Christine McGuinness details the tragic impact of lockdown on her three autistic children

Christine McGuinness has revealed her youngest daughter Felicity, five, has developed a stutter in lockdown due to lack of social contact. 

The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star, 32, is mother to Felicity, and twins Leo and Penelope, seven, all of whom have autism, and during an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday she detailed the impact of the pandemic on her kids. 

Felicity’s speech has been affected as the kids’ speech and communication has regressed since they have been in lockdown at home, with all three children struggling with the communication they have worked so hard to build. 

She said: ‘It’s really affected their speech, I spent years and years going to speech and language therapy with the children they’ve all gone back with their speech and communication, my youngest daughter has developed a stutter’.

Her loves: Christine McGuinness has revealed her youngest daughter Felicity, five, has developed a stutter in lockdown due to lack of social contact

Christine has her three kids with husband Paddy, 47, and she has always been candid about living with autism and how the family cope with their condition. 

On lockdown and the kids, she detailed: ‘It’s really affected their speech. They’ve regressed quite a lot. Again, speech doesn’t come naturally to them…

‘Spent years going to speech and language therapy with the children and I still do, but they’ve all gone backwards with their speech and communication skills…

‘My daughter, Felicity, developed a stutter over the first lockdown, which was never there before. It was every single word so it was quite severe…

Opening up: The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star, 32, is mother to Felicity, and twins Leo and Penelope, seven, all of whom have autism, and during an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday she detailed the impact of the pandemic on her kids

Opening up: The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star, 32, is mother to Felicity, and twins Leo and Penelope, seven, all of whom have autism, and during an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday she detailed the impact of the pandemic on her kids

‘She is still in speech therapy getting help for that, it has got a little bit better now she’s gone back to nursery. But these are problems that definitely wouldn’t have come into our lives if it wasn’t for the global pandemic.’

She went on: ‘It’s been a rollercoaster. It started off extremely difficult, for everyone it was a massive shock. Our kids are autistic and they struggle with shock…

‘All of these differences were suddenly thrown at them, the school was closed, not allowed friends or family over, which we used to do, at weekends we couldn’t go to the park.

‘With three children that struggle with change anyway and don’t really understand an awful lot, that was extremely difficult, for them to suddenly change overnight…

Her love: Christine has her three kids with husband Paddy, 47, and she has always been candid about living with autism and how the family cope with their condition

Her love: Christine has her three kids with husband Paddy, 47, and she has always been candid about living with autism and how the family cope with their condition

What is a stammer/stutter?  

Stammering varies in severity from person to person, and from situation to situation. Someone might have periods of stammering followed by times when they speak relatively fluently.

There are 2 main types of stammering:

– Developmental stammering – the most common type of stammering that happens in early childhood when speech and language skills are developing quickly

– Acquired or late-onset stammering – is relatively rare and happens in older children and adults as a result of a head injury, stroke or progressive neurological condition. It can also be caused by certain drugs, medicines, or psychological or emotional trauma

It is not possible to say for sure why a child starts stammering, but it is not caused by anything the parents have done.

Developmental and inherited factors may play a part, along with small differences in how efficiently the speech areas of the brain are working.

‘We did kind of get used to it over the summer, they did stop asking about going out and that’s sort of where we’re at now. It’s quite sad really that they now accept it’s normal to stay in…

‘We’ve spent years and years encouraging our children, it doesn’t come naturally to them, to go and socialise, going out to busy places and new places like play centres – they can be quite frightening – it took them years to do that quite happily…

‘Now they don’t even ask about it, it’s like it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s quite sad. I do think if/when things go back to normal we’re going to have to start again with all of that. We’re going to have to really build up their confidence again as anxiety is through the roof.

‘As an example, I stopped at the petrol station, I took my son in with me, and somebody walked past and he literally threw himself back from this person as he was so petrified of someone walking near him. It’s sad that’s the reality of today.’

Despite the hard times, Christine gushed: ‘We’ve had some magical, magical moments. And overall they’re happy, they’re healthy and they’re doing absolutely amazing and I love them to bits and I’m dead proud.’ 

Speaking about homeschooling, she said: ‘I feel for everyone doing homeschooling. It’s not tailored for children with additional needs, it really isn’t. They’re very black and white our children, school is school and home is home…

‘We can manage an art class and P.E, the fun things, but the actual homeschooling sitting in front of a computer, it’s just not right. I don’t think it’s nice for any children… we are trying to get them back into full time…

‘They started doing a couple of hours and we’re building it up to full time. Again, it’s just a very, very slow long process for our children to build it back up. Hopefully, next week they’ll go back to full time.’

Her appearance comes after it was reported that Christine and Paddy are set to reveal the challenges of raising children with autism in a new BBC documentary, Autism And Our Family. 

Christine has always been open about her children’s highs and lows in living with autism and the family is now said to be going to document those moments. 

The one-off documentary, set to air this year, will follow the couple as they share their story with viewers and seek answers about their children’s autism diagnosis.

It will also follow them as they meet with other parents, paediatricians and child-development experts to learn more about the developmental disability. 

Christine often shares her experiences with her children on social media and gives advice and support to parents in the same boat. 

THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF AUTISM

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with autism have trouble with social, emotional and communication skills that usually develop before the age of three and last throughout a person’s life. 

Specific signs of autism include: 

  • Reactions to smell, taste, look, feel or sound are unusual
  • Difficulty adapting to changes in routine
  • Unable to repeat or echo what is said to them
  • Difficulty expressing desires using words or motions
  • Unable to discuss their own feelings or other people’s
  • Difficulty with acts of affection like hugging
  • Prefer to be alone and avoid eye contact
  • Difficulty relating to other people
  • Unable to point at objects or look at objects when others point to them

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