It’s been 3 years since we had the diagnosis. 3 years since our lives changed forever.
We were very shocked to get the diagnosis as our son wasn’t showing any typical autistic signs as far as we were concerned. If we were to go for assessment now, we would not be shocked. He has autism, there is no denying it.
He turned 7 a couple of months ago, and although his speech is improving, he still talks like a 3 year old.
He flaps alot more than he ever did. At the time of diagnosis, I don’t think I had even seen him flap!
His understanding is still very poor. He will answer yes no matter what we ask him; Did you paint at school today? Yes. Did you play on the scooter at playtime? Yes. Then I ask the teacher and he didn’t do either things!
The school use an app called Seesaw to communicate with us. They update it everyday with photos and messages about the day which is fantastic, and allows us to talk about what happened that day.
He is getting better at going into busy places. He was at a birthday party last week, and he went into the hall when there were people already there which is a big improvement.
It is definitely more obvious to others that he has autism. On the plus though, I am seeing more awareness when we are out. We still get stares but on the whole, people are generally ok.
To say the last 3 years have been a learning curve for us is an understatement! But we are in the best position now to handle it all. We are more aware of what we can and can’t do. We know when to push him and when not to. And most importantly, we have learned the signs of when he is ok and when he is not. But it’s taken 3 years of hard work and lots of tears to get here.
I’m still not able to talk about it, but I’m slowly coming off my anxiety medication and I’m feeling better able to cope with it all.
It’s a long road ahead, but we are getting there, and the journey is getting a bit more manageable.
Super Autism Mum 