1 April, 2014 4:04PM AEDT

What is it really like to have a diagnosis of Autism?

World Autism Day is April 2, and to celebrate, at Babytalk we've re-posted two very popular podcasts about autism. Autism is what's called a developmental condition that starts to show before a child is three years old. Many parents start to notice small differences in their child from around six months but the formal diagnosis can still be a blow. Suddenly you are thrust into a world that requires super human patience, resilience and ability to tackle complex medical and educational systems. Unexpectedly you can find yourself the parent of an autistic child wondering what on earth comes next. If you want to know what it's like, meet the guest mother in this week's podcast.

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The guest this week is not a medical or educational expert but a real life mother. Her baby boy was born not long after mine and at six months she began to worry about small differences between her child and the other babies she could see developing along more predictable pathways. It was not long after that six month milestone that her little boy was diagnosed with autism and she began to learn something of what it was going to be like as the mother of an autistic child.

Meeting this mother for this interview was inspirational. Although she asked to remain anonymous, her care and concern for her three year old was just like any other mother and while we all have a pretty steep learning curve as new parents, coming to terms with autism is a much harder task than she ever expected. Her enthusiasm, and preparedness to adapt to her child's needs was an inspiration and knowing how hard I try to keep it together in the face of an ordinary toddler tantrum, I was incredibly impressed with her excitement at finding new ways to communicate and support her boy. Just as an example, she explained that by taking a small detour on the regular drive to childcare was enough to cause a huge cascade of anxiety in her child that took a long time to calm down, knowing this she's able to make sure her child's day is as predictable as possible.



The Raising Childrens Network tells us that in children with Autism the brain develops differently from typically developing children and we know that in autistic children the brain tends to grow too fast during early childhood, especially during the first three years of life. The brain of an infant with ASD appears to have more cells than it needs, as well as inefficient connections between the cells.



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