Autism Specialist Ireland
Amanda Mc Guinness, BA, LLB, is an Autistic advocate and an Autism & Visual Supports Specialist. She is a Law Graduate and is currently undertaking a Master of Childhood Speech Language and Communication Needs at University Galway.
Amanda is the creator of the “Auti” character online through her social media littlepuddins.ie, which teaches and educates on Autistic lived experiences. Her areas of specialism include Visual Supports, Autistic Identity & Culture, Autistic Masking, Autistic Communication, and Autistic Lived Experience Education.
Autism Specialist AsIAm
She has extensive experience delivering Autism and Neurodiversity training, having delivered keynotes on Autism nationally and internationally.
Having previously been appointed to the Board of Directors of AsIAm- Ireland’s Autism Charity, Amanda took up a role delivering Autism training nationally on behalf of AsIAm.
More recently Amanda has been appointed to the role of Manager in AsIAm and is responsible for the management and development of Visual Supports education, resources and the development and maintenance of the AsIAm Prepare Me App.
Little Puddins – Autism Family Ireland
Amanda and her family have been sharing their lives online since 2015 when Amanda launched Mayo’s first autism family blog -The Little Puddins Blog.
Through her blog Amanda and her family have been on the most extraordinary journey, through TV appearances on The Late Late Show as Autism Ambassadors, to appearances on the Late Late Toy Show, Prime Time, Ireland AM, RTÉ News and Virgin Media. Amanda and her little Puddins have featured in print and online across the world.
Amanda is most well known online for her philanthropic design and sharing of visual supports and educational resources to families of children with additional needs the world over.
Covid Pandemic Visual Supports
Her most recent design “What is the Coronavirus?” Social Story became a viral sensation when Amanda designed and shared for free online, the Social Story, to support children just like her own, who were struggling to understand what was happening and why their world had changed so drastically in an instant.
Amanda’s visual supports have been featured on or recommended by Government bodies, organisations, charities and associations all over the world. To name but a few, Amanda’s Social Story has been featured on or recommended by:
In 2022, Amanda founded Little Puddin Prints in response to an overwhelming demand for her educational resources, professional advice, webinars, trainings, insights, and experience.
Through her social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, her family blog; www.littlepuddins.ie, Amanda has reached all corners of the world with her Visual Supports, educational resources, insights and family experiences.
All of Amanda’s educational resources have been tried and tested over the last 14 years by Amanda’s children; from Hailey down to youngest little Puddin Max. Amanda’s experience as an autistic individual together with her role as a mother to 3 autistic sons who have varying degrees of support needs, means she knows what is needed by families just like her own.
Visual Support Specialist
Her visual mind has been noted professionally as “exceptional” and it is her visual mind that conceptualises, constructs and deconstructs into minutiae the fine detail of her educational resources, visual supports together with her illustrated prints.
When Amanda first started Little Puddins blog in 2015, she had the tagline- living a life unexpected. Her journey on the autism road has led to self discovery, empowerment, advocacy and education. She would not change one moment of it, as her journey with her children, has made her the woman she is today.
Her Little Puddins; Hailey (15), Conor (13), Jack (10) and Max (6).
