Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person: A Parent’s Handbook to Supporting Newly Diagnosed Teens and Pre-Teens

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Giving young people the space and time to explore and embrace their autistic identity, in a way that is positive and empowering, is essential for their sense of self and belonging. Further information This marvelous book is like a trusted friend who can relieve your worries and confusion while explaining the most promising approaches to raising a happy, healthy, and creative autistic young person. It condenses a tremendous amount of useful information into an engaging and friendly read. I'll be buying multiple copies to give away. There is also strength and solace in a shared identity. Much of what has been shown to increase wellbeing and reduce anxiety is finding your place in a community of like-minded people, such as with other autistic or neurodivergent folk.

Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person - Hachette UK Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person - Hachette UK

As a mum to a neurodiverse son, an autism assessor and a team manager for an autism and mental health team this book is everything it says it going to be. Signs to spot in your own child can include different behaviours in and outside school, and exhaustion. Find out more in this video. SNJ is run by volunteer parents. Everything on SNJ is free to use, but if you like what we do, and you want us to keep doing it, a small donation towards running costs would be really appreciated. I’m in lots of Facebook groups full of parents who feel unsupported by the professionals they thought would help them, because the system doesn’t allow them to help most of the time. I can’t fix the system, although I’ll give it a good try. But I can help everyone who reads the book to understand their autistic young person a little better, and to create an environment where they will thrive. Open your minds and come on this journey with me. You won’t regret it.Claire Sainsbury states ‘any child who is old enough to understand a simple explanation…. is old enough’ (Sainsbury, 2010). Likewise, research has found that when children know nothing about their diagnosis, they can have a very negative perception of themselves (Miller, 2015 and Punshon et al 2009). Who is best placed to have these conversations? There’s a lot to take in, and that’s why the book is written in the form of a handbook you can dip in and out of, and revisit when that section becomes more relevant to your situation. Reviewers talk about lots of aha moments: Georgina Durrant, author of ‘100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play’ and Founder of The SEN Resources Blog. Autism is the word used to describe a lifelong difference in a person’s neurology. It’s very difficult to say exactly what ‘it’ is because it can’t be separated from the person. Unfortunately, I am not alone in my experiences. So many autistic people go unrecognised and unsupported and end up with severe mental health problems. So many are not given support which they are able to engage with, because their needs aren’t met. So many are retraumatised by encounters with professionals and their experiences within the mental health system. Even for those diagnosed earlier, there is the risk of being made to feel like an outcast because of the diagnosis, or of being forced into traumatising therapies like applied behavioural analysis. This is why we desperately need change, and soon. Because autistic children deserve to grow up feeling included, supported, and secure in their autistic identity.

young people to understand their autistic identity Helping young people to understand their autistic identity

However, so often I will meet a young person who is at crisis point, and ask the team around them if they have an understanding of their autistic identity, to be told ‘No’. They may have been told about their diagnosis but been given little support to understand what this means, nor had the opportunity to meet other autistic young people, therefore being left feeling isolated, which can also impact their mental health. What can we do to increase understanding of autistic identity in young people? When I began to feel that, everything changed for me. I began to see that I had a future. I was given the opportunity to learn about myself, understand my brain, and start to make adaptations to my life which made it easier to navigate. I needed a healthy way to direct my anger at my experiences into something useful. So, I joined my local CAMHS young people’s council, to be able to have influence in shaping services. I then stood for election as a public governor for my NHS mental health and learning disability trust. I am now in my fourth year as governor. I started university to study mental health nursing, and I qualify later this year. I became a trustee for the Autistic Girls Network, of course. I started to write blogs, give talks, and work alongside organisations to create change. Cathy's lived experience shines through - from the conversational tone and reassurance offered to the reader; the book is an easy to use, warm and wide-ranging guide to parenting an autistic teenager. I can see that this book will help countless families, and will be relevant for years to come.

The experience of getting recognised as autistic is different for everyone, but it is affected by your age, your environment, your mental health and your supporters. Someone who is diagnosed at two is going to have a different life experience to someone who is diagnosed at 17 amid a massive mental health crisis. And they are going to be different again to someone who is diagnosed/recognised at 50, or even at 83 as happened in our Facebook group a few months ago! Research shows that having a positive understanding of your autistic identity is an indicator of higher self-esteem and wellbeing as an adult. (Corden, Brewer & Cage, 2021 and Cooper, Smith, & Russell, 2017). Yet, when do we teach this? The RRP is the suggested or Recommended Retail Price of a product, set by the publisher or manufacturer.

Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person (Book Review) Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person (Book Review)

John Facchnini of Employment Futures explains how he helps organisations get the best out of autistic employees. The Council for Disabled Children’s new Director on their work to implement the Government’s SEND Change Programme - October 18, 2023 Have a plan for follow up questions : It’s OK to ‘park’ the question or give the young person a kind of ‘holding message’ - better this than to give a rushed answer that they later find confusing or unsettling. An autism diagnosis is much more than just a ‘label’. If you’re autistic, you’ve been autistic your whole life and you will gradually become aware that you experience the world in a different way to many of your peers. Everything in this book resonates on so many levels. A must whether you're a parent, teacher or someone who, like me, reads it and is still astounded by how much feeling different shouldn't have to be so difficult. Affirming, passionate and timely if we are to explode the medicalised myths around autism.It turns out that this late diagnosis is more and more common, particularly in those that present in an internal way, who tend to mostly be girls. It turns out our child is NOT fine in school. In fact, they are so anxious, school is traumatising them more and more to the point they may actually become unable to attend. It also turns out that we’re parenting just fine thank you very much, and that since at least one of us is likely to be neurodivergent we’re probably parenting in a much more appropriate way for our neurodivergent child than all those neurotypically-framed parenting courses they tried to send us on. Adapt your plan for your young person: consider concentration and processing times. Some young people may prefer to sit down for an hour, others may want short 10-minute bursts of information. Be flexible! So while you may dip in and out of it, reading some sections may provide you with your own aha moment where you realise that section is more relevant than you thought! What’s important is the change in understanding that can take place to build the best environment to nurture your autistic young person. Giveaway Unfortunately, an autism diagnosis carries with it a stigma, and becoming aware of this stigma can be damaging to a young person’s wellbeing as they get older – and the later they are recognised as autistic, the more problematic this becomes.

Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person : Cathy Wassell (author Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person : Cathy Wassell (author

An exceptional and brilliantly written book to help navigate the conflicting advice given and keep your autistic young person safe and happy. Cathy provides the information parents really want to find when they seek to understand how best to support autistic young people. This book offers a wealth of easy-to-follow explanations, reflections, and practical tips which are clearly based upon Cathy's extensive knowledge and lived experience. This is sincere parent-to-parent peer support in book form. We recognise that the work we do wouldn’t be possible without our incredible team of dedicated employees. With opportunities within our care, education, employment and family support services, there’s a career for you at the North East Autism Society. I wish I had read this incredible book many years ago. My daughter – aged 13 – had a late diagnosis and this (hand)book is exactly what I need to be able to understand and support her better. I’d gleened bits and pieces of information about autism over the past few years, but it’s all here (and so much more) in one book, written in a clear and understandable way. So many ‘aha’ moments. Cathy Wassell’s book seems to have everything covered from co-occurring conditions to sensory stuff, with lots of practical advice on how to nurture and advocate for our autistic young people.

Parents and teachers of autistic children, you need Cathy's book on your bookshelf! I'm genuinely excited about the positive change this book may bring in ensuring parents and professionals understand autistic young people better. Naturally, we want to remove the stigma, but this depends not on the autistic young person to change, but everyone around them learning about neurodiversity – the more you understand about difference, not deficit, the less likely you are to stigmatise. However we can also nurture the young person so that they develop a positive view of their autistic identity, and can become advocates for themselves and others. Cathy Wassell is a neurodivergent mum to neurodivergent young people in a happilyneurodivergent family. She is CEO of Autistic Girls Network charity, which supports and campaigns for autistic girls and their families and author of Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person. She is passionate about educating others about neurodiversity to lessen the current stigma of being autistic, so that young people can grow up with a positive autistic identity I read this book because I have four autistic grandchildren, all with very different needs. So I have a vested interest in learning more.