You coming under? Kiss? Okay! Kiss!
Nellie is diagnosed with Autism and she's also partially sighted. She struggles to speak. She has echolalia which means the words that she does say are often things that she's heard before, she repeats. She doesn't really understand when to use it in the right context.
She doesn't really understand playing. It's kind of making piles, looking at things, but she obviously takes it all in, but kind of again, in her own little bubble and doing her own thing. It's all very, very repetitive.
Generically, what you're lead to believe is that maybe, children with Autism won't always develop relationships. They maybe won't understand that one of the other children is their sibling. We always wondered what she'd be like when her little brother came along. In the beginning, she seemed kind of okay. She was saying "baby". As he got older, and I think she realised he wasn't going anywhere, she pretty much ignored the fact that he's here.
Her relationship with her older sister is completely different. She kind of idolises her. She's probably the only other person, apart from my husband and I, that she will go to to try and get her to read a book, to sing a song, to go outside and play in the garden. I'm not sure whether she understands that Ivy's her sister, but she's certainly developed a fantastic relationship with her.
I think when you're being told things by a professional, sometimes they do give you worst case scenarios.So never underestimate what your child's capable of. Just keep trying and hopefully one of those things will bring out whatever's locked inside.
Meet Amy and her daughter Nellie, who is visually impaired and autistic.
Nellie tends to repeat what she hears back to people. This is called echolalia. Amy explains what it's like living with Nellie and describes how she interacts with the rest of the family.
For more information or advice on autism visit The National Autistic Society.
