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A mum slammed parents who made cruel comments about her severely autistic four-year-old son after he had a breakdown in a busy shopping area.

Emma Bell told how her son Jamie dropped to the floor and suffered a ‘meltdown’ outside Claire’s Accessories in St Helens.

The 26-year-old, from St Helens, had to sit down in the middle of the high street to try and calm her distressed son.

Mum-of-two Emma says she was stunned at the reaction from other passing families who she overheard making comments about her parenting skills.

Jamie has autism, sensory processing difficulties and hyper mobility, meanwhile her other child, Kahlan, 3, is currently being monitored for speech delay.

In a post on Facebook, Emma Bell slated the people who judged her in the street.

She wrote: “To all the people passing judgement while I had to sit with my disabled son in the middle of the high street thank you.

“I had no idea my son with sensory difficulties was spoilt, I didn’t know that my severely autistic son was a naughty child and I certainly didn’t know he needed a ‘firm hand’ and a ‘good hiding’, thank you for passing judgment with ignorance.

“But thankyou to the women in B&M who ever you are, who pointed me in the direction of my daughter with difficulties when she ran off while my son was having a melt down.

“Luckily a friend was there to watch him while I chased her.

“Please people don’t judge my parenting without knowing the circumstances.

“The fact that it takes me more than an hour just to get one item is difficult enough with my kids, let alone being judged for it as well.”

She spoke to the ECHO to explain the events which led to her taking to social media and took the opportunity to give some advice to others.

Emma said: ”We were at the rides outside Claire’s Accessories in St. Helens and it was something to do with the rides that made him have a meltdown and he decided to drop to the ground.

“With him being non-verbal, he can’t tell me what is wrong with him.

“At first I thought that he wanted to go on them, but that wasn’t the case at all and I couldn’t get him to stand up so I just sat with him for a few moments.”

At this point Emma said she began to hear passing comments about how her son was “a naughty child” was “spoilt” and “needed disciplining”.

She added: “Comments like this usually go over my head but when an elderly gentleman, from a short distance away, started talking about how he ‘wouldn’t dream of letting any of their children behave the way ‘that little boy on the floor was behaving’ and what he needed was ‘a firm hand and a good hiding’, that really annoyed me.”

Emma added: “I just get seen as a mum that can’t cope with her children.

“In the past I have actually been told I shouldn’t have had kids if I couldn’t cope with them.

“I love my kids and they mean the absolute world to me but to be told this really does hit my self esteem.

“I have had many break downs in the middle of the town centre and it has resulted in me being in tears.

“People really need to think about what you say to people, if you don’t want it being said to you don’t say it to another person, and this is if the child has a disability or not.

“My best advice to anybody is to just be empathetic, think what it could be like in our shoes and be a decent human being and actually be kind and considerate.

“You can’t tell just by looking at a child that they have a neurodevelopmental disorder.

“Every child no matter what their circumstances should be treated kindly because it’s our actions and our attitudes that mould their futures.”