Catch Up

Catching up - with too many different topics to detail… 😂 (Recorded 25th May 2022)

Sooo waffly… ;-) I meant to tell you about our Easter Holiday experience… but kind of went off on a tangent (as usual). For the first time, we managed to have some lovely experiences as a family, and I am so proud of our children, and ourselves, for everything we have put in to get to this point. I know some people will have had a really tough time…we certainly have in the past…but I wanted to share that despite the challenges, the way we have adapted our parenting to meet our children where they are…really is the best approach.

This is a quick recording on the back of a discussion we had about looking deeper…and looking for the why…with regard to how people present at surface level. We also share a few updates and reflections. (If you want to read more about learning disabilities, I found this link helpful: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/fa/node/1955 “a learning disability constitutes a condition which affects learning and intelligence across all areas of life, whereas a learning difficulty constitutes a condition which creates an obstacle to a specific form of learning, but does not affect the overall IQ of an individual.” I think people often confuse the two. (And it has been bought to my attention that the definition for this is different globally…so research your area). Because my son can talk, and access some learning with a great deal of support, his learning difficulties are overlooked.)

This is just a little update on how things are going with the children, as well as a few reflections on parenting, school and PDA.

If you have some time on your hands and fancy listening to me waffle about having it together…or not… then feel free to tune in!

This is a very quick reflection on the Disney film, Turning Red. It’s pretty quick…for me… ;-) There may be more to follow… but then again, there may not… I would love to know your thoughts on the film. Have you watched it? Did you think it was appropriate for children? Did you enjoy it? What were your thoughts overall?

This podcast covers some of my experiences as a late diagnosed autistic, exploring my feelings over how things might have been different had I known I was Neurodivergent.

This episode discusses some of my experiences with doctors and medical professionals, explaining why I feel anxious about making and attending appointments. I feel it is important that doctors have autism (Neurodiversity) on their radar, and try to treat people with compassion…rather than labelling people as hypochondriacs and denying them the support they need.

Some people believe that when children aren’t at school, they are at home, doing nothing. And some feel parents are responsible. This does not take in to account the plethora of reasons why children do not attend school, and what a responsibility this places on parents. Somehow, as we went off on a little tangent, I didn’t cover how our child is progressing since being at home… and how our PDAers often thrive when their learning is self and interest led. There is still so much more to say… but we have covered why many children aren’t in school and how the system needs to change!

This discussion was triggered by a post from Joe James the Autistic Photographer, explaining how 2-5 is too young to deem an individual as non-verbal. We then went on to discuss how our autistic children develop differently, and are often underestimated. Many professionals ‘write off’ our children, and we feel that in some cases, so much untapped potential is wasted.