Northland mother Ashleigh Wyse on daughter Annalise's autism journey. Video / Michael Cunningham
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 Annalise’s story.
Ashleigh Wyse knew from her daughter’s first day earthside that all wasnot what it seemed.
A standard hearing test while Annalise was asleep was “impossible to get a reading on” because her brain was “too active”.
When they tried six weeks later, they had the same issue.
From then on, Wyse described years of “fighting with doctors” to get her daughter a diagnosis and some help.
Wyse said it’s been a weight off her shoulders knowing her daughter is well-cared for.
“They don’t call me up every time she has a moment.”
She shared one memory where Annalise had become so overwhelmed over the prospect of school photos that she had stripped out of her uniform and thrown it in the bin.
“They just dealt with it, and then in the afternoon, she went to class as if nothing was wrong.”
She thoroughly enjoys being outdoors but how going out will go depends entirely on her mood.
The mum of two said if she was a new mother and Annalise was her first child, she would be a “wreck”.
