To be terrified for my ND child in the era of social media?

[irisetta]

I have an autistic son. You wouldn't know on first glance - he looks pretty typical. Speech, interactions, mostly fine. He's had a lot of intervention since 18 months, due to being born in New York, and the paediatrician picking up on his stunted speech that early... he's now 7, and thriving. His classmates are very accepting, they look after him, it's lovely. He's cognitively very able, however we are also now looking at dylsexia. He's moving up into Year 3 soon and I am terrified. Yes, he has a 1-1, but I'm so hyped up about potential bullying. I was bullied as a child and all hell will be let loose before I let that happen to my son.

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. Although in all honesty I think in this we of social media it's something all parents are concerned about, ND or NT.

True, all kids are at risk when it comes to bullying.

I'm thinking about 1-1 martial arts classes now.

Martial arts classes won't help if he's bullied on social media, though. All you can do is try and instill in him that that the things he sees on social media don't reflect true life and that he should always be the bigger person, and report anything he feels uncomfortable about.

I have an ND boy who is now 15. It's true I don't worry about him anymore than I do about his siblings but I'm also more micro observant with him. For example, he joins a social media platform I join it. I also keep him logged in on my phone and check who js playing with online. He's also lucky enough to to be surrounded by accepting friends who are protective of him. He's also severely dyslexic, can't write a word but could type anything he needs to say. I would say that his life is made easier because of iPhones and iPads but we have to be very careful - he is super vulnerable and naive so that's a worry. He also has nutritional absorption issues so energy zaps very quickly . I'm so proud of him- he's clever, witty and loving and the first to notice a change in emotions . But, yes, it's a worry and one which I build into my every day life. DH is amazing but has a Herculean job to allow my to work part time to support DS