Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Share with us your hair care and skincare routine.
Ms. Christine McGuinness:
I love to use coconut shampoo and conditioner on my hair and coconut moisturizer on my skin. It works wonders and smells amazing. It is thanks to my coco butter that I only got a couple of stretch marks during my pregnancies and they a barely visible. I am lucky with my facial skin, Its rare that I will get spots or blemishes, I put this down to drinking lots of water and barely wearing make up. I often get asked what I use to cleanse my face; the truth is I only ever use water to wash my face.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
On your twins, Leo and Penelope’s fourth birthday, you revealed that the twins were on the autistic spectrum. How and when were you able to find out that your children were going through autism?
Ms. Christine McGuinness:
We have known that our twins are autistic since November 2016; they were formally diagnosed February 2017. We noticed obvious delays in their speech but we were not overly concerned as they were so young. They had a lack of eye contact and no social skills and they were both over sensitive to change, noise, smells, new faces etc. I just thought we had two big softies and their little quirks were a part of their personality.
It was only when they started nursery, the twins were almost 3 and we could see significant differences in their development in comparison to other children their age so we started the twins with Speech and language therapy and they also had regular support from SEN (special education needs). They recommended that we should see a pediatrician; we went along to meet with her in November 2016 and it didn’t take long for her to recognize that our twins have autism. Initially it was a huge shock for us, we had no idea. It was only after researching the condition for ourselves that we could see it was really obvious, if we had known more about autism prior to this meeting, I’m certain the twins would have been diagnosed and received help a lot sooner. This is why it is so important to raise awareness so more people recognize the signs and symptoms. Early intervention can make a huge difference for a child with autism.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
There are millions of parents who go through the same situation that you have, what advice would you give to these parents about autism awareness?
Ms. Christine McGuinness:
Remember that your child was perfect before their diagnosis and they’re still perfect afterwards. The diagnosis doesn’t change them at all; it just helps to explain their behavior sometimes.
Try to keep your focus on the child and not the autism or you will miss the intelligent, empathetic, overly observant, extraordinary child you have.
I honestly believe that special babies go to special parents so be confident that you can handle whatever hurdles come your way.
Know that your child doesn’t need to change; autism is a part of them it doesn’t define them. We just need to change the lack of understanding and open the door to educate others. Raising awareness is the best way to help our children and others that are so often misunderstood.
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