Help with Autism

Autism is not a mental health problem, and whilst a lot of children and young people with autism have good mental health, around 7 out of 10 young people with autism have a mental health condition such as anxiety, depression or OCD.

Autism is a spectrum which means everybody with autism is different. Some autistic young people need little or no support. Others may need regular help from a parent, carer or a professional.

If you think you have autism some of the things you may notice include:

• Difficulty recognising or understanding other people’s emotions and expressing their own feelings
• Being over or under sensitive to things like loud noises and bright light, and finding crowded noisy spaces stressful or uncomfortable
• Preferring familiar routes or a particularly routine and finding unexpected changes to these distressing
• Do or thing the same things over and over
• Difficulties reading body language, understanding sarcasm and facial expressions

If you think you may have autism it is important to speak to someone you trust so that they can help you get the support and assessments you need. This will normally be through your GP or School at first who will then follow Bolton’s Autism Pathway for children and young people.