Introduction As the parent of a young autistic person, you may be hearing a lot about the importance of early intervention for your child. People expect your child to make adjustmentsto better fit into the neurotypical world, and professionals suggest therapies and "treatments" to this end. This workbook isn''t that. This workbook is a type of early intervention for parents and caregivers (not the child), so that you can better understand your child and make adjustments to their routines and environments from that place of understanding. In my experience, there are two common types of reactions parents have when they discover that their child is autistic. One is to be disbelieving, thinking something along the lines of "my child can''t be autistic, they''re so much like me" or "but I understand my child so well." I was this type of parent. I''d felt deeply connected to my child since birth.

My child made sense to me, and I was very in tune with them. Another experience is for a parent to suddenly feel like they don''t know their child at all. I was this type of parent, too. The professional had told me something new about my child and provided a report full of "deficits" and suggestions of things my child needed that were so far removed from my knowledge and experience of them that I thought I was wrong, that I didn''t know what must begoing on inside my child. Surely they were more different from me than I realized. The reality was that, unknown to me, I was also neurodivergent, and my deep connection andattunement to my child from birth came from this place. It was a place of innate understanding and recognition of the emotions my child experienced, the very real need for them to feel understood and validated. It was a place where, inside myself, I recognized things that I needed as a child and only sometimes got.

I wanted something different for my child, and I strove to give that tothem. But it wasn''t always easy. I''d felt misunderstood much of my life, and that didn''t change in my role as a parent. I felt the pressure of others around me, telling me how my child should be, how I should respond or treat them. I knew enough to know I didn''t want my child to feel those pressures, so I did my best to absorb them myself. It was painful, isolating and confusing. I felt conflicted inside. Was I doing what was best for my child by following that innate drive to help them be and feel understood? Or was I setting them up for failure in a world that may not value their differences? Should I listen to my internal understanding of what was good for my child and for our family, or should I listen to those outside voices who were so insistent that they knew best? Either way I feltmisunderstood, a feeling I was keenly familiar with and which deeply hurt.

I have learned a lot since that time. I have done a deep dive into my own lived experience as a person and a parent, and into the culture of autistic self-advocacy. I have encountered so many people and learned from each of them, internalizing lessons to the point where I cannot even begin to recreate the process and pathways of who I learned what from. I have included in the conclusion a list of names of autistic people and organizations that I know were influential to me in my journey, though I don''t doubt I have forgotten some. Still, I do know that this book is based on the approach of Dr. Luke Beardon''s formula "Autism + Environment = Outcome"[1]. The idea is that an autistic person will be autistic their entire life - it''s how their brain is wired - but their lived experience can be greatly impacted by the people, relationships, places, things, events, routines, and other aspects of their environment. This book is meant to be used by parents and caregivers of young autistic children as a tool to help you reflect on what environmental supports might best help your child thrive.

When you learn to recognize your young child''s experience and find ways to adapt the environment to best support them, then you can then teach your child to do the same as they grow. The result can be older autistic children and adults who know what their own individual support needs are, who can advocate for and make environmental adjustments to meet those needs, and who can build on their strengths and thrive. And if enough of us do this work, perhaps we can change society, too, so that accommodations for neurodivergent people become normalized and our differences are welcomed and celebrated.Ultimately, creating a society where every neurotype is recognized, honored, and supported creates a healthier, happier environment for every person to thrive. Difference is difference, not deficit, and we do not need to be changed. Let''s change the environment instead. [1] Dr. Luke Beardon, Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children (Sheldon Press, 2020), 4.