I have just been told my child has autism, what do I do now?
This is a time of many different emotions from curiosity, relief, guilt, grief, sadness, and many more. It is important to consider your support system and we can help provide some guidance. At Complete Sense we aim to support you through this time by providing emotional and autism support (including visual support, making your home more sensory friendly and general understanding of autism). It is important to look at the strengths of your neurodiverse child and to try and see the world from their perspective. If you feel you could use some extra support please give Nat a call.
What support do I need if I have a child diagnosed with autism?
When a member of the family is given a lifelong diagnosis there may be many changes in the family dynamic. There may be feelings of grief, and loss of independence for the parents. The people who make up your support circle will be vital in helping you get through this time. Reach out to loved ones or friends, be specific about your needs at this time, don’t be ashamed to ask for help as many people will want to help. We can offer guidance on how to ask for help, autism education for friends and families and how to explain the needs of your child and we can suggest a range of therapy services that can support you.
What do I do if my child is becoming increasingly angry and aggressive?
We live by the phrase ‘all behaviour is communication’. We can help you with behaviour support and emotional regulation strategies and help you try and decipher what your child is communicating when they have large emotions. This includes emotional regulation training for parents to best deal with meltdowns as calmly as possible in situations of stress.
What are expected and unexpected behaviours?
Expected behaviours are the ways we expect people to react or behave in certain social situations. For example, singing loudly and dancing at a concert is an expected behaviour. Unexpected behaviours are the opposite and are behaviours that may make a person feel uncomfortable in a certain social situation. For example, singing very loudly and dancing in a library. Some Autistic children can struggle to understand the difference between expected and unexpected behaviours due to challenges in reading social situations.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and how can they help me deal with the changes in my life?
Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT) is a counsellor led therapy, that is evidence based, to help a person become more psychologically flexible. This is done over a period of time by working on being more mindful in your day-to-day life and learning about emotions and how they affect the body, then using this information to accept what is happening in your life. By accepting challenges, you can then take committed action that helps you to move forward.
Cognitive Behaviour therapy is evidence based and allows a client to understand how their thoughts, feelings and behaviours are connected and interact. By understanding this three-way relationship clients feel empowered to make changes to different aspects of their thinking or behaviour to move forward in a more confident manner.