Mum writes storybook about her son to raise awareness of autism

A woman who has written a storybook about her son says she hopes it will increase public understanding of autism.

Janet Popham, who lives in Newport, wrote about her ten-year-old son Archie, who struggles to communicate with others.

Janet is a teacher and wants to encourage as many children as possible to embrace their differences.

Janet says Archie is a "placid, happy, loving little boy... he's got different behaviours but he's not aggressive".

The National Autistic Society says autism is a 'lifelong, developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with and relates to other people, and how they experience the world around them'.

There are around 700,000 people on the autism spectrum in the UK – that's more than 1 in 1001. If you include their families, autism is a part of daily life for 2.8 million people.

The book is described as a 'story told in rhyme, for very young readers, different or not'.

The book tells the story of 'Archie the Alligator', who likes to jump and bounce but the other animals think he shouldn't do this, until the wise elephant tells them that they should listen to Archie.

The publishing of the book was a personal achievement for Archie's mum, Janet, too.