I have a 13 year old who is on the autism spectrum. He was diagnosed very early - initial intervention at 18 months and official diagnosis at 2. In his initial diagnosis and generally I. The past he would have been classified as having Asperger’s of being “high functioning” but those are no longer considered appropriate official terms - I say that to mean that he has minimal “stereotypical” autistic behavior and has been in general education classrooms throughout his life. He does very well in school. But he still has struggles, typically on the social side of things.

99 percent of the time he’s completely fine, but he’s definitely had several moments of suicidal ideation. Maybe once every few months he’ll be upset and mention it - which I’m sure means it’s in his mind more often than that. He’s never taken any action on this, and to our knowledge hasn’t taken any steps to specifically plan something (his therapist says this is an important differentiation.) But the worst incident was one day we heard him in his room on the phone, on the suicide prevention hotline, crying about feeling scared that he would hurt himself at some point. He’s been in therapy for several years, he’s in a loving home, has a great support system at school. We talk to him in a very transparent manor without judging. And again, the overwhelming majority of the time he’s completely fine (at least he presents himself that way - I’m aware that he could be dealing with internal struggles despite outward appearance.)

Anyways - it’s a REALLY helpless feeling to have as a parent. And that feeling is amplified when reading stories about others who lost their battle like this. I can’t even imagine what she’s going through.