Little Puddins: Social media an avenue to support

By Amanda McGuinnes - The Autism Educator and Little Puddins Blog

THE start of October began with a bang for the Little Puddins on social media.

Across my various social media platforms, I now have over 20,000 followers and thousands of subscribers to the Little Puddins and The Autism Educator websites.

This past week we reached the milestone of over 10,000 followers on Instagram.

For many readers, social media is fast becoming a normal part of their daily lives.

For parents and professionals like myself, it is a vital part of our lives. Through my websites and social media platforms I help support and advise parents and work alongside fellow professionals in the field of autism.

As a parent, social media has given me an outlet for expression, and an avenue to support. As a professional it has helped me to advise and support parents who find themselves lost, in need of direction.

Through my column here in The Connaught Telegraph I have been able to reach readers from across the country in print and across the world online.

When I look back on the last decade of my life, I sometimes cannot believe I too was once a lost parent who did not know how to help my infant son. He so clearly faced immense challenges and I could not at that time be the mother he needed me to be. I did not know where to start or how to help him.

I made a promise to Conor on his diagnosis day that I would never give up on him and we would face the road together. I made a promise to myself back then, that one day the road would turn, and I would find myself able to help other parents starting out on this journey.

Thank you from my heart to every follower, reader, and subscriber. I would not be where I am today without you.

Amanda

* Read Amanda's Little Puddins column in The Connaught Telegraph or follow her blog online here https://littlepuddins.ie/