Category: Parenting Tips
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How to help our autistic children cope with change
I don’t often write about T, our 11 year old autistic son. Not that I don’t love him as much as D, of course I do and more. He’s our first child together, our little man who can change his moods like the winds (and there’s been a lot of that recently), but who will…
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Striving for independence for your autistic child: a little bit at a time
It’s something we all strive for in our children, isn’t it? Independence. From the moment they’re born, we’re waiting for those milestones: an ability to support the head; rolling over; crawling; walking and then more and more achieved as they get older. Before you know it, they’re dressing themselves, reading and writing and having more…
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After Early Intervention for Verbal Apraxia
Since my son’s initial diagnosis of verbal apraxia three years ago, I have cried three times a year. This usually occurs around evaluations, meetings, and one other random moment in time when I realise how much my boy struggles to do something the rest of us take for granted. As he gets older I have…
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Time for me: A cup of coffee….
I mention my favourite coffee chain drink in my twitter profile, much to my husband’s amusement (it’s a massimo decaf skinny mocha by the way), its come to represent more than just a cup of coffee over time. “Me time” or time for me and me alone…can be infrequent when parenting and especially when parenting…
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Verbal Apraxia: An introduction to our diagnosis
As a baby my son was a talker; he babbled, cooed, and screeched loudly bringing smiles to our faces. We would laugh joyously as he yelled, “ba ba ba” at the top of his lungs. I said he will be an early talker and everyone agreed. But soon one and a half passed us by…
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Tips for potty training special needs children and starting nursery: From a mum who knows
One of the big milestones in a young child’s life is commencing nursery classes; you have the initial visit to the setting, the child has a nursery visit and then there is a home visit where the staff have a chance to ask questions about your child. There are questions about whether they can dress…
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Parenting an Autistic Child: 5 top tips from lived experience
Walk into any bookshop and there are shelves of self-help books, absolutely loads. Books on increasing self-confidence, pregnancy, diet, positivity…the list would seem to be endless. Until you become part of a new “club”, one that you weren’t necessarily aware when your child was newborn that you’d be “joining”, due to the fact it’s an…