Caller Geraldine contacted The Ryan Tubridy Show to share a little about her life with her 9-year-old daughter who has Asperger Syndrome (AS).
Geraldine took Ryan back to the time when her little girl was an infant and she began noticing that she wasn’t developing in the same way as other children her age.
"I remember my husband saying to me, we could have called her anything because she never really responded to her name."
"If you were to call her and she was in the kitchen, she’d never turn around to see what you wanted yet she had perfect hearing but she just was always engrossed in what she was doing at the time.
"Even if a friend would bring in another child at the time, there just was no natural curiosity regarding other babies and still, I just didn’t really think too much of it."
Things became more difficult when the terrible twos kicked in and uncontrollable temper tantrums were a regular occurrence.
"I kind of felt at that stage, God, I’m really crap at this.
"Obviously, I’m not a natural to motherhood if this is how bad it is… I couldn’t understand why could I not get her into these routines and what was wrong that she was so upset the whole time."
Playschool was initially a nightmare as Geraldine couldn’t leave her daughter’s side despite having a newborn baby at home who was being looked after by her mother.
Eventually, a diagnosis of Asperger’s was reached and even though Geraldine had suspected as much, she found it hard to enter this unknown world.
"It was like this sudden weight came on our shoulders to get everything right for her," she said.
Geraldine got all the help she could for her little girl and was very lucky that her school was extremely helpful.
In the last few years, her daughter has started asking difficult questions that Geraldine has tried her best to answer such as: "Mammy, why do I feel different?" and "Why do I have no friends?"
"That kind of broke my heart," said Geraldine. "I didn’t really know what to say to her."
Geraldine decided it was time for her daughter to understand that she had Asperger’s and what the implications would be.
Help came in the form of the book I am an Aspie Girl which follows the story of Lizzie who has Asperger’s.
Geraldine has only recently started reading the book with her daughter but the discussion it facilitates are helping her to paint a clearer picture of life with AS.
Listen to the full interview on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 above
