I was about to turn 18 when Jake and, later, another brother, Joshua, got their diagnoses. At the time, I understood very little about autism and it has been a huge learning curve!
I remember my parents attending the NAS EarlyBird programme. Some ladies came to the house and filmed mum playing Connect 4 with Jake. Then a lot of visual symbols and schedules started popping up around the house!

At the time, there wasn't much support available for siblings. I felt the support was needed for mum and that I had to stay strong. I think I put everything into helping, in whatever way I could, which continues, to a degree, today. It has been difficult – I felt for a long time I couldn't go to my mum for a shoulder to cry on because things were really tough for her and I didn't want to be an extra burden. She's a fab mum - we're both learning to put ourselves first! She was always open to us having friends over. I have an older brother, Peter, so the house was generally filled with teenage boys!

Living with autism has massively influenced my career choice! I can 100 per cent say I wouldn't be doing what I do if it hadn't been for the boys. I was in college and unsure of what to do. When I started helping with Joshua, his portage (home-visiting educational service) worker told me about a job going, so I went for it.

My job is about empowering parents and working together with their pre-school children, implementing strategies to aid their inclusion and progress into school. I work with families with children under five who have social communication difficulties and autism.

I am feeling excited and a little nervous about running my first EarlyBird course with local families. It's another great opportunity to help parents going through a difficult, frustrating and confusing time - I know from my own experience of how our journey started. It's a hugely daunting, emotional time which can leave you feeling powerless and overwhelmed. I feel lucky to be in the position to help shed some light and hopefully point families in the right direction on their own journeys.

For more information about NAS EarlyBird and EarlyBird Plus (for parents whose child has received a later diagnosis, is aged 4-8 and in Early Years or Key Stage One provision), call Jo Stevens on 01226 779218, email earlybird@nas.org.uk, visit www.autism.org.uk/earlybird or write to Jo Stevens, EarlyBird Centre, Barnsley Road, Dodworth, South Yorkshire S75 3JT