National Autism Awareness Month April 2012

As you are all aware my son ethan 4 has autism with it he also has very lax ligaments speech problems and severe headaches and i as a parent and mummy blogger aim to help him in as many ways as possible whether it be coping with everyday life/schooling/speech, fun days out/experiences or products aimed to helping children like him to make everyday living easier be it good sensory toys/flash cards,clothing,good places to take them that understand your child's additional needs ect.


A bit more information about autism:


So you are thinking what is autism?


Autism is a complex developmental disability that causes problems with social interaction and communication.
All people with autism are so very different from each other each with their own problems and difficulties.
It is normally known as a spectrum disorder which is a group of disorders with similar features.you may have 1 person with mild symptoms while another has serious ones.

The current autism spectrum disorder category includes:

• Autistic disorder
• Asperger syndrome
• pervasive developmental disorder or atypical autism

There are 3 groups with a higher than normal risk of having autism these include:

• Boys
• Siblings of those with autism
• People with certain other development disorders such as fragile x syndrome

Some examples of autism spectrum disorder spectrum disorder symptoms include:

• social skills
• speech,language and communication
• repeated behaviors and routines
• development

Symptoms relating to social skills can include:

• not making eye contact and wanting to be alone(my son tends to give brief eye contact)
• trouble understanding other peoples feelings or talking about their own
• not wanting to be held or cuddled or only cuddling when they want to(this is what my son falls under)
• not seeming to notice when people are trying to talk to them
• being really interested in people but not sure of how to talk,play or relate to them(i notice this with my son all the time he will look and watch them often with a smile on his face but often will not make a move to join in with their activities)
• not interacting like others would do or not being interested in others at all.

Symptoms relating to speech,language and communication can include:

• standing too close to some1 when they are talking
• speaking with a flat sounding voice
• inability to control how loudly or softly they talk
• stick with the same conversation for too long
• talking about what they like rather than having a 2 way conversation
• speaking well and knowing loads of words but having trouble listening to others(my son cant speak too well he is getting better but alot of what he says most people still cant understand as it all sounds the same)

Repeated behaviors and routines:

People with autism might repeat actions over and over again,they tend to like having routines where things stay the same so they know what to expect and may have trouble with changes.

Development delay:

Children with autism develop differently from other children.where children without autism develop at  about the same rate in areas of development, like motor,language,cognitive and social skills.children with it develop at different rates in different areas . They may have large delays in language,social and cognitive skills yet their motor skills are about the same as other children their age.they may be good at puzzles or problem solving but not at things others find easy like talking and making friends.you might also find they can learn a skill but then seem to forget it again.

All kids are different whether they have a disability or not all these children want is to be like everyone else they just need a little bit more help  than others the same age.

So the next time you see a child screaming its head off on the floor or hitting out,or like my son did the other day at the bus stop he without warning pulled his trousers over his bum exposing it shook it and shouted at top of his voice my bum baby yours is big!! 

plz don't judge we have a hard enough time as it is helping our children to learn right from wrong(although i must say i struggled not to laugh as this woman kept staring at him for talking funny for his age!)

Autistic children are not a burden they are a blessing with a hidden disability :)