On Monday, I had a call from a new paediatrician, one that has not worked with Charlie before. She advised that she wanted to find a solution without the need for medication. And I agree, if we can get through without medication then we should. She did however have a whole list of new strategies for me to try and that is what I have spent the last couple of days doing so that I could share with you all the links and information just in case it helps support someone else.

Her first suggestion was horse therapy. Charlie already has horse therapy so for us that is not relevant. However, I want to just point out again the benefits of horses and horse therapy and that it really can make a difference to a child if they engage in it.

The second suggestion was to check out the work of two key public speakers on autism, read their work and look into any of their talks that they have done. I have tagged them below.

Welcome to Temple Grandin's Official Autism Website

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen :: Cambridge Neuroscience

Simon Baron-Cohen has heaps of podcasts, articles, books and contributes to the autistic world in a way that has now earnt him a Queen’s honours award in 2021.

I’ve been waiting for a referral for clinical psychology but the wait time is 2 years long. Unfortunately, this is too long for us. However, it has been noted on Charlie’s hospital file that should he come into hospital then someone from the autism clinical psychology department (if available) will meet us there and we will be followed up. This reassures me greatly. Charlie has had 2 very traumatic experiences at the hospital, one when they gave him a blood test, and one when he needed 6 teeth removed! Because of this, Charlie has developed a fear of the hospital and now has PTSD whenever we have any health appointments which makes life very difficult. The consultant told me that the clinical psychology department have uploaded the workshops onto YouTube. I have not been able to locate them, however, I have found a number of other vidoes which may help. I will share the links

Emotional Regulation Part 1 - Bing video

Emotional Regulation Part 2 - Bing video

DBT Peer Connections Ep 4a – Emotion Regulation Skills Introduction - Bing video

Emotion Regulation. What causes emotional reactions and how can we modify them? - Bing video

ARCVic Anxiety Week Seminar - Dr Cathy Stevens, Clinical Psychologist - YouTube (sleep)

School Anxiety - Bing video

Mental Health Education Series: Anxiety Disorders - Bing video

Isn’t the internet fantastic. There are so many resources out there that I can be getting on with while we are waiting for further appointments.

The final point the consultant has was to get in touch with a local autism charity. They have been on my radar but we haven’t had any support from them yet. By chance, yesterday I logged into my work emails and found a link to some autism training by that very charity that my workplace had organised. The universe sure has a way of sending you where you need to be!! Through this training I found out about parental and psychosocial training. Training in autism that helps you manage your child’s autism, I have looked today and there really isn’t much free content! Which is disappointing. But I have found a couple of course (one paid) and some research on the benefits of parental training when raising a child with autism. I’m a bit disappointed that I have never been offered any training and if in some way I should just “know” funnily enough I have been on other parenting courses aimed at neurological children! As if it was my parenting that was at fault, despite raising 2 other children with no difficulties! That is frustrating. I have put all the links below.

Understanding Autism, Asperger's and ADHD - Free courses - University of Derby

Autism 101 Online Course - Autism Society (autism-society.org)

Autism, stress and anxiety (National Autistic Society, has many courses all incurring cost)

Parentstress.pdf - research into parenting training and the benefits.

Charlie is of course my hero, how he manages in this world I will never know. I am never upset about Charlie and his disabilities but I am always upset by the lack of support, education and compassion that there is around him. For now though I have days and days worth of YouTube videos and reading to do in order to skill myself up and raise my hero.

Georgina x

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