My daughter is nearly 8 years old and whilst she may look like any other child, she has autism.
This means that her speech & language skills are delayed, her social skills can be inappropriately used - for example, she will try and hug the supermarket delivery person but be very scared of entering an unfamilar room for a family function; and she has OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) - this means strict routines without deviation and she will play with the same toy over and over again, want to watch the same DVD three times in a row etc etc.
Unfamilar situations and noises scare her. She will never be able to cross a road by herself, she may never drive a car or form a relationship that would normally lead to marriage/children.
I'd like to wrap her in bubble wrap and protect her from anything and everything that scares her but that isnt the way modern life works.
I'd like public awareness to be raised and this is one of the reasons I blog on Twitter to help those parents who have a newly diagnosed child and those who just want to chat.
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