I’d never thought to ask for myself Last week, the National Autistic Society came out and stated, definitively and for the first time, that autism is genetic. You’re born autistic and you’re autistic for life. It’s not something you can catch. It’s your neurology, and it’s inherited, most often from your parents. We’ve all known […]
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You put my life into words I opened my inbox this week to find an email from another parent. She had just read my article in Special Needs Jungle and felt compelled to get in touch. She told me I had “hit the nail on the head” and that reading it had made her realise
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This could have felt like a wasted journey Something happened recently that I wanted to share, because actually… it felt like a positive. My child was dysregulated at school. Something had happened and they could feel it building. They knew they were becoming triggered and were worried it might escalate to a point where they
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January has been a slog – here’s what’s helping me Has January felt like a bit of a slog to you? You’re not alone. I was really hoping that once Christmas was over, things would calm down and I’d finally find some time for me. But with families like ours, it rarely works out that
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Has the Hunter’s Moon thrown anyone else off balance this week? So it’s been a full moon this week – the first super moon of the year, known as the Hunter’s Moon. I wonder if you saw it? It was quite spectacular. I’m not sure about you, but I always notice that when there’s a
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The 3-question pause: the tool I gave school but needed myself Around this time about six years ago, in the thick of trying to get school to understand my child, I sent them a list of practical tips. It was born out of exhaustion – trying to advocate for them, trying to meet their needs
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Why birthdays can be tricky for PDAer’s It was a birthday in our house this week, and this is what one child wrote on the other’s card: “Looser!!! Wow, you’re another year to death. Love from [name]. P.S. Give me money.” Now obviously, this made us laugh. Luckily, they’ve reached a stage where they can
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When life felt relentless I spent a long time feeling like I couldn’t leave the house. My career was gone. Most of my time was spent co-regulating with my child, who was barely in school. On a good day, I might manage the drive to their alternative provision. But if they felt they couldn’t go,
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Why tricks don’t work – and what really does Yesterday morning I was lucky. My husband did the school run, which meant I had a little pocket of time to myself – a rare thing. So I decided to walk the dogs. As I walked, I took some slow, deep breaths and ran through one
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Moments that make it all worthwhile We’re away at the moment, having a little family holiday and I wanted to share something close to my heart. It’s been quite the experience for the boys – for all of us, really. There were definitely moments where we weren’t sure how it would go. A few wobbles,
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