More than words!

I found the most difficult part of discovering your child is on the Autism spectrum is realising you have to almost rewire your brain to understand the situation. Every thing you assumed came naturally to a child all of a sudden has to be taught to them (a lot of the time in pictures).
How to learn to play, feed themselves, toileting, speak. "Typical" kids seem to pick it up from listening and watching their parents and siblings, but kids on the spectrum need that extra help to understand the simplest of daily routines. Last May when we received the official diagnosis of Autism for Diddles, Myself and the Hubby had no idea where to start. There are no handbooks given to you, no point in the right direction where to turn to for advice or help. You are handed this report and given a list of schools and told your on a 10 month waiting list for therapy after you write a letter of referral yourself. I don't think this is good enough. All I'll say is thank god for the Internet!

After receiving our Assessment of need report I remember heading straight home, turned on my laptop. I had an email from a speech therapist I had spoken to a few months before. She had been trying to run a Parent course called More than words but she could not get the numbers she needed to go ahead with it then. The email stated that she was going to run the course later that year and also asking was I still interested in attending. When I say this was meant to be it is an under-statement!
Without a second thought, I went and did the course, we had absolutely no services and could not afford private speech or occupational therapy (@ €90 - €120 p/h). I didn't really know what to expect from it.
It turned out to be exactly what I had been looking for. I swear someone up there is looking out for us.

Diddles was four when I started the course and he had not had any therapy or services because it took us so long to get the assessment of need done.
More than words taught me how to play with him again, and that my friends is priceless!
It taught me all about his sensory needs and how these effect everything he does. Which before I knew some "habits" he had were sensory but this opened my eyes to just how much he is effected by autism.
It taught me how to teach him to use language, to slow everything down and to really listen to his attempts to communicate with us. I learned all about his echolalia, scripting and all about visual routines.
The difference in him and ME and his Dad AND brother and Nanna, we all understand each other a lot better. Every parent to a child with autism (obviously depending where they are on the spectrum) between the ages of 3 and 7 should have to do this in my opinion. Its DIY therapy, you already have most of the tools and you don't even realise it.
When I started the course Diddles had no more than a 30 second attention span, he was constantly running around and jumping and singing. Now I know why he does it. From working on him with all the visuals and people games and helping him understand. We discovered he is actually really interested in books. (Before he flicked through the argos catalogue)He did not know how to look at a book and He is now interested in a story at bedtime, he'll happily lie in bed and look at the pictures and talk about it. As opposed to hop in and out of bed 20 times and sing over you while you're trying to read to him.

All I know is this really worked, a few steps in the right direction. I wrote this for the parents who are just starting out and may feel a little helpless in the beginning just like I did. It does not solve everything but it gives you a great insight into their world and I would definitely recommend doing the More than words Hanen program.

Ah HUGE Thank you to Catts Ireland for everything! Can not thank you enough.