This Friday is World Autism Awareness Day. Lisa Stocks talks to one parent about the highs and lows of living with a child with the condition.
KATH Bromfield's eldest son looks just like any other nine-year-old.
Yet sadly, life for him can be confusing and complicated: Thomas has autism.
It means he has no sense of danger, finds it hard to understand other people's emotions and has difficulty maintaining his friendships.
Ironically, Kath, 35, says Thomas's diagnosis at the age of four-and-a-half brought some relief.
She had first tried to get a diagnosis for her son at the age of 18 months when she noticed he would get closer than is normal when interacting with people.
“It meant we'd got a step closer to getting the help he needed and also recognition of the difficulties he was having,” says Kath, who lives in Clifton Road, Middleton.
“And it felt like we knew which road to go down.
“I could read up on autism and look into it and that there would be support.”
Diagnosis also meant that Kath was better placed to help her son gain acceptance in social settings.
She says that general understanding of the condition can go a long way to help those who find it difficult to make sense of the world, and their loved ones.
“I think more people are aware of autism now so it's easier if you're out and something happens,” she adds. “More people are understanding.”
In the interests of further increasing understanding, two north west charities, the Together Trust and Families Connected, will launch a campaign in Greater Manchester to coincide with on World Autism Awareness Day this Friday.
It will emphasise the scale of the problem, with around one million lives on a daily basis.
Kath and her husband Lee, 39, know just how difficult it can be to balance the demands of an autistic child with those of other family members.
Although the couple have four children in tota - Anna, seven, Joe, four, and Maddy, three - family life is planned with the eldest son in mind.
Kath left her job as an RE secondary school teacher at St Cuthbert's, Rochdale, in July 2009 to focus more on Thomas, who requires constant supervision.
On a “bad” day, when Thomas is anxious, he can be aggressive and unwilling to do anything or leave the house in an attempt to control his environment.
Kath and Lee use a variety of techniques to reduce their son's stress levels and give him time to calm down. It means plans have to be changed or cancelled immediately.
Yet, Kath says that life with Thomas can be and is fulfilling too.
Unlike many children with autism Thomas is articulate and verbal.
“He is very charming and brings a lot to people's lives,” she adds. ”People get a lot out of spending time with Thomas.
“We went back to his old school and one of the boys there said: 'School's not the same without you, when are you coming back?'.”
The family has also recently welcomed Tilly, a chocolate Labrador puppy into their home which.
Kath says, is helping to increase her son's knowledge and responsibility in the house.
But there have been setbacks along the way.
After his diagnosis at the children's unit at Rochdale's Birch Hill Hospital, Thomas progressed well in mainstream primary school at St John Fisher, in Middleton.
But an illness in his second year saw him regress and begin to display many of the habits which children with autism often have.
He now attends Inscape House Salford, a day special school for children with autistic spectrum disorders, in Worsley, which is part of Together Trust.
He can speak again and is now making progress.
Thomas's parents are aware that there are still hurdles to come, but remain positive about his transition to adulthood.
It helped that Kath attended a course for disabled adults and parents of disabled children with a group called Partners in Policy Making.
“For the future, I'm learning more about what's out there,” she adds. “
“There are lots of good examples of good practice where people with autism, or other disabilities, are living in their own houses with carers around them, living their lives independently.
“ And that's our hope for Thomas.”
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KEITH Cox is the headteacher at Inscape House, Worsley, which is part of Together Trust.
He explains that autism is a 'neurological brain dysfunction' which means the brain of someone with autism acts slightly different to a 'neurological typical' person, which makes up the majority of the population.
Rough figures suggest autism affects one in 100 people.
utism is a “spectrum condition”, meaning that how it presents itself in individual people varies hugely.
There is no medical test.
Diagnosis is made by observation of behaviours, which can be difficult if they are subtle.
“The youngsters for who the condition is quite subtle don't often get picked up until school age, where you begin to spot there is something going on with their social relationships,” explains Cox.
Some diagnoses take so long that those with the condition might be adults.
The main areas of difficulty which all people with autism share are in social communication, social understanding and social skills, and social imagination and flexibility such as using past experiences to alter beliefs.
No specific cause has been found, but current thinking points to a strong genetic link.
If parents are worried, Cox recommends speaking to a health of educational professional.
He says a lot of people with autism are successfully placed in the mainstream, including schools, depending on the support and understanding that mainstream can give.
“Not everybody has a learning difficulty, they may well have difficulty in learning because of their autism rather than a learning difficulty,” he says.
“It's a life-long condition but it can get better because the young person learns to cope with it and develops skills that allows them to structure their day and allows them to be quite independent, but the key thing is getting the correct support and diagnosis early.”
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Where to go for help.
Support
Together Trust
http://www.togethertrust.org.uk/
0161 283 4848
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Families Connected
http://www.families-connected.org
07919 326584
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Other points of contact in Manchester...
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The National Autistic Society
http://www.nas.org.uk/
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The Autistic Society Greater Manchester Area (ASGMA)
0161 866 8483
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