Qualified primary school teacher and mum to three children, Natalie Musker is from Denton Greens and has written a book aimed at helping kids to better understand the world that those with verbal learning difficulties live in after being inspired by her youngest son, 8-year-old Luke who is Autistic and non-verbal.
Can You Imagine a World Without Words?
Inspired by Luke and the children in his class, who would innocently ask questions about Lukes abilities and skills, Natalie decided to write a book aimed at younger children in the hope that non-verbal children can be explained and an easy way that will normalise them. She also hopes to encourage acceptance and kindness amongst his and many other autistic children’s classmates and peers.
Natalie states: “I didn’t plan to write a book but when we got a diagnosis for Luke I started writing down things I was going through and thought maybe these things could help others. My hope is that this book will be informative and will raise awareness and promote acceptance and kindness. The book is made up of things I’ve learned in the past four years and it’s helped me to focus on the positives.”
Non-Verbal Autism
Neurodevelopmental disorders are identified under the umbrella term Autism spectrum disorder and these disorders all interfere with a person’s social, behavioural, developmental, and communication skills in a very similar way. As many as 40% of children with Autism are non-verbal.
There are a variety of reasons why an autistic person may not speak, they could have apraxia of speech which interferes with the ability to say what they want, they may not have developed the skills to speak the verbal language because of autism or they could have echolalia which can make communication difficult.
Hidden Disability
Autism is classified as a learning disability which means it is a hidden disability that isn’t as obvious as people who are in wheelchairs or have a physical disability. This can cause some upset as many autistic people need extra space or take longer to do things. The charity, Hidden disabilities have released sunflower lanyards that a person can to show they have a hidden disability such as autism or chronic pain for example. If you know someone who would benefit from one of these, you can find them here. https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/
