Hi my name is Amy Scott and I am 9 years old. I have recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in March 2020.  I have been struggling for a long time before I was diagnosed, as everyone didn’t realise I had Autism. I was diagnosed as having Dyspraxia and a mild speech delay, and I manage to Socially mask for quite sometime. I was struggling in school and my mum was always trying to find ways to help me, until she researched Autism and found it sounded much like all the difficulties I was experiencing. 

However my school didn’t take this seriously and due to delays/ clinical errors I had to wait even longer to be referred to the Social Communication Pathway for diagnosis. This lead to me being unable to cope anymore with School and socially with  all the extra demands which were required from me getting older. Eventually This has lead to me finally being  unable to attend school for a year, socially withdrawing and my Sensory processing difficulties becoming extremely hard to cope with. I have anxiety and sensory processing difficulties.

The  Sensory  problems make me turn very itchy and I don’t want someone touching me. . Its very hard for me to wear clothes I feel too itchy. I don’t mind some clothes like a loose fitting nightie, but at the moment this is all I can manage. I hate loud noise too as it makes my ears really hurt. Its hard to sleep at night I sometimes have sleeping tablets called Melatonin and listen to calm music, which can help me sometimes fall asleep. I find people confusing  and hard to understand a lot this make me very anxious.

Luckily now due to my recent diagnosis I will be starting to receive the help I need, and I am being assessed for an EHCP to help me finally get all that support I need at school. I  have heard I’ll be going to a different school which will have better understanding of my difficulties. I have also just started to receive Occupational Therapy, and we hope this will eventually help me to be able to wear clothes without having problems, and help with all my sensory difficulties. For a long time  I have been very sad and anxious, but now that everyone understands and I am starting to get some help I am becoming my happier smiley self. My family love me very much, and they are starting to get happy again as they see me becoming my happy quirky self again

I live at home with my Mum & Dad, my  older sister and 2 younger brothers. My 2 younger brothers are also waiting assessment for Autism, as my parents are seeing similarities in me and my brothers. I can find being around my little brothers very difficult sometimes because they are very noisy and this makes me anxious.

Some of the things I really enjoy are playing games , being on YouTube & playing a game called gacha. I enjoy being with my family and watching anime with my sister. I also love playing in my big pool and playing on my trampoline in the garden.

One day I would like to be a youtuber when I’m older by playing games, and I look forward to when I can start going out and enjoying days out with my family again.

I have written my story with quite a bit of help from my mum.