To coincide with World Autism Awareness week, we thought we would share some information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), plus some information about how we support family carers of those with either ASD and/or ADHD.
What is Autism?
Autism can manifest itself in many different ways and symptoms can be very different for each person with (or without!) a diagnosis. Families can find themselves feeling helpless and exhausted with condition symptoms including –
- Inability to sleep
- Inability to manage emotions
- Problems with the senses e.g. – not being able to handle being in a place with high noise volumes.
- Communication problems – these may range from misunderstanding instructions to the person being or becoming non verbal
- Repetitive behaviours and/or restrictive behaviours g. – lining up cars, only walking somewhere by the same route each time
- Taking language too literally
Autism Facts and figures
“It’s thought that around 2% to 5% of school-aged children may have ADHD” (NHS choices)
“The latest …..studies of autism indicate that 1.1% of the population in the UK may be on the autism spectrum. This means that over 695,000 people in the UK may be autistic…. that’s more than 1 in 100” (The National Autistic Society)
This means that including family members who are affected the amount of people directly affected could stand at well over 2 million. The National Autistic Society has predicted that “If you include their families, autism is a part of daily life for 2.8 million people.”
“Around four times as many boys as girls are likely to be diagnosed with autism.” (Child Autism UK) Though this doesn’t necessarily mean that there is that huge difference between girls and boys having ASD/ADHD, girls can be far better at ‘masking’ their behaviour in school and public so their symptoms aren’t noticed.
What is ADHD?
Symptoms of ADHD can include –
- Not being able to pay attention when needed
- Hyperactivity
- Non age appropriate impulsiveness
There are three recognised types of ADHD “Combined ADHD – this is the most common type of ADHD and includes all of the symptoms. Inattentive ADHD – this is marked by impaired attention and concentration. Hyperactive-impulsive ADHD – this is marked by hyperactivity without inattentiveness” (WEB MD).
Diagnosis can be hard before children are 5 years old as young children naturally exhibit signs of ADHD in early childhood. When a diagnosis is being sought information from many sources are needed so a full picture of the child can be pieced together. This can take a great deal of time which can often be frustrating and add extra stress to the carers of the person going through diagnosis.
When a diagnosis is confirmed it has been found that a combination of medical treatment and behavioural therapy is the best course of action. This needs to be tailored for each individual with their best interests at the centre of any plans.
ADHD facts and figures
Similar to ASD boys are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD “The prevalence figure is 3.62% in boys and 0.85% in girls aged between 5 and 15 years nationally, which makes the condition four times more prevalent in boys.” (NICE 2009)
“It’s thought that around 2% to 5% of school-aged children may have ADHD” (NHS choices)
How we help carers of those with ASD and or ADHD
Within the mental health and wellbeing service at Suffolk Family Carers we run two programmes specifically written for Family Carers of those with Autism and/or ADHD. One programme is specific for carers of children and the other for people caring for adults.
These programmes either run as a one day workshop or 3 sessions over 3 weeks.
We are running a one day programme in at the Co-operative Education Centre in Ipswich for carers of children with ASD and/or ADHD on Monday 21st May 9.30am – 3pm.
These programmes offer advice and support for family carers to enable them to be able cope with their caring role and connect with family carers who find themselves in a similar situation.
The contents of these programmes and workshops include –
- Positive and negative traits of ASD/ADHD
- Positives and negatives of being a family carer
- What kind of family carer are you?
- Sensory issues
- Limit setting
- Communication
- Anxiety management
- Coming up with strategies to help your situation within your caring role
Quotes and feedback from recent programmes –
“More positive views on caring for my child. Realisation that I’m not the only one who feel I am struggling.”
“I have more knowledge of Autism now, I have certainly learnt a lot at this course .It was nice to speak to other carers who are going through the same things on a daily basis.”
“Trusting honest environment and an education for me, in many aspects and a sense of hope”
These programmes have seen an overall a 19% increase in the Wellbeing of the family carers who have attended
For further information about our programmes or to book on to the Ipswich workshop please contact –
Email – asd@suffolkfamilycarers.org
Call – 01473 835477 (our information line)
Finally the National Autistic Society produced the film below that shows what is like to live with Autism. It’s definitely worth a watch and helps to understand the sensory overload that someone with ASD may have to cope with on a daily basis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHwZJX67-M
