Sofia will be five on Wednesday! Five! So to celebrate, here are some pictures from a steam railway we visited last month. Sofia loved it, and it took me right back to my first job down the local pit back in ’89, when I would smell the steam from the mine’s tank engine as I walked up the lane every morning. [...]
Sorry it’s been six months since I updated this diary. Immediately post-diagnosis there seemed so much to assimilate and explain, and, although a lot’s happened in the intervening period, I’ve been tackling it on a day-to-day basis that hasn’t left me a lot of time for major reflection. I wanted this diary to have a fairly rigorous level of analysis, self-awareness, and self-criticism, but [...]
I guess I should be surprised that my diary’s made it this far without confronting the issue of treatment, because there seem to be two types of parent working with the Spectrum: those who accept the diagnosis as a lifelong fait accompli and who solely rely on behavioural techniques, and those who seek a solution through alternative therapies. The first type believe their children [...]
When Sofia kicks off, particularly in public, right now I find it hard not to respond as a ‘typical’ parent to a ‘typical’ kid throwing a paddy. I huff n’ puff n’ cajole n’ fume and don’t try hard enough to look beyond her behaviour, which often isn’t a question of pure ‘naughtiness’. Like any kid with ASD, she’s making up for [...]
For the first time this weekend Sofia saw me cry, because I thought her little brother Pablo had died while I was busy chivvying her all the way home from the park. Of course, by ‘chivvying’ I actually mean grabbing her scooter and pulling her along while she wept bitterly and cried ‘help! help!’ to passers-by as [...]
Sofia is 4 years old and has more spark in her big toe than my wife & I can summon between us. She’s just started school, having been in full time nursery from 9 months, and it’s been 5 months since she was diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD.) I’m writing this for all those daddies (and mummies) [...]
