The tween years and puberty go hand in hand, one is a defining aspect of the other. And with that combination seems to come a heap of confusion, stress, high tempers and tears, and that’s not just the kids.
When you throw Autism in the mix, as is our situation, it adds another level of challenge, one that I’m mostly completely un-prepared for.
I recently attended at session at Amaze (Autism Victoria) who kindly took all of us scared parents through a workshop on how best to prepare for the coming years.
Here are some of the resources they shared that night, which I thought might be helpful for you too…
- La Trobe University’s “Puberty: A Guide for Teenagers with ASD and Their Parents” can be downloaded here. It has a bunch of social scripts for everything from showering regularly to periods.
- Raising Children Network (which you can find here) has a bunch of social stories as well as information fact sheets for parents and videos as well. They cover the emotional side of things, as well as the physical things.
- Footprint Books (here) has a huge range of books and resources for both girls and boys going through puberty as well as just general books about Autism. If you love exploring online bookstores, then you’ll love this.
- Family Planning Victoria (here) isn’t probably the first place I would have thought of to start, but they have a large range of fact sheets, books, as well as videos, which might be easier for some kids. There’s also information about sexual health and safe sex, which I know we we’re going to need at some point (hopefully later rather than sooner…).
- Amaze (Autism Victoria) runs information sessions, as well as having a bunch of resources available as well. You can find them here.
If you’re stressing about puberty, maybe take a moment to check these out. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to get your hands on as much information as possible to prepare yourself as we hurtle headlong into the next stage of parenting.
Well prepared is well armed. Or something like that.
———————–
A version of this article was originally published on About a Bugg here.
