Tips for parents as more children need speech and language support

I saw a recent article on the BBC that showed the number of five and six-year-olds who need speech and language support at school has risen by 10% in England over the past year. As a parent of two children with speech and language and communication difficulties, related to their autism diagnoses, I know of the huge stretch this must create on the system.

How to speak to my autistic and neurotypical kids about what's happening in Ukraine

What is happening in Ukraine is incredibly shocking and scary. I'm trying to process what I'm seeing.  I can barely believe what I am seeing on the TV or hearing on the radio - but I can't turn it off.  It's all over the news and it's important that I'm here to help my neurotypical and autistic kids process it too.  But how do I do this?

Five reasons why my kids get frustrated

My kids can become frustrated for a variety of reasons and it isn’t always easy to pinpoint the underlying cause of their emotions.  Two of them have communications difficulties, but even our daughter can struggle sometime to explain why she's feeling frustrated.   As a parent of autistic kids I've learned to behave like a detective - what's causing the issue?  

Helping my autistic children communicate over Christmas

Christmas brings with it a change of routine, sensory explosions and a whole host of other things that can be overwhelming for any kids but particularly those with autism.  Perhaps more than other times, it's really important that I'm able to understand my kids, so I need to make it easy for them to communicate.

When our autistic son is sick

Thankfully our kids aren't often ill. Looking after little ones when they are a bit poorly is typical mother work and it's not that different when they are on the autistic spectrum, it's just sometimes a bit come complicated.

Is learning another language a good idea for my autistic kids?

Have you thought about whether it would or wouldn't benefit your child to learn a second language? For children with autism, a lot of people assume that it's better to avoid delving into foreign languages altogether.  I've heard from other parents, with autistic kids, that the weren't sure about speaking more than one language with their children.  Anthony an Jane have both recently have French lessons at school and I wondered - is it a good idea?

WonderfulWednesday: My son communicates with @googlemaps via @gwynnemiriam

This week's wonderful Wednesday share comes to us via Autism Speaks and is an article from Miriam Gwynne who writes at Faith Mummy. She shares a wonderful moment when she realised her son was using google maps to communicate.

Construction play with Airfix #Quickbuild (review)

Construction play can be great for so many areas of kids development.  From motor skills to communication, imagination and care.  Both our boys love models but don't have the skills, patience or understanding really to do most model kits.  So I was interested when given the opportunity to review some new kits from AirFix that require no glue, paint etc, just putting easy to put together models - introducing the AirFix Quick Build Lamborghini and Hawk.