Apologies for long post. Just want thoughts on my personal statement as extra evidence- I have also made a day and night diary (won't post that as so long) so..
Lilly first shown signs of repetitive and different behaviours at the age of 18months - 2 years old.
Lilly stopped napping when she was 1 years old and her sleep pattern became really difficult. She would not sleep at night and the settling down process became really difficult. Lilly still now at the age of 6 will not settle down on her own. Lilly requires a lot of guidance. She has severe fear of being on her own.
When lilly started nursery at the age of 3 I was asked by the teacher if I had concerns off lillys behaviour to which I replied yes. Please note lilly was only doing a 30minute daily session at nursery at this stage due to being toilet trained which took a really long time. Sessions remained at 30 minutes for at least 12months before being increased to 2 hours and slowly introducing lunchtime.
Due to lilly not liking change and erratic behavior when things are not in routine the teachers decided to keep lilly an extra year in nursery and slowly increased her hours up to a full day.
The teachers started the process of speech and language in nursery and was on the route for an autism assessment which took place in January 2025.
Lilly was diagnosed April 2025 with autism and is on the waiting list for an ADHD assessment which will more than likely result in melatonin medication due to her struggling at bedtime.
As lilly has got older I have realised a lot of different traits with lilly which is why she requires so much extra care.
Lilly has no awareness of others around her, for example she will throw objects/toys in the air without understanding she or others will get hurt.
Lilly doesn't understand road danger and has to be supervised at all times in and out of the house incase she falls, runs off and/or hurts herself.
Lilly at home is her safe space and she struggles immensely with her anxiety and does not want to leave mom.
At bedtime it can result in a 2 hour settling down time to get lilly to fall asleep. She will get out of bed numerous times and have to be prompted to get back into bed. She will not fall asleep alone due to her anxiety and her unpredictability/no danger awareness.i have to check on lilly every night during the night to see if she is still asleep, every night she will wake up crying/needing the toilet.
At school lilly has always been academically behind her peers and needs constant reassurance that she is doing her best because she gets so frustrated and upset with herself that she cant do something as well as her peers and she cannot understand her own emotions. A meltdown can last anywhere between 10 - 20 minutes and it takes lilly a long time to calm and regulate her emotions.
Lilly over recent months has become so anxious and worried over the smallest things but to her they are huge. She has a common tendency off making herself vomit through anxiety and a lot of the reasons is due to school, change in routine, leaving her peers and leaving me to go to school.
She has been given the medicine as stated in the form but It doesn't give lilly much, if any relief. Lilly has been known to be sick in school and not tell the teachers as she fears she will get into trouble.
Lillys day to day is always the same as her routine is the same everyday. Lilly doesn't like change in any routine and has a very good memory due to her autism so will know immediately if things are being change which causes lilly to have severe meltdowns and anxiety. She will remember what day specific lessons are in school and if they change she will become very uncertain and distressed. Lilly is allowed time outs in school to calm down and regulate her emotions.
She will not dress herself, brush her own teeth, she will point blank refuse to allow me to brush her hair most days and has absolute meltdowns where she screams and cries uncontrollably.
When out in public lilly is not aware of dangers or road crossings and is neither aware of strangers and their dangers and has hugged strangers on a few occasions. Lilly doesn't concentrate on where she is walking therefore is very accident prone and gets very easily distracted so requires constant guidance. Lilly at home repeatedly runs up and down the living room, bounces on the bed, climbs, swings back on the bed and chairs and while I understand this is due to her autism and 'stimming' to being over stimulated, lilly however doesn't listen when I ask to stop and calm down and hurts herself on many occasions.
Lilly needs constant reminding to hold my hand but will always try to pull away. We often have to plan when we go out to certain places I.e playgrounds or shopping when we know it will be less busy as lilly gets over stimulated in crowded areas especially if noisy. Lilly will wear her headphones when we go out. Lilly has to know when and where we are going or have plans way in advance as the sudden surprise will startle her. Lilly doesn't like the unknown.
As stated in the application she has a squint in her eye. Although her eye sight is OK lilly very frequently zones out, this i believe is due to her autism but when she zones out the eye wonders far right and I have to call lilly around 3 times to get her to regain her focus. This can happen when watching TV, talking, playing with her toys and even when walking which is very concerning for her safety