Connor is a sweet six year old. He has two brothers  – Dylan (4) and Aidan (7).

This is a blessing for Connor and us, as he has instant friends who are used to Connor’s ‘ways’ and see past them and play and chat with him where possible, albeit parallel play or independent play is where Connor is socially.

Connor had a psychological assessment and was diagnosed with Autism, and what that looks like for Connor is a myriad of behaviours and rituals that govern his life, and ours too by virtue of the fact that any deviation from what Connor expects to happen next results in screaming, crying, meltdowns and idle threats to break things or do things.  As you can imagine as a parent it is very draining to try to manage this, and utterly heartbreaking and saddening to see my child genuinely so frustrated and hurt and sobbing and be able to do nothing about it.

Connor is at that age now where other children most certainly do see the differences between themselves and Connor. I don’t want him alienated because the other kids think he is weird in how he behaves.  I want him to have friends and as close to a ‘normal’ childhood as possible.  I am trying any strategies I can but I know that if I could have an iPad dedicated to social stories for Connor, it would present him in the moment with the tools and skills he needs to rationalize things out for himself and teach him things are okay.  It would certainly give us more freedom as a family and his brothers would not lose out on events and situations and would give more opportunities for Connor to experience all the things regular kids do.  To have these tools to use on hand would be an absolute life line.

Thank you for amking this possible!