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

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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. 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. As outlined above, the intended target audience for the book was parents of older children and young people who were not recognised as autistic at an early age, but in my opinion the helpful advice in this book stretches to a group wider than that. It could help parents, carers and wider family members of children diagnosed autistic at any age, and it would also offer many insights for educators, particularly those in secondary schools. 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.

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PDF / EPUB File Name: Nurturing_Your_Autistic_Young_Person_-_Cathy_Wassell.pdf, Nurturing_Your_Autistic_Young_Person_-_Cathy_Wassell.epubUnfortunately, 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. 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. 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? 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:

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

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! 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 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. 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.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 Consider the environment: would they prefer to be somewhere familiar? Think about the sensory input such as lighting and sounds. Autistic Girls Network is part of the change we need to see. Cathy’s book is also part of that change. If every parent and every professional could read this book, autism understanding would come a long way. And this is so important, because at the heart of this are young autistic people all over the world who are continually being failed by the people who are meant to protect them. And that has to change.” This book will help any parent and their autistic daughter understand autism and prepare for an assessment. The book is full of practical information about autism which allows you to explore together your daughter's own profile on the spectrum. The book is easy to read and would enable you to gather all the evidence you could require towards the diagnosis assessment. What I love about this book, is that it also gives you ways you can support your autistic daughter, now, before the official diagnosis. It is common for people to worry about doing the 'wrong' thing and as you understand your daughter, you will find the 'Living well with autism' section really helpful and positive. Because our autistic girls should feel positive about who they are and the future that is ahead of them.

Autistic young people | North East Autism Society Autistic young people | North East Autism Society

Rebecca Duffus is an Advisory Teacher working with students and educators in mainstream and specialist schools, plus local council and education services. Here, Rebecca discusses the importance of supporting young people to understand their autistic identity.So often, autistic young people are told to stop stimming, taught neurotypical ‘social skills’ and disciplined because of characteristics directly related to their autistic identity. We need to be actively promoting autistic pride and creating communities where autistic young people can understand their strengths and have their needs catered for. What is autistic identity? 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. Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person is my third book – it’s just the first one which has made it to publication! The first two were abandoned at a skeletal stage when it became obvious that I just didn’t care enough about writing them. But for this book, I probably cared too much. There was so much I wanted to say, and only 80,000 words to say it in! Signs to spot in your own child can include different behaviours in and outside school, and exhaustion. Find out more in this video. 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, and especially the last few months - 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.” Book review