William is a bright, sociable 11-year-old. He is also autistic.

His mum Carole-Anne Withers, from Strood, has written a song about living with William which she hopes will educate people about the complex condition.

She said: “I play guitar and write songs and I thought I have just got to do this – it inspired this song in my head. All the words just came flooding to me.

“I did feel very emotional writing it and very passionate.”

Response

The song, On My Shoulder, can be heard on MySpace and was written after William’s exaggerated response to a situation upset another youngster.

Carole-Anne, 34, said it was then she realised there was a need to educate people about the autistic spectrum and the variety of ways in which it can affect people.

“The whole point of the song is to raise autism awareness. I want people to have an open mind and not to be judgemental. If you are born, you have a life, you are an individual and you have a right to be who you are.”

She said she would like the song to be heard by a wider audience: “My dream for that song would be perhaps for somebody to release it to the public so it can be bought and the proceeds could be donated to the Kent Autistic Trust, the National Autistic Society or to fund people going into schools to talk to others about autism.”

Carole-Anne says more often than not people have a very negative view of autism. It can affect communication, leading those with the condition to become frustrated. Often someone who is autistic will react unexpectedly to everyday situations.

And William was not always as chatty and lively as he is today.

Carole-Anne said: “When William was much younger he was not responsive to people at all.

“He was aggressive to people who approached him and he didn’t talk – he used to communicate by drawing on a drawing board.

“He used to draw pictures for me to tell me what he wanted and needed and how he felt.”

But she says he has made amazing progress since those early days and is now a different child.

“Now he is very sociable, he has lots of friends. He is a great conversationalist, he has got lots of friends and he is a very high achiever at school.

“He has been very lucky, my family and people around him have been very willing to try and see things from his point of view and to try to figure out how he thinks and how he sees things, to try and see into his world rather than trying to force him to see into ours.”