Social worker Carolyn Procter shares her parenting story with son, Blaine. Video / Northern Advocate
Following on from Autism Acceptance Month, Reporter Brodie Stone spoke with three Whangārei families about their lived experiences parenting autistic children - and the messages they might have for readers. Today, we share Blaine’s story.
Social worker and Whangārei mum Carolyn Procter always thought her son Blaine had ADHD.
His inability to sit still had him always getting in trouble even early on. When he was at daycare he was pegged as the “troublemaker”.
“He had no personal space. A couple of kids had some issues and Blaine was blamed and he wasn’t even there that day.
“Then we went to school, we had teachers saying that he was being naughty and being grumpy at us.”
“I was quite shocked actually, that the diagnosis was autism.”
She went through a period of grief before the relief that Blaine could get the support required took over.
Procter describes her son as a “gap child”.
Blaine is too high functioning for a lot of support but she still has to keep an eye out to make sure there’s no support he is missing.
He was also diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia (difficulty with writing), attention deficit disorder and anxiety, so she said that has opened more doors for help.
Now at intermediate, her son is a passionate “justice warrior” something that can at times get him in trouble.
He’s struggled with bullying and fails to pick up on social cues and boundaries.
True to his ”justice warrior” label, Procter described her son as someone with a lot of love and passion.
Carolyn Procter and her son Blaine are a close pair. Photo / Michael Cunningham
He loves horror movies and SCP’s - something the Advocate quickly grew to learn about during its visit where he gave an impassioned explanation as to what the monster alien creatures are.
