Keith Duffy reveals his daughter Mia will sit her Leaving Cert

"She's done it and I couldn't be happier for her."

For many parents with children on the autism spectrum, mainstream school can be a worrying prospect or even a pipe dream. Keith Duffy's daughter Mia, 17, shows that early intervention and the right support can make all the difference. The teenager is now in her final year of school and will sit her Leaving Cert next June, her dad has confirmed. "I never thought she would be in mainstream school, I never thought she'd sit state exams," Keith told the Irish Daily Star.

A post shared by Keith Duffy (@officialkeithduffy) on Mar 11, 2017 at 6:53am PST

Mia first showed signs of autism at 15 months during a family holiday to Disneyland, Keith revealed. "Every time we saw a Disney character, Mia would start to tense up, straightening out one of her arms and then the other one and they would shake," he said. She also had delayed speech, though her parents weren't worried as her older brother Jay, now 21, was slow to start speaking as a baby too and eventually had grommets fitted in his ears. A check-up showed that Mia's hearing wasn't to blame; a chance conversation with a friend at an autism charity event was what finally shed light on her condition for Keith.

A post shared by Keith Duffy (@officialkeithduffy) on Mar 11, 2017 at 3:25am PST

"He was telling me about this school for children with autism and I asked him what autism was. "With everything he said to me, the penny started to drop a bit further. "The more questions I asked him, the more it became apparent that Mia had autism." Keith said the realisation left him in tears at first, but over the years he has become a major campaigner for autism awareness in Ireland. He was previously a patron of Irish Autism Action, while his charity the Keith Duffy Foundation supports a number of children's causes. Mia went to a school for autistic children until she was nine, when she moved into mainstream school. Keith is clearly delighted at how far she has come. "I never thought any of this would happen but she's done it and I couldn't be happier for her."