Amber’s Autism Awareness: Latest Diaries written by Christine Robinson Twinkle

Amber’s Autism Awareness Latest  Diaries.

amber 4a

19th April

Amber was super empathetic today – first while her cousin was upset after a happening with her other cousin, Amber watched intently when they were being asked what had happened, she didn’t much like Carly being upset so moved closer and then stood up protectively, giving her a hug off her own back!

Amber’s next show of affection was towards me yay! I knocked my ankle which started to bleed, she went and found me a plaster and put it on for me… So cute!

23 April

Everything changes – OK so autism typically is set to a routine, some routines are beneficial and some need to be forced into changing to new routines. The reasons for this are to do with staying safe and making her less vulnerable as well as keeping her healthy. She’s turning into a fine little lady and won’t be long until her body changes. We are set to tackle her love of being naked. OK there is a sensory need there so we aren’t enforcing clothes at all times. Instead we are going to put boundaries on where and when she can do this. When Amber is at home she will only wear a pull up and in the back garden is the same. Taking into account her age now and that she is a little more social we feel that she should be dressed in the garden and at social times in the house. This is where the safety bit comes in..Of course she has no comprehension how this could affect her or someone else. So the plan is we will explain as we all do with our kids about what privacy is when it comes to your body. Allow her some time through the day and rooms in our house she can be undressed in. You might think…oh let her be she’s only little yet, but for Amber to get used to new things takes a while. It’s documented with others that without teaching her this early rather than when it’s necessary she will keep doing this at an age where it’s really really not appropriate. On the plus side we get to shop for “house clothes” yay.

twickle23 April

It’s a girl thing – did you know that when the first test for autism was introduced they only tested on boys? Until quite recently it was thought to have been more prevalent in males than females … However.. New studies show that girls are in fact better at masking their symptoms. Why? Well today at Amber’s appointment the lady made a good point. Both sexes use different areas in the brain more, females apparently will access their social bit more than males which could be some of an explanation. I have to point out though girls mask things better, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a particular symptom of autism

23 April

We had a follow up appointment for Amber this morning and we have a plan in place to deal with some of her behaviours. We talked about her violence and may have found the trigger…Halen has his own very rigid routine on a morning, he gets dressed, gets his coat and bag and leaves at the same time every morning..to the minute. Amber then gets dressed when Halen is sorting his school stuff out and leaves after he does. Her outburst coincides around this time so could it be the cue of his actions and the fact she’s not wanting to get ready….it’s possible!

 23 April

We had a follow up appointment for Amber this morning and we have a plan in place to deal with some of her behaviours. We talked about her violence and may have found the trigger…Halen has his own very rigid routine on a morning, he gets dressed, gets his coat and bag and leaves at the same time every morning..to the minute. Amber then gets dressed when Halen is sorting his school stuff out and leaves after he does.

Her outburst coincides around this time so could it be the cue of his actions and the fact she’s not wanting to get ready….it’s possible!

St Johns

25 April

Why we do what we do – I was in a meeting with school and found out the funding for Sen Children is just enough to cover 1 to 1 but not enough for additional learning aids. This made me think that actually while I’m skipping through the toy catalogue that has things designed for Ambers learning that she should have those things at school too. These toys are not the same as you buy in the shops they can fulfil a sensory need without causing harm and learning toys that are more attractive to Amber to help her learn. So I decided to put them into school myself by fundraising so they could buy more appropriate things. The stuff we buy was for any child that needed them. 3 years on and we’ve got playground equipment, and classroom fidgets, emotion cards, squishy sensory things that are hard to break and many more things too.

This year we focus on learning with iPads we want to buy six. Remember that funding to SEN has changed and become some complicated mess that is masked as “a better way” I’m determined to get this done.

Her teachers go above and beyond without credit from the government or much help funding these things. We just can’t afford to cut budgets for these kids who are after all the future!

25 April

With all the brilliant stuff going on we forgot our own 3rd Birthday! We have been running as a campaign and giving out cash for 3 years! We have had many helpers along the way and are planning on doing loads more.

So happy birthday Amber’s Autism Awareness!