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Kellie tells how her concerns over her sons
development were at first over looked and how
Kellie keeps to a strict routine maintaining
positivity throughout.
I was 17 when I found out I was pregnant with
kristian. I was experienced sudden shock at first
but as time went by my partner Eduardo and I
were very happy and excited at the thought of
having our first baby.
inspirational stories
Our Life, Our Family, AUTISM.
I experienced bleeding
throughout the whole
pregnancy with Kristian.
The doctors said “some
women can bleed during
pregnancy”. There were no concerns as the scans
were showing as normal. Kristian was born 1
month premature weighing 4lbs 15oz.
Kristian would cry and cry constantly but I put it
down to being a first time mum and presumed it
was normal. As Kristian grew we noticed he
would not make eye contact with us, respond
when we called his name, or follow us around the
room with his eyes.
“Kristian would cry and
cry constantly but I put it
down to being a first time
mum.”
We were taking Kristian to see the
paediatrician‟s years before he was diagnosed with
autism. Before kristian was diagnosed the
professionals said “he was normal and would
speak any day”. Of course we still had concerns
but believed them and thought if the doctors say
he‟s fine then he must be fine! In the end we were
referred to a fantastic paediatrician where Kristian
was observed over a period of a week in a play
room checking how he plays, communicates with
us and reacts etc. Kristian had a hearing test
which was perfectly fine, thankfully he could hear
we were so relieved and cried tears of happiness.
Doctors asked us a list of questions such as how
Kristian reacts when he is happy, sad and how
does he request for things or let us know certain
things and what were his food habits. We can
recognise when kristian feels a certain way.
When Kristian was finally diagnosed it was a huge
weight off our shoulders as strange as it seems, we
could now work towards meeting Kristians needs
and would have more of an understanding of how
he is feeling and why he behaves in certain ways.
We could support him so much more with skills
such as toilet training being one
of many.
We were given a huge amount
of advice and support from
doctors and other professionals.
They kept in touch and always
welcomed any questions or concerns regarding
Kristian which was a huge help. There are times
when we feel stressed as Kristian does not eat a lot
or when he has only slept for 2 hours a night
which is absolutely draining but we survive and
focus on all the positives. We would never be
without Kristian and love him just the way he is!
Kristian cannot dress or undress himself yet but he
does try to put his own shoes on. Kristian can now
use the bathroom on his own, he was in nappies
for 5 years. It was a long hard struggle to get
Kristian to use the toilet but with persistence and
positivity our hard work paid off. The whole of
our family is so proud of Kristian .
Due to Kristians autism he has to have a very strict
routine. He wakes up at 5.30am everyday for his
bowl of cereal, he loves shreddies. After breakfast
kristian has his wash then puts his clothes on for
school. We let Kristian watch cartoons for a short
while before school. A school bus comes to
collect Kristian from our house every morning.
Kristian has a specific seat on the bus and gets
very frustrated if that seat is already occupied by
the time he gets on the bus. Any kind of change in