World Autism Awareness Week starts today.
About 700,000 people in the UK have autism and 2.8million people have their lives touched by the condition every day.
Reporter Kirsty Hough spoke to a family in Earls Colne about the impact it has on them.
Six-year-old Liam looks just like any little boy, but that is part of the problem according to his mum, Katie Critchley.
Liam was diagnosed with autism when he was three, after the family noticed he was slow to speak and would get upset even as a baby when visitors came to the house.
“I thought he just being a typical boy as they are known to be a bit lazy,” Katie, 35, said.
However, tests revealed him as being on the autistic spectrum, having pica - where a child will eat anything, including sand and mud - as well as sensory processing disorder.
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