Autism

It has been a while since I took some time to update you on Elsa. The last time was back in October 2020 when I explained what was happening with Elsa - we’d been to an appointment in November 2019 with the view to having Elsa put on the Autism assessment waiting list. There we were made aware of a …

If you have been a regular and loyal reader of my blog then you will know that my eldest daughter, Freya, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in January last year. Our family is somewhat experienced when it comes to autism and I had noticed complications in Elsa, my youngest daughter, from a very young age. In fact, something was …

I am not ashamed to admit that we named our third daughter after the Disney Frozen princess, Elsa. Although I’m not entirely sure what we’ve created because she now refers to all tops and songs featuring Elsa, as her songs or tops. “Why are they dressed up like me, Mummy?” Ooops. Anyway, we had all been pretty excited for the release …

As I’m writing this it’s Monday 28th January. It’s very late and my eyes are stinging from exhaustion. It’s been a long, emotional day. For many years I have believed that my eldest daughter, Freya, has autism or is autistic. For over half of her life I have been begging the paediatricians to assess her but with school reports and …

To Princess 1, Please know that I am doing this for good intentions. I have your best interests at heart even if it may not feel that way to you right now. Moving your school so late in this journey is terrifying for all of us. Daddy and Mummy have spent so many days and nights talking, restless sleep worrying …

It already feels like that snowy, winter wonderland we had last week was such a long time ago doesn’t it?! I keep looking at my photos wishing I’d taken more. It was just such a beautiful week. However, for us it also was a pretty awful week for P1. Change effects her hugely as you will know if you’ve followed …

This week has been a really good one for us as a family. P2 turned 5 years old this week and we had a family trip out, it’s snowed and been frosty a few mornings too but the best news we’ve had this week is to do with P1. Right at the beginning of the week P1 had another routine …

I actually drafted the title of this post a good few weeks ago, just after I had to juggle the need to be in two places at once for two different children of mine. But actually even more has happened since then. Since having two children in primary school and one in nursery, I have been really struggling to organise …

It’s been nearly a whole year since I last updated or spoke properly about P1’s special needs. It has been such an exhausting year but I think that we are heading in the right direction finally. I learn new things about P1 each day yet it’s hard to actually pin point the differences when people ask us. How do you …

I’m not really scared of hospitals or medical appointments anymore. I don’t think you really can be when you’ve spent the good part of the past eight years visiting various hospital regularly with your first born. We have to visit a medical professional very few months I’d say for many different reasons. It gets a little confusing when you have …

It feels like turning 8 years old has brought so many new things to P1s life already and it’s only been a few weeks. When she received an invitation to attend a sleepover party with one of her new Brownie friends, I had instant flash backs from my childhood. I remember a couple of sleepovers when there was more than …

So firstly I am changing the format of this series of blog posts slightly. I’ve changed the name from Autism Diaries to Special Needs Diary. This is purely because we don’t have an official diagnosis and with recent medical appointments and conversations, it just doesn’t feel right to give P1 a definite label yet. However, she definitely is a special …

Dear Diary, I have huge concerns about P1s education. She doesn’t seem wired academically like I was. I always enjoyed school I think apart from the bullying and being picked on for being small. I did relatively well at learning when I wasn’t talking to my friends. But P1 is falling behind. Key Stage 2 is naturally harder than what …

Dear Diary, I have so many mixed feelings about this year ahead for P1. We now have a Year 3 pupil which means she’s now following the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Obviously that means she’ll be doing more focused learning rather than the play side of school now and there’s only four more years until she’s in secondary school. I …

Dear Diary, I am writing this just four days after our big family holiday, but you most likely won’t be reading it until a few weeks later. Holidays are always something I really get anxious about with P1. As she’s getting older she is becoming more aware of her surroundings, she has preferences and can get rather emotional and hard …