SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — "Daisi’s First Flow - Let’s Go!" is a book Tiffany Jackson wrote with her daughter Daijah, a teenager with autism, after she began her menstrual cycle.
Tiffany Jackson said she wanted to write the book due to how she felt about her daughter's transition to womanhood. But she had to pull her emotions together first.
“I think I was more distraught than her,” she said.
Tiffany Jackson says she can laugh about it now but before, she was very nervous because Daijah is not like every other girl her age. She just turned 13 but when she started her cycle, she was just 10.
“I kept getting asked the question, 'how does Daijah deal with her cycle?'" Tiffany Jackson said. “And so you say hmm yeah, let’s write a book.”
She says the book is inspired by her daughter’s challenges with autism.
“So the book, it discusses a lot of things,” Tiffany Jackson said. “It discusses puberty, what our bodies go through, what to expect."
Hear more from Tiffany Jackson in the video player below:
It's not the only book Tiffany Jackson wrote about her daughter. The first book she wrote came about because of Daijah’s struggle with eating.
“She doesn’t eat the typical foods,” the mother said. “She’s a very picky eater — well, they say picky, but Daijah likes what she likes. So, that’s how Daisi came about.”
Daisi is the fictional character Tiffany Jackson uses to express Daijah. But there are still some things that she says she cannot express through Daisi like Daijah’s struggles with autism.
“She was diagnosed when she was 4 and she’s been pretty much nonverbal the entire time," Tiffany Jackson said.
April serves as National Autism Acceptance Month, so in "Daisi’s First Flow - Let’s Go!" that was recently released, Tiffany Jackson said she made sure to include a sensory chart to help other girls like her daughter communicate.
"A lot of girls on sensory will be able to use this,” she said. “Teachers will be able to use it in their classrooms to help them with girls that are on the spectrum that can't talk.”
Tiffany Jackson said it is tough being a mother of a child who has challenges speak. But she says sometimes, she gets lucky and Daijah Jackson will talk.
“She only talks when encouraged too,” she said.
So, I asked Daijah if she would read some of her book to me and she did!
To find out more about Daijah’s book, click the link.
