Alison Davies and her son Ryan jumping to their deaths from the Humber Bridge recently has brought to the fore the stress families looking after children with life-long learning disabilities such as autism, are under.

Dealing with her son's demading Fragile X syndrome, which has similar traits to autism, was cited as one of the reasons for Alison's acute derpression.

Autism is a spectrum disorder affecting sufferers in different ways and with various severities.

There are three key signs which signify an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). These are; inhibited communication, problems interacting socially and limited imagination.

Children on the autistic spectrum are also prone to taking everything literally and therefore struggle to understand the nuances of language sarcasm and analogies. For example, If told to, pull their socks up', to get them to improve in some way, they would actually pull up their socks and miss the intended meaning.

ASDs are usually identified in the second year of development and affect one child in 2,500 four times more boys than girls.

There are a growing number of services and support groups to help families learn to deal with the difficulties.

Julia Pithouse is the family services manager at Bromley Autistic Trust which offers support to 700 families across the borough.

She said: "We help families understand their child's autism and try to support them with strategies at home.

"We give training and workshops to offer practical strategies to families."

The trust aims to reduce anxiety felt by sufferers. Many children with an ASD like a rigid structure and routine. When these patterns are disrupted they can become anxious.

The trust teaches parents how to avoid causing stressful situations by introducing gradual changes if there is a need to modify a behaviour.

Julia says early intervention is crucial. The sooner you can slowly introduce flexibility into a child's routine the better. Small changes to routine can be frightening to a child with autism and need to be planned for.

Julia explained: "Imagine if your morning routine is messed up, there is no milk for your tea perhaps it's annoying to you but a child with autism would feel an extraordinary high level of anxiety.

"They like repetition and a sense of predictability in an unpredictable world."