via nhs after about a year waiting. I hope others still can. Well done for taking action for yourself too. 

I know so little of the video games world - how many worlds within worlds there are - in this world!!Thats wonderful to take your creative skills into schools - so valuable an opportunity for children to explore. My son loves having a go at animation when given the chance.

Thats so impressive to recite Raven - especially your daughter. I find poetry is always there for us - whatever challenges or indeed joy that we face. Ahhh Robbie Burns  -so full of passion

You are clearly a talented artist. I look forward to seeing more. Im having a think about what to share - thank you for encouragement (my confidence in my work is a little up and down tbh - im finding my feet with it)

Sorry yes I wasn't very clear! He has just been diagnosed too in December just after me. It takes a very long time here, but it wasn't such a big deal as his teachers had accomodations for him since then, so it was more getting it just in time before high school.

Yes it's really rewarding to get to show the kids about animation, it's just some basic stuff I've been doing so far, but it's gone down well! Showing how you can add character to a simple bouncing ball really engaged them! I had brought in a great book, 'The Animators Survival Kit', as it's got some great examples in case your son was interested, though Christmas has just passed!

And very kind about the art, you can see what I spent most of my childhood doing! I was adament I was going to do something with art as a child, and watching animation was always a big love, so I've been very lucky getting to do what I wanted to (it helped my husband, then boyfriend helped get me my first job at a games company after uni, it can be a tough industry to break into).