Q+A with an Autism Mom: Mom of Autistic Girl Answers Questions

I feel like you just told the story of my youngest and me before their diagnosis. Beats to their own drum, loud screaming as an infant, meltdowns because of low blood sugar, a student teachers really liked. They were and are so creative and funny. I was a fierce advocate for my kiddo, but not having a diagnosis led to a lot of unnecessary stress. I would NOT change them for the world but do wish that our society was a little more accepting. Olivia, I’m grateful for your video series. And thank you for brining your mom on.

I wish my mom was this understanding instead of trying to "beat it out of me."

Sure, you have to be super proud of your beautiful, smart, witty daughter. She does amassing work of educating us on this topic, better then many professionals do.

I‘m a dad of a 25y Asperger girl. She got herself tested at 21y, when she had an autistic colleague at university showing her what’s „wrong“ with her. And I found out at 55, that I’m definitely her dad aka I’m a mild Asperger’s and suddenly a lot of strange things in my life made sense. I now understand meltdowns, just had one a view days before and I‘m able now to recognize and recover quickly. My daughter is not that far, but at least might have an experienced adviser for 20+ years. Unfortunately her mother does not understand what‘s happening to the kid at all. I found out she likes programming (like me) and we both now working in software development. She also has a sister (1,5y older) who was a crybaby and did not like that her younger sister was telling her how to calculate and read, when the older was in 1st class and the autistic still in kindergarten.

I love this. Your mom is gentle, thoughtful, respectful, and loving. You both are lovely women. I am happy for you both.

I would love to find an interview of the child of an autistic mother. I have a daughter and I’m always worried she won’t understand my anxieties that come with noises, lights, smells etc. She saw my meltdown once and I had to have a conversation with her about us having different brains, but I can’t do anything but hope she grows to understand.

Love this perspective. You are an amazing woman Olivia and so lucky to have such an amazing Mom! 🤩💕

I was diagnosed at 29 (3 years ago), 3 years after my mothers passing. This video brings me a great peace because I think my mom would have felt very similarly to your mom. It’s so important to have these conversations so other girls can be diagnosed and supported at an earlier age, but in addition, help the parents understand and get support too. I know that my moms perspective would have been very much changed by understanding the diagnosis and would have been able to bring our family a lot more peace. A therapist turned my mom against me when I was 19 by telling her I had BPD traits and basically told her she needed to let me hit rock bottom. Many facets of our relationship were controlled by how much my mom trusted that therapist and a lot of trauma happened for both of us that was unnecessary. Please keep doing what you are doing, these videos are very valuable and can change female autists experiences for the better. We deserve support and love, even if we want a little space.

I identified with almost every single answer you gave. My daughter was diagnosed at seven, and the same struggles were there even though we knew. She didn’t come with a manual and all the traditional parenting techniques did NOT work. One therapist told me that she will be a more successful adult than child, and that is true! The older she gets the more options she has to be herself. Bless you for sharing your story.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I, too, let my son stay home on those overwhelming days. And isn't it beautiful that you grow up to help others; as they, or someone they love, make this journey with you!? Thank you!!!

Thank you so much for making this video, your honesty and sensitivity - lots to identify with, particularly dealing with the overwhelming family occasions, and having to advocate for your child (in my case, my daughter) time and again with school to remind them of the challenges they face every day, which they cover with their mask so well, but which leads to unrelenting exhaustion. Please do more of these Q + A's.

Thanks for this interview, Olivia. It's really interesting to see things from a parent's perspective.

Thank you for this video. As someone with a young autistic girl who recently got her diagnosis these videos are helpful in knowing what to expect and how to help.

You and your mom should do more videos together. You are amazing helping so many people with autism.❤

What I loved the most about this video is how we can see Olivia by another angle. When she's talking to a camera, one to one, its a bit harder to notice somethings; but here we can see her in a more natural way. For example, at 2:54; 3:25; 4:10 you can see how she exhibits some traits on her expression, the way she moves and looks. For those who think that she could be lying beucause she seems too "high-functioning", that's a way to notice how wrong you are. Also, funny thing, due to masking I usually find harder to pause the video of an autistic person and get a funny face when compared with a neurotypical person. That's also true with Olivia and that shows how much effort she puts on masking. Anyway, the whole video is just lovelly.

So nice to hear your stories It help me understand my life and my daughter

Wow, thank you for introducing us to your mom, mom thanks for coming on. This was terrific!! 🙏❤👍

I just got my daughter’s diagnosis, she’s 4. Thank you so much for this

Allot of great advice. My daughter is 7 recently diagnosed. Thank you very much for the video. ❤

I so agree with you letting her have a day,off school.My granddaughter is autistic and we also let her have mental health days when we can see she needs a reprieve from all the pressure and anxiety that school brings.Luckily for us the school she goes too has a lot of sen children and the autism is understood from both teachers and the children attending.I have always worked with sen children and adults so we were lucky enough that I had been around people with autism and we picked up on it from a very young age,although she has only just been diagnosed at the age of 9.We always tell her that her brain works differently but that doesnt mean she is any less a person than anybody else.Listening to you sounds so like our Olivia too😊