Supporting Your Autistic Child: Practical Strategies for Everyday Life (Before and After Diagnosis)

Understanding your child can change how you support them.
Parenting an autistic or neurodivergent child can bring unique challenges, questions and moments of uncertainty. Whether your child has recently received an autism diagnosis, is awaiting assessment, or you are simply beginning to wonder whether they may be autistic, this practical guide is designed to help.
Written by SEND and autism specialist Tony Harget, who has over 30 years' experience working with autistic and neurodivergent children and young people, the book draws on a career spanning teaching, senior leadership and specialist education from Early Years through to post-19. Tony has helped establish specialist SEND provision from the outset and now works as an autism and SEND consultant and trainer, supporting schools, organisations, professionals and families.
Supporting Your Autistic Child focuses on understanding what may sit underneath behaviour — and what parents and carers can do differently to help.
Using straightforward explanations and practical strategies, the book explores:
• autism and neurodivergence
• behaviour as communication
• meltdowns, shutdowns and burnout
• anxiety, masking and demand avoidance
• communication, including AAC and visual support
• sensory processing and regulation
• routines, transitions and stimming
• eating, toileting and sleep
• school avoidance and distress
• community safety
• supporting your child during moments of overwhelm
• parent wellbeing and where to find further support
Throughout the book, one question comes up again and again:
“What might my child be experiencing or communicating?”
This isn't a book about trying to make an autistic child less autistic. It's about understanding the child in front of you, reducing unnecessary barriers and finding practical ways to help them feel safer, understood and supported.
Practical guidance. Real-life strategies. A starting point for understanding your child.