Mother and son produce book to help families understand autism and the pressures of life

Bec Smith, 33, and her eight-year-old son Max created a book from his point of view to understand what is happening around them when living with siblings on the opposite ends of the autistic spectrum.

Max’s older sister, Daisy, is high functioning so, while very clever, can often become violent and struggles within social situations, meanwhile Jorgie-Rose is non-verbal therefore requires a lot of sensory input.

As part of the diagnoses there was plenty of support for both girls, as well as Bec and her partner Jack but support wasn’t necessarily provided for Max.

Jack said: “Sometimes he was subject to the violence from his sister, or witnessed everything that was happenign to me or his mum. We had to sometimes say that we’re cancelling plans because Daisy can’t manage to leave the house.”

As a result the book that has been written by Bec, titled I’m an Autism Brother, What’s You’re Super Power? is from the perspective of a child trying to understand living with a family member that has autism.

One of the most important points taken from producing the book is the fact that Max was bottling up his feelings and not talking to his parents, while he understood his sisters were different he felt a little embarrassed at times.

As part of Daisy’s condition she often wears size 16 clothing that is considerably big for her to make her feel more comfortable, attracting looks from people in public which upsets her.

A total of 2,000 prints have been paid for and some will be donated to charity shops before setting up a website allowing copies to be purchased. Money made from the sales will go towards a further batch of prints being produced.

Bec said: “When our daughter was diagnosed with autism we looked for resources to support her and help her understand the diagnosis. we found lots of useful books and equipment for her, however we noticed that there wasn't much around to help explain to Max who was around six at the time.

"A lot was going on at home and Max was seeing everything that was happening and we just wanted something on his level to help him better understand his feelings.

"That's when I thought of the idea to write a children's book based on conversations I had with Max in the hopes that other children would benefit from reading it from a child's perspective.

“I would also like to thank Matt Bacon at LMD Publications for all his support, advise and most of all patience during the whole process. He's been amazing and I can't speak highly enough of him."

The book can now be bought online through the Autism Brother website.