when did you mention the word 'autism' to your dc?

[1805]

today we received confirmation that dd is in fact officially autistic.
No big surprise really, but I wondered when/how/if people have explained to their children about autism?

dd is 9 and wants to know what the psychiatrist thinks is wrong with her.

thanks

Dd3 was nearly 10 when I told her she has Asd, she was absolutely fine with it. She knew she was different even then and knowing has helped her to feel comfortable with who she is.

We had a bit of interesting behaviour for a while after I told her where she seemed to be testing out every possible symptom of autism but we got past that and now just get on with our lives.

Agree with polter about the newsround thing, the girl is called Rosie I think and she is awesome

Good luck and welcome to the board

I explained it to DS when he started to ask why he was different. He was 8 at the time. He tried to milk it for a bit saying things like he couldn't tidy his room coz he has autism lol but it soon wore off.
There are lots of kid friendly books you can get about autism. We also have a local ASD outreach team for mainstream kids that will go into school or homes and explain to the children about their diagnosis.

It's never really been out of our vocabulary. DD (5) tells everyone that her brother has autism. DS thinks Autism means that you like tape measures a lot and therefore it is a good thing to have, because tape measures are ace.

Thank you for posting this, OP (and for everyone's suggestions/ experience so far). We are awaiting diagnosis and I'm wondering the same thing.

raised it for the first time in the week before the assessment (by which time we had read a couple of picture books about aspergers)

afterwards I used it to explain why she had been assessed by lots of people and what everybody thought.

She seems more at ease with herself now.

btw dd2 was 8 at the time

ok. thanks.

Dealing with other things at the moment, but will not be afraid to use the term when the time is right then.

Got to break the news daddy has cancer first.

So sorry for hear that 1805 what a tricky time for you

I think ds1 was about 7yrs. He was starting to feel unhappy because he couldn't always do the same things that other children did. I read parts of the Kenneth Hall book with him as there were a lot of similarities:

www.amazon.co.uk/Asperger-Syndrome-Universe-Everything-Kenneth/dp/1853029300/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400258471&sr=1-1&keywords=kenneth+hall

Hmmm. Yes not great.
I am more worried about telling ds who is quite sensitive and a worrier. If he gets the news about sister AND daddy it may well tip him over. Dog is on last legs too.
Autism can wait I think. It's just that dd asked what psych. Said and were they going to help her.

1805, this is a very difficult time for you all. I hope DH is okay and that DS isn't having too hard a tube of things (even without knowing about either problem). I recently had a cancerous tumour removed and my own DS' behaviour was... worse than usual. He'd picked up one anxiety.

He's getting support through a cancer charity. Music therapy for children. It's really helping. Hope things go well for you all.