There is a particular exhaustion that comes with parenting a child with additional needs into adulthood. It is not loud or dramatic. It is quiet, cumulative, and deeply familiar to thousands of families who spend years navigating systems that promise support but rarely deliver it in ways that truly help. Alicia Cook’s What Now? Autism and Learning Difficulties is written from exactly that place – not from theory, policy papers or professional distance, but from lived reality. It is the voice of a parent who has spent nearly two decades advocating for her children, learning how to survive a system that often leaves families carrying far more than they should.
Cook is the mother of two adult children with Special Educational Needs: one with severe autism and the other with learning difficulties. Her book does not attempt to soften the edges of that experience. Instead, it offers an honest, compassionate account of what daily life looks like when support is inconsistent, professionals change frequently, and parents are expected to fill every gap – emotionally, practically and financially.
What makes What Now? particularly powerful is its refusal to turn complex lives into case studies. Readers are invited into the routines, the setbacks, the small victories and the relentless advocacy required simply to keep things moving forward. This is not a crisis narrative, but a long-term one – about adulthood, ageing parents, and the uncomfortable truth that many families are still asking the same questions years later: Who is responsible now? What happens next? And why does it feel like nothing has changed?
Unlike academic texts or clinical guides, this book speaks directly to families. Cook carefully unpacks the processes involved in seeking help – from education to health and social care – while acknowledging how emotionally draining those processes can be. She writes with clarity and restraint, making space for frustration without letting it turn into bitterness. The tone is grounded, practical and deeply human.
For London Mums readers, many of whom are parenting children with additional needs or supporting loved ones through similar journeys, this book will feel achingly familiar. It also offers reassurance: not solutions wrapped in platitudes, but the simple, powerful recognition that you are not imagining the difficulties, and you are not alone in facing them.
The book also serves a wider purpose. At a time when awareness of neurodiversity is growing, understanding of adult SEN support still lags behind. What Now? Autism and Learning Difficulties gently but firmly challenges this gap, calling for systems that are more responsive, more consistent and more compassionate – not just in words, but in practice.
In her own words, Cook explains why she felt compelled to write the book:
“My partner, Philip, and I decided to create this book to help others who find themselves in the same position as us. After eighteen years of trying to get the right support, very little has changed – the professionals often don’t truly help, and in the end, it all falls back on the parents and their determination never to give up. We hope this book helps other parents feel less alone.”
That sense of not feeling alone is perhaps the book’s greatest gift. Whether you are a parent, carer, educator, student or professional trying to understand the realities behind policy language, What Now? Autism and Learning Difficulties offers insight without judgement and honesty without despair.
It is a book that does not shout, but it stays with you – quietly asking society to do better, and reminding families that their experiences matter.
What Now? Autism and Learning Difficulties by Alicia Cook is available on Amazon:
and on ebay (item no 326823859215).
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
