How jewellery is helping an eight-year-old battle autism

After years struggling with autism and dyslexia, eight-year-old Max has found an unexpected pastime and now he’s “happy for the first time in a long time”.

A mum’s decision to hire her eight-year-old son has proven to have more than just financial benefits.

After years struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia and autism, Max started making jewellery as part of his mother’s side-business, Black Boho Australia.

Nicole Bartlett says her son is “happy for the first time in a long time”.

Ms Bartlett’s business has been operating for about a year and sold black boho decor before Max’s jewellery inputs.

The Largs Bay woman said Max’s diagnosis came following ongoing suspicions he had dyslexia, but when he was finally old enough for a psychological assessment an extensive list of conditions was returned.

The assessment revealed Max had not only dyslexia, but autism, dyscalculia, auditory processing disorder and he was particularly empathetic and a perfectionist.

“When Max is doing school work, or reading, or simple tasks, he’s focusing so hard on doing things right that his breath becomes laboured and heavy, he’s panting a lot,” Ms Bartlett said about the effect of her son’s conditions.

He’s physically exhausting himself.

“Then, a few years ago, his grandmother passed away and it was almost like a trigger point.

“It was at that stage when things started to escalate and get a lot harder to mange.”

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates one in 150 people have autism, while Dyslexia Australia says about one in 10 people have dyslexia.

About 65 per cent of young NDIS participants are listed as having autism.

A year after Max’s diagnoses he noticed his mum was managing to blow off some steam through her side-business and - thinking she was playing with play-doh - he asked her whether he could join in.

“He made something small and then I went through my craft box and had some earrings there and thought he might enjoy making them,” Ms Bartlett said.

“About two hours later he said ‘I feel so relaxed, that was really good mum’.

“He was happy for the first time in a long time.”

After about a week Max had made 50 sets of earrings and Ms Bartlett put them on her website for sale.

Within 48 hours they were sold out.

Eight-year-old Largs Bay lad Max about to send out his first jewellery orders. Picture: Supplied

Now he’s made about 300 more in preparation for sale and an upcoming “kidprenuer” market.

Despite the overwhelming response, he said he wanted to invest any future earnings back into the business with a goal of one day holding workshops for other children with his conditions.

Knowing her son is learning things he struggles with in school - like sensory stimulation and focusing, has Mrs Bartlett looking positively towards the future.

“Day-by-day there are still massive challenges, but it’s a good avenue for him to learn in a different way,” she said.

“He’s just in the moment. He’s not stressed and he’s calm.

“It’s so good he’s found an avenue to be able to do that.”