Christine McGuinness felt a "sense of loss" when her twins were diagnosed with autism.
The 29-year-old model – who has four-year-old twins Leo and Penelope with her husband Paddy McGuinness – admits she was worried at first about the future when she learned of the diagnosis but now, after doing her research, she knows she is "the right mum" for her twins.
She said: "I think there is a sense of loss when your child is diagnosed with autism. The things you plan out, what you think you’re going to do, go to Butlins for the weekend, go to Blackpool or holidays, you realise actually those things might not happen as it would normally.
"But that was when we first found out. But now I’ve done my research, and I know a lot more about it, I’m really confident that I’m the right mum for these. I know I can give them a really good life. I know with lots of planning, lots of research into everything and preparing the twins I know they can do anything."
And Christine – who also has 10-month-old daughter Felicity with Paddy – admits she was in "shock" when she found out about her twins’ diagnosis and felt angry at herself for not realising it sooner.
Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, she shared: "Initially when they were diagnosed it was shock, instant shock. We had absolutely no idea they had autism even though the signs were there. They were non-verbal until they were three, they both walked on their tip toes, they didn’t socialise very well, they still do struggle with socialising with other children, that’s probably one of the most heartbreaking parts of it because that’s just something you expect your children to do, go and make lots of friends. It is quite common for children and adults with autism to struggle with socialising.
"They were our first children – initially when the paediatrician said I’m quite certain your children have autism I felt quite angry that she’d seen something I hadn’t seen in my children and I thought how can she see that? I’ve raised these, I’ve been with them every single day and surely I would know if there was something not quite right with them, but it was just a lack of knowledge on my part."
Christine McGuinness’ sense of loss
