Episode 3

Amy’s Journey: SEN, Neurodivergence & Learning To Self-Soothe

Episode 3 of our video podcast ‘Spotlight Sessions’ is out now. This week we’re joined by Amy, a super mum of three. Amy shares the different ways she supports each of her children through doctor appointments and hospital visits. Her two sons have special educational needs, her younger son has an autism diagnosis, and her daughter is neurotypical.

Transcript

0:09
Hello, I'm Doctor Megan Hoffman and I'm Doctor Vicky Queralt.


0:15

We're clinical psychologists specialising in child healthcare and we're also mums.


0:21

From our work in hospitals to our chats on the playground, we've encountered countless examples of strength and courage from families facing health issues around their children.


0:32

Whether it's going for a blood test or managing a chronic health condition, we hear about the challenges and obstacles, and we see the parents and caregivers trying to overcome them.


0:42

In this podcast, we want to shine a light on these families and delve into their healthcare stories to discover what's worked for them and what might be helpful for you too.


0:56

Hello, Hi, and welcome to our podcast.


0:59

This week we've been talking to some incredible parents of autistic children.


1:05

As mums of autistic children ourselves, Vicky and I are all too aware of how stressful certain unpredictable and overwhelming environments can be for our kids and for us.


1:18

Settings such as hospitals, GP surgeries, dentists can be particularly stressful.


1:24

Autistic or neurodiverse children and their families.


1:29

We want to shine a light on the experience of these families and learn from the challenges that they faced within healthcare settings.


1:37

This is why we're so pleased to be speaking to our guest today, who is an amazing mum to three children.


1:45

So welcome, Amy, and thank you so much for joining us today.


1:48

Yeah, hi.


1:49

Welcome Amy to our podcast.


1:51

It's great to see you.


1:54

So as we have with our other guests, we'd like to ask just to start off by getting a little bit more information about your family, please.


2:03

Yeah, sure.


2:04

So I have three children.


2:07

I have Jaden Michael, who is 15.


2:10

I have Harry James, who is nearly 13.


2:13

And I have a little girl, Isabella, who's nearly seven.


2:17

Jaden was assessed back when he was like six or seven for autism.


2:24

He was said that it wasn't on the spectrum, but he did have autistic traits.


2:30

He was supposed to be reassessed.


2:32

That hasn't actually gone through yet.


2:35

So yeah, with him we're kind of in a little bit of a limbo because autistic traits isn't normally a way they would like classify him as Sen.


2:46

It does have global developmental delay, so it is classed as Sen, but the autistic side is still kind of undiagnosed.


2:53

But I am very aware that I'm pretty pretty sure that he does fall somewhere on the spectrum.


2:59

I think it is quite mild because he is quite mature and independent and quite high functioning.


3:05

Harry James has been diagnosed through the pathway and he's quite, I would say, moderate autism.


3:15

He also has global developmental delay, so he functions around age 7, and he's nearly 13.


3:23

And my little girl Isabella doesn't have any sense and needs at all.


3:28

So that's quite a variant in experience.


3:32

And, you know, gaining that momentum through like changing my parenting style on a daily basis.


3:41

How, how would you say the autism is different with James and Michael and Harry James?


3:48

With Jade and Michael, it was very noticeable physically when he was little, like when he was an infant, he would rock backwards and forwards and flap his hands with excitement.


3:58

That's that sort of thing.


4:02

And he would act quite immature, like he would have like what you would class as like a toddler tantrum when he was like a lot older.


4:09

And that was obviously him not being able to regulate that overwhelm or emotions.


4:14

Like it would just build up and then it just come out.


4:16

But now he's very, very mature.


4:19

He's very independent and like the only really signs are like when he's over stimulated or over emotional, like your hand flap and like run around in a circle and make the obviously the whistling sounds.


4:34

And so it's very vocal.


4:35

But apart from that, it doesn't really show up with him.


4:41

With Harry James, it is very different because he obviously, because he's displaying at a developmental age of a lot younger, he does obviously like need a lot of prompting through his day like we like with a routine or what he should be doing or like hygiene.


5:00

So he doesn't really have that independent side to what his brother has.


5:05

And he does dysregulate quite a lot.


5:07

So obviously he'll get very overwhelmed very easy if things change in his day or if he's expecting something to happen and it has to be changed at last minute.


5:17

That obviously does cause the emotional outburst.


5:22

So they are very different in that way.


5:24

As we're aware as mums of autistic children, it's it's just about understanding that very unique individual in front of you, isn't it?


5:32

And trying to learn about their needs and what you can do to support them.


5:36

So it sounds like you're doing an amazing job with your three very different children.


5:42

Thank you.


5:43

Yeah, Amy, I wonder if you can tell us a little bit about experiences you've had access in hospital with your children.


5:51

What's that been like?


5:54

Yeah, I think some people in medical settings are more aware and I think you will find there are obviously the ones that experience on a personal level and I think they have a deep level of understanding and a different approach to the care that they provide for that child coming in if they experience it on a personal level.


6:19

Majority of the people of experience have been really good experiences.


6:26

Obviously being attending appointments for a long time.


6:30

Like Jade and Microsoft have been at appointments for 15 years.


6:34

Like he obviously he started first going to appointments and he was like 2 weeks old.


6:38

So that them staff have kind of grown with Jayden and he's kind of grown with them.


6:44

So they aren't very familiar to him.


6:46

They are very aware of like what helps him when he comes in for those appointments.


6:51

And they're very much compassionate and empathetic with giving him a little bit more nurture and a little bit more care and a little bit more time to like express himself or give him a few minutes if he's having a little bit of a feeling of overwhelming, just needs a little few minutes of quiet.


7:11

But yeah, I do think there are some settings, I think when people aren't as informed about how children that are neurodivergent or send children, how they experience the world or how they process.


7:31

And I I don't think it's any ignorance of on their part.


7:34

I think it is just not having that awareness.


7:38

It's kind of a tough job that we take on as, as parents of autistic children or any kind of SCN parents that having to advocate and kind of explain things about our children to health professionals in every encounter that we we have with them.


7:54

I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more, Amy, about you mentioned that Jaden's been going to hospitals since he's very young.


8:01

And I wondered if you could share, share with us a little bit more about the kind of physical health conditions or, or difficulties that he's been experiencing along the way.


8:10

Yeah, absolutely.


8:11

So when he was born, he I went through quite a difficult pregnancy and his label that I was induced, it was quite long and it was only a little, there's only like 5 LB eleven.


8:25

So it was quite little actually.


8:27

Later on we found out on his life, his four hospital stay in when he was like six or seven weeks that he actually had a cleft palate and that had been missed.


8:37

So yeah, he just had a lot of things that then came up from that's obviously like speech delay, speech therapy.


8:45

He had issues with his ears.


8:47

So we actually have grommets in a few times of the he had a cleft palate operation and to correct that.


8:55

So yeah, it's and that has kind of gone on for his whole life.


8:59

He's literally just had his 15 year review for that and he's had no issues for a while.


9:04

So I think that is actually like the last appointment for his cleft until he's 20 if needed.


9:11

So yeah, that obviously brought up a lot of other health conditions are associated with that.


9:17

Sounds like Jaden's had quite a few, well lots of hospital experiences in short life and I wonder kind of in more recent years and how is he feeling about when he has to go to hospital what what kind of comes up for him?


9:37

I think he feels a lot more calmer about it now, I would say probably because I have learnt those tools with my training and stuff that kind of allows him to feel safe, that you can express how we feel.


9:52

So normally I will like do a little bit of a Incognito, as I call it, Incognito, checking with him before we go.


9:59

And I'll just be like, oh, how are you feeling today?


10:01

And it'll like sometimes I'll be like, oh, I'm OK.


10:03

And that'll be it.


10:04

And then sometimes it'll be like, yeah, I hope this is like my last appointment.


10:09

And I think it's because it's dragged on for so long for him.


10:12

And it's like kind of his normal.


10:14

I think he's kind of ready to like move away from that.


10:16

Amy, you mentioned there about some training you've been doing and the tools that you taking from it that have really helped Jayden and facing his hospital experiences.


10:25

Can you tell us a bit more about what that training is and and what you've learned?


10:29

I'm sure all really came to know.


10:31

No, absolutely.


10:31

So I became accredited in a modality called quantum flame Healing.


10:38

And that is very much, we use breath work, we use meditations, we use just accessing like our intuition anyway.


10:48

Because I think sometimes I know for me, especially when I was younger, like at the beginning of my journey as a mum, I wouldn't necessarily always listen to myself.


10:59

I would go straight to listening to what everybody else had to say.


11:04

And I think now I've got that balance where it's like a combined effort, like we're all there for the same reason, which is for the child.


11:12

And I think combining everybody's knowledge and opinions and everything together, I think really brings the best outcome for the child.


11:22

Because as we know as parents, like we obviously know our kids better than anybody.


11:26

And then obviously when you bring in the professional side, obviously they're bringing their expertise, like the professional, like medical conditions that those are there experts in.


11:37

And I think when you combine that, it really does put the child on good stead to like get the best outcome.


11:44

So could you give us kind of a more specific example of a technique or a tool that you might use with your own kids and use for yourself and, and what's been helpful?


11:54

Yeah, absolutely.


11:55

So my favourite is always breathwork.


11:57

So like if I'm going to a situation where I might feel a little anxious or if my child's going into a situation where they might feel a little bit anxious, we will use like box breathing techniques or there's quite a few different breathing patterns that you can use depending on how you're feeling.


12:17

Or we might like on the bedtime, like we would normally read books.


12:22

But some nights, like if the kids have had a super like overwhelming day or and they're like really hyped up from like adrenaline, we will normally put on like a meditation and then I will do my talk through bit and we like bringing like all the magic loud.


12:40

So we know kids love like a bit of magic and we'll bring in like fairies like whatever.


12:44

I think that will help them settle for that night and get a good quality night's sleep.


12:49

It's obviously going to help them the next day.


12:52

We just bring all sorts in.


12:53

We're bringing unicorns, we're bringing planets, we're bringing fairies, Pixies, football players for my boys because they relate to that.


13:00

Like just bring in anything that we know they are going to like resonate and connect with.


13:04

And then just use the breathwork in conjunction with that to really settle their energies down and just settle them into that like like settled state.


13:16

And I've found when I do that, they get a really good quality night sleep, which is great.


13:21

I love it.


13:22

I love how you've used your skills that you've learned in the in your training and then used it in a really sort of playful way that's tailored to their interests and what's going to engage them and calm them.


13:32

That's brilliant.


13:33

Yeah, absolutely.


13:34

I love it.


13:35

Can I just check with your box breathing, is that a bit like square breathing?


13:39

Could you describe that breathing before, out before, hold before?


13:42

So we do that and then obviously if they are in a heightened state, we can always extend the count out to breathe out, sort of like breathe out for six or breathe out for eight.


13:51

Just extend, extend it a bit so they focus on that for a little bit longer than it tends to like bring them down a little bit quicker.


13:59

Yeah.


14:00

That sounds like a really, really useful tool to to use in stressful settings like going to a hospital.


14:07

I wonder if you can think of a time where Jayden might have had to use that tool, a time where due to his autism, he's found it particularly stressful or overwhelming or, and you've just needed to reach those tools.


14:20

Can you, can you remember an example of that?


14:24

Not so much with Jaden, because he's a little bit older.


14:27

He's taking a little bit longer to come round to the ways of like by tools and stuff.


14:33

But I do know with Harry James, he responds to that really well and so does my little girl.


14:38

Actually, something that springs to mind was we was at a hospital appointment for Harry James and it was Isabella that was actually feeling worried for him.


14:50

She was worried for her brother because she she obviously hasn't really had that much interaction in the hospitals unless she's like a company accompanied us on a trip there for an appointment and she was really worried and she started to cry and she was getting upset.


15:03

And I'm like, it's OK.


15:04

I'm like, it's OK to cry.


15:05

You're just releasing how you are feeling.


15:08

So I was like asking like, how are you feeling?


15:09

She's like, I feel sad.


15:11

And so I'm like, that's OK.


15:12

I'm like, if you want to cry, cry, that's fine.


15:15

I said, but do you want to just like follow mummy's breath?


15:17

So we're like, she like was facing like face on with me and I was just like breathing for four.


15:24

I did the counts with her and I was like, just hold it up there for four up high and then breathe out for four.


15:29

And I was like, and at first she didn't know how to do the breath out.


15:33

So I was like, just imagine you're blowing up a balloon.


15:35

So I'm just like, like pursing my lips and like doing the blowout.


15:39

And now that's how she refers to it.


15:41

Like she's trying to blow up a balloon.


15:43

It refocuses their thoughts and their mind onto something else.


15:46

So it's almost like a distraction technique.


15:49

So instead of them like hyperfixating on whatever they're worried about that then that concentrated on the breath that it then re regulates their brain to like a more settled, stable state.


16:02

So it kind of takes away the heightened miss of however they're feeling.


16:05

And I think that's why it's so lovely because they you can make it into a game about blowing up balloons or like blowing away, I don't know, like a cloud, like whatever.


16:15

You can literally incorporate it to each individual child and it's just amazing to see him going from such a stressed state and being so upset and like struggling to breathe because they're like super, super emotional to then you can just see like the feelings just leave, almost leaving the body and like start to really like bring, bring it down.


16:40

Fantastic.


16:41

Yeah.


16:41

So interesting to hear about.


16:43

And I think what's also interested me is hearing how Jade and Michael, aged 15, isn't so into it.


16:51

I think that's kind of probably to be expected for a 15 year old.


16:54

But also I think it highlights that one thing that works for someone so well, like it works so well for Isabella, isn't necessarily going to work for another person.


17:04

And I was curious for for Jade and Michael, what what works particularly for him?


17:09

Like how does he calm himself if he's feeling anxious?


17:12

Yeah.


17:13

For him, it's more so like I normally allow him to take his phone with him so he'll take like something that will distract him.


17:22

So normally I'll just put like a YouTube video or something like on his phone and that kind of keeps him at a calm level.


17:29

And then I normally give him it straight back after his appointment because then he normally needs that little bit of time afterwards to like calm himself down as well.


17:36

So that really helps.


17:38

Just I was just curious to do you prepare to prepare your children in different ways when they go to for healthcare procedure?


17:46

Yeah, Jayden, normally I will tell him like a couple of days before, like as a reminder and then I'll normally remind him the day before and the day off.


18:00

Harry James and I normally have to remind him like every day to the lead up and then we normally have a little chat as we're on the way to the appointment.


18:09

That seems to really help him.


18:11

I was just curious to know what might.


18:13

You talked about Harry James in the car, You might have a chat on the way.


18:16

What sort of things might you chat about if you don't mind me?


18:21

So sometimes I'll normally talk about something that he's interested in and kind of instead of just outright like speaking just about the appointment itself, I try and blend it in with something that he that makes him happy because I feel like that balances out any worries or anxieties that he might have about that appointment.


18:41

So I think sometimes if you speak to them about the appointment, just solely focusing on that, it can actually raise their anxious feelings or their anxiety.


18:50

So I think it is good to blend it in with something else and that really seems to help take away them worries.


18:58

That's a great tip.


18:59

I love that.


19:00

It's such a hard balance to find, isn't it, with regards to how we talk to our kids about medical procedures or even hospital appointments and knowing when to talk to their kids about procedures or or even even health conditions.


19:14

I think is a question and a worry that comes up a lot for for parents, especially of neurodiverse kids.


19:21

And it sounds, it's a great, it's great to hear about your examples because obviously for each of your kids, it's different when they prefer to know about things.


19:30

And, and it's, it sounds like it's been just experimenting with that to find out what works best for you and your family.


19:39

So Amy, I wanted to move on to thinking a little bit more about your experiences within all these healthcare appointments.


19:46

And it sounds like it's there's so much to think about with regards to how you're preparing your children, how you're communicating with healthcare professionals.


19:59

I'm sure there's kind of worries and thoughts there about what they're going to find with their investigations and what they're going to kind of talk about in the appointments.


20:07

There's a lot there basically going on with regards to emotions.


20:11

And I was curious about how you soothe yourself through that.


20:15

How do you calm yourself and what what helps you?


20:21

Yes, I'd say, I'd say probably prior to two years ago, I.


20:27

Didn't really have any ways of soothing myself.


20:29

I wouldn't be very stressed, very upset, sometimes inconsolable on a night time thinking Oh my God, like I've got all of this like stuff to deal with.


20:38

I need to make sure the kids are OK and it can get, you know, quite pressurised being in that type of environment and having so many things to like think about.


20:50

I would say the last couple of years, I find that meditation really helpful.


20:56

So and obviously that then builds my relationship with my children because we do it together.


21:01

But yeah, just getting out in nature, getting out on walks, you know, breathing in fresh air, that sort of stuff, that really helps.


21:09

And obviously I have lots of tools now that I can use to like make sure that I'm on a balanced emotional level going into it.


21:19

So they'll say that then ripples to the kids because it's really important to remember that kids do pick up on how we feel and if we're not feeling in a great place.


21:32

And that's not judgement to anyone because I think if you're not aware of that, you can't action improving that if you're not aware of it.


21:40

And I wasn't aware of it before.


21:42

I wasn't account taking account that me sat there sobbing my eyes out and being like oh like super stressed My child was feeling that and I know that will have made them feel more scared thinking why is mummy crying her eyes out?


21:58

I don't understand.


22:00

So I think it is really good to to find things that you can incorporate into the lead up to appointments and join.


22:07

And after that maybe you can do together with your child to think that helps them feel more secure and safe going into that appointment.


22:14

And I think when you see them more happier and calmer going into appointment, it helps you.


22:20

I think it you both help each other with how you feel.


22:24

Yeah, that makes complete sense.


22:26

Yeah, completely.


22:28

And you kind of mentioned kind of things like meditation or working in nature or doing those activities with the children.


22:33

They're quite small things to do, aren't they?


22:35

But you can really, it sounds like you're feeling the benefit from them.


22:38

I was just thinking about how a lot of other parents carers, I know I, I certainly have been, had those moments where everything just feels completely overwhelming and it's really hard to cope and manage.


22:49

And there are those times when you just you're crying and you know, that's normal, isn't it?


22:53

Because we're all humans and you're having to juggle an awful lot with your children and kind of other life commitments.


22:59

And you, you mentioned that it was like that was two years ago.


23:03

That was kind of how you you were living.


23:05

I wonder what what kind of shifted for you to kind of find the mindfulness of walking out in nature and finding that soothed you?


23:14

What was what kind of changed for you?


23:17

That was kind of around about the time that I first became aware of quantum flame healing that I'm trained in.


23:24

And that's where a lot of my tools and techniques kind of came from and where I learnt those and incorporated them with the kids.


23:33

And yeah, I do believe it is.


23:35

It is always good to show kids emotion, like, but I think it's really important also to have them open conversations and dialogues with your children to let them know that it's OK to cry, it's OK to express emotion.


23:53

And I think as they get a little bit older, like I know I do this a lot more with my boys now with them being older, especially Jayden, obviously we've been 15, is that I will talk to him about why I'm upset and say I'm not just crying for no reason or I'm not.


24:10

Because I think when you give them that explanation, it makes them feel a lot safer and a lot calmer seeing you in that, in that way, like that way of expressing your emotion, because you understand why I think that can be the scariest part is when they see, you know, the mum or the dad crying, but they don't understand why.


24:32

You're sort of role modelling, aren't you?


24:33

How that it's, it's, it's OK to, it's normal emotion and actually this, and sometimes there's not a reason for it, for why you might cry or feel angry, but often because it could be accumulation of lots of little events that's happened.


24:46

But yeah, by by showing that you're crying or, and then explaining why it is that you're feeling like that, I think that's really valuable for you to say for children to realise.


24:56

Yeah, yeah.


24:58

I was going to touch on, you mentioned before about how you you're aware of how emotions can come out after the hospital appointment as well.


25:09

And I think that's a really important point to touch on because obviously for some autistic children, they can be really quite skilled at marking through stressful situations.


25:21

But then the parents or the child might see that that that tension and that stress is let out later on, maybe through meltdowns or, you know, extreme agitation or.


25:33

And I wonder if that's something that you have experienced in your household.


25:38

Yeah, sometimes they're kind.


25:40

I think when they're so used to being in that environment, sometimes they kind of switch to autopilot sometimes and they'll kind of just go through the appointment, like step by step, get to the end of the appointment.


25:52

And then sometimes it can be hours later or even the next day and then they just have an outburst or start crying out of nowhere.


26:03

And I think when that first happens, you sometimes can be quite confused because you're like, I don't understand, Like you had this appointment ages ago.


26:12

But then I think with with that practise, you then start to see sometimes patterns of that happening.


26:18

And that is when I realised, oh, actually they've probably gone into autopilot during the actual appointment.


26:25

Then they took that time to like process how they felt at that time.


26:30

And then that emotions then come out.


26:34

So I think it is then just having them conversations again and reassuring your child that like that is OK.


26:40

Like however you're feeling is OK to feel like that.


26:43

It's OK to express that because then you can obviously let like release it and then let that go.


26:49

And rather than suppressing that emotion and then also that we know that obviously then builds up.


26:54

Amy, I love hearing all your kind of your experience.


26:56

It sounds like you've really grown as a a parent, a person over the past 15 years.


27:02

And you sound very reflective and kind of in tune with how your children are feeling, which is which is lovely to hear.


27:08

What have you got any what would be your kind of your top advice for other parents and carers of autistic children who need to take their child to a healthcare appointment?


27:22

I would say something that has really helped me to take something with them that they enjoy.


27:29

So whether that's like colouring pad and pens, a book and, you know, an iPad with something on that they really enjoy.


27:38

And then I would say as well, like if your child's having a really tough time during a medical appointment, like don't feel embarrassed.


27:47

Like I know other people potentially judging me was a big thing that I really struggled with.


27:55

And I would try and like hush my child up, like like to try and pacify them almost like stop people looking and judging.


28:02

But I would just say like, don't judge yourself.


28:04

Like, and don't be like harsh on yourself, like, and allow your child to express themselves.


28:11

Like, as long as they are, they're safe and everyone else is safe and no one's like, in danger, Then I would just say let your child express and not worry too much about anything else going on around you.


28:25

Like, just worry about you and your child.


28:28

Because I think that that adds a lot of stress to the situation.


28:32

When you start looking outside of the situation that's going on and being like, oh, they're looking at me, They're looking at me.


28:38

They're going to be judging me.


28:40

They're probably thinking I'm like the worst parent ever when actually they probably just don't understand.


28:45

Yeah, the situation.


28:49

So I would say just be really gentle with yourself and know that you're doing an amazing job.


28:54

I love that advice, that kind of advice, just taking something that they enjoy along with with them for the healthcare procedure and kind of really just kind of focusing on of them and how they might be experiencing and feeling and validating that.


29:07

And yeah, as a parent or carer, being kind and gentle to yourself.


29:11

So that's really nice tip there.


29:13

Thank you.


29:14

Just a final question for you, Amy, if you don't mind.


29:18

If you could have one wish for how hospitals or medical settings could do things differently for autistic children, what would your wish be?


29:29

Oh, that's a question.


29:32

I think it's really, really important that the people that are directly involved with interacting with them, children are have that have a certain level of awareness where they can adapt to that child.


29:50

Because obviously each child is individual.


29:53

Like I know, you know, you could say of this child is autism, but there could be 100 kids in a room that have autism.


30:00

They could all experience that that differently.


30:04

So I think it is, I think it's just having awareness, compassion and understanding for the parent and the child to think it's really important that you nurture both people involved.


30:19

How do you think health professionals can be quickly educated about specific children and then their needs?


30:27

Do you have any ideas around that?


30:30

I think for the this staff in medical settings that have seen them children regular, I think they automatically build up that relationship with those specific children.


30:44

But I think just being aware of like when new children come into the setting just to be maybe take a couple of minutes with that child and their parent.


30:58

Why they're doing like observations like pre appointment, like taking the weight and the blood pressure and all that stuff to like maybe ask the parent like is there anything that your child like, does your child like struggle with these appointments?


31:11

Does your child, you know, are they neurodivergent or are they on the spec?


31:15

Is there anything in their health history that maybe might help me or to help this child during this appointment?


31:24

Like just a quick couple of minutes.


31:26

All it would take for is a couple of minutes for them to ask a question to gain light and they could gain so much insight from that couple of minutes and be like actually that parents just told me this child gets really anxious at these appointments or this child.


31:44

It really helps them if they get distracted during an appointment.


31:47

And I think they can then incorporate that in during the appointment and obviously distract the child with a toy or a book or, you know, anything that might help that child during that appointment, I think would be a really good, a really good idea because it's something really quick that can be done right there and then like straight before the appointment.


32:08

And you just get straight in there with it.


32:10

And I think that will really help the child and it will really help the parent because they'll know they're not having to be so worried right in that moment because their child's getting a little bit of extra attention.


32:23

Yeah, that's absolutely brilliant, Amy.


32:26

And I think you've hit the nail on the head.


32:28

Those small insights that can make such a massive difference to the experience of the autistic child that's in the hospital appointment and to the parents to just reduce that anxiety and to help them feel understood.


32:43

I think that's, yeah, an excellent point you've made.


32:46

So just to wrap up, we just wanted to say a massive thank you, Amy.


32:50

You've been absolutely amazing.


32:51

We've learnt so much from you today and I'm sure lots of our listeners will be fascinated to hear about your experiences that you've that you've had in hospitals with your kids.


33:02

I'm particularly struck about how much you have learnt about yourself and how to support your kids, especially as you said in the last couple of years about how you calm yourself and how that has a direct impact just by watching you on your kids and how they're learning these amazing techniques that are going to probably last them well for life.


33:24

So yeah, it's it's just been wonderful to hear about all these things.


33:27

Thank you so much.


33:28

You're welcome.


33:29

It's been a pleasure, it really has.


33:31

Thank you so much Amy.


33:34

It has been such a pleasure speaking with Amy today and learning more about her experiences of healthcare settings with her children.


33:42

I loved how Amy was so in tune with each of her children's individual needs and adapted the tools that she'd learnt to make them so playful and accessible.


33:53

So thank you, Amy, so much once again, and also thank you to you, our listeners for joining us today.


34:00

And a final thank you to the amazing team at Little Journey for making this podcast possible.


34:06

If you'd like to find out more about Little Journey and how we're using tech to support all children's better health, then please check us out online.


34:16

Bye now.

Episode Summary

WIP

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About the hosts

Dr Megan Hofmann and Dr Vicky Queralt are clinical psychologists at Little Journey and have over 30 years of NHS experience between them. They’re also mums who are passionate about supporting children and their families through healthcare journeys.

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If you’re interested in being a guest on a future ‘Spotlight Sessions’ episode, please get in touch at participate@littlejourney.health