26/08/2026
Free Autism & Neurodivergent Sensory and Spectrum profile resources...
Over the last month I have been working with a lovely family who reached out to me when they were at crisis point! They have a three year old diagnosed non-verbal autistic daughter. The problems have been building to the point it caused a huge family fall out especially with the Grandparents.
The problem here was a mixture of a lack of understanding and social expectations. The Grandparents were getting angry, which was causing stress and arguments for the parents and then a child who also has a flooded stress response resulting in becoming overwhelmed (meltdown) and not sleeping or settling for days.
Why were the Grandparents getting angry? Here are some common issues that were being displayed...
"Why won't she look at me when I am talking to her?"
"Why won't she give me a hug when I ask for one?"
"Why won't she sit at the table and eat like the rest of us?"
"Why won't she sleep?"
"Why does she keep running around on her tip toes and flapping her hands?"
"What are those noises she's making?"
"How can she keep falling up and down the stairs? Why doesn't she look where's she's going?"
"What's wrong with her?"
So, I have been working with the parents building a sensory and spectrum profile on little lady, and painted an excellent picture of her needs and differences! I then worked with the parents teaching them what each one of the sensory and spectrum profile sections means, and how we can be between hypo and hyper sensitive to each of these sensory systems.
Once I had taught Mum and Dad, all I kept hearing was, "Oh, that's why she does that!!" "Oh, that's what this means! "Oh, WOW, now I understand what she is trying to do!"
We then started working with the Grandparents, answering their questions and building their understanding of little lady. Now, the family is starting to make progress together as they let go of these social expectations, build their understanding and embrace little lady for who she is, not who they expect her to be, and hopefully soon they will be thriving as a family!
One of the main problems we see is that neurodivergent children are expected to conform to social norms, however, I learned very quickly with Bodhi that when he was totally non-verbal and never made eye contact, we were going to have to change the way we think and interact with him, he wasn't going to look at the camera when I asked him to, and it didn't matter if we ever heard his voice, what mattered is that he was happy and were were communicating. We had learned to hear loud and clear a child who didn't speak!
If you are a parent, carer or professional who works with or going to be seeing a child soon for an appointment, you are welcome to download these free resources, which I have posted in the comments below!
I have created these forms by taking pictures of Bodhi & Frank together then turning the photos into cartoons. I have posted a filled in sensory differences and spectrum profile of Bodhi to help you see what it can look like. Also, in the comments I have posted an educational poster on each of the sensory systems explaining what hypo and hyper sensitivity can look like for each of them.
If you would like any help, send me a message and we can chat :)
