Walking Tall

When my daughter began her assessment for autism last year I never really knew what I would learn. It's all very different from twelve years ago when my eldest was diagnosed.
Lucy's assessment by the physiotherapist identified that she had a problem with walking and that it was likely to be causing the pain she gets in her knees at night. Yesterday I took her to a podiatrist who gave her a thorough examination and she came away with some inserts for her shoes. During the examination Lucy had to walk up and down the corridor several times. I knew she walked a little funny but didn't realise until I actually stood there with the Dr and observed just how unstable she actually is. The Dr commented on her weak core stability and her hypermobile joints, this is something picked up and commented on by everyone she sees so it must be pretty noticeable.  I think it's possible that she can improve though, and she's getting plenty of help to do so.
I can't help thinking that her older brother has missed out a lot, I'm sure there is more that could have been done for him. Back then the focus was on language and communication, but both my kids have really good language skills so the problems are very complex with their communication.
It's good that the facets of the autistic spectrum are better understand these days and that more is being done to help those that have it. I hope that by continuing to raise awareness and further investigation that the future will be very bright.