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<\/a><\/p>\nMy husband runs a photo booth company and I am a wedding photographer – we are always either out on jobs or at home working. Our daughters, being 10 & 5, are able to understand when mummy & daddy are working – not that it stops the \u2018muuuuuum\u2019 or the constant \u2018mum, mum, mum, dad, mum, dad\u2019 until someone answers them! Henry, who is 3 & going through an autism diagnosis & is pre-verbal, does not. If he wants or needs something, it has to be right then & there. We can\u2019t kindly say \u2018just two seconds honey\u2019 to him. If we don\u2019t attend to his exact needs (which we don\u2019t always understand what they are straight away) then a meltdown ensues. It is a learning curve for all of us & we are getting better at reading the signs of what he wants but sometimes there\u2019s just nothing that can stop a meltdown.<\/p>\n
Just because Henry is pre-verbal does not mean we have a quiet house. To be honest, it\u2019s the exact opposite. Stimming is basically a self-stimulatory behaviour that can be a number of different things – hand flapping, repeating words\/phrases and so on. Henry\u2019s stimming is shouting\/talking in his own way to his favourite toys or his juice cup & it\u2019s loud. Very loud. Some days it\u2019s easier to tune it out & keep working – other days it just impossible.<\/p>\n So what do I do when I really need to get that work done? My husband & I take turns to play & interact with Henry to keep him busy while the other gets to work. I tend to lug my iMac upstairs & take a few hours editing or writing blog posts. Most of the time though, I edit or work at night once all the kids are in bed. I don\u2019t make lists anymore. I know what I need to get done but as our days can be so drastically different with Henry\u2019s moods never being the same, I take each day as it comes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to feel down in the dumps when going through an autism diagnosis. Things rarely go as you would expect them to. There are endless forms to fill in, appointments to get to & never knowing quite what Henry is going to be like on any given day.<\/p>\n It can help having a great network of creative friends to boost you out of a slump if things are rough at home. Right now, as I type, we are having difficulties with Henry\u2019s autism diagnosis (things can\u2019t ever run smoothly can they!) so to be honest, I’ve not even wanted to get out there and shoot. My friends & fellow creatives know that I need a kick up the backside to get myself motivated again which is exactly what they do with their love & support.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nTry JPEGmini Pro For Free Now!<\/span>\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n