ASD Affects my Family Every Day- A Parent’s Perspective Guest Blog
This guest blogger has become a great “friend” through the social media world. She doesn’t share this in her guest blog below, but from knowing her I can tell you she has gone to every length to advocate and provide for her son with Autism. She researches strategies that can be implemented in her home to provide the structured environment her son needs. She is up in the wee hours of the night networking, creating and producing supports for her son. She is an inspiration, and I hope she can inspire all the new moms with children who are being diagnosed.
I quote this guest mommy, “My biggest hope is for acceptance and understanding of ASD from our community, peers and family”
ASD Affects my Family Every Day
Guest Blog from Brienna
Hello Everyone my name is Brienna. I was asked if I would like to write a little about my life as a mom to a child with Autism. My son turned 3 in April of this year. He was diagnosed in October 2012 with ASD, Tourette’s, and Apraxia. I automatically went into the how can we help him mode right after I cried. I started researching everything I could get my hands on, I made phone calls, I set up assessments and looked into what therapy he would need. The biggest challenge and still is to this very day was getting the therapy he needed. Before having my son I was a preschool teacher and I knew that he would not be able to function in a “typical” preschool setting so I became a home day care provider so I could offer him the peer interaction that he so desperately needed in a controlled environment. This created its own reward because it allowed him to be himself and not be judged by others as “difficult”
The biggest rewards of Autism and how it has touched my son has taught me to be patient, understanding of his feelings and emotions. The reward of being able to get to know him on a deeper level every day because his needs and moods change every day is more rewarding then I could have ever imagined.
The challenges my family faces are different from the typical family because we plan our day based on our sons needs. How did he sleep, did he eat, what will the atmosphere be like when we arrive, will it be over stimulating? We take it day by day and sometimes hour by hour.
Our family has been blessed to have a great team of in home therapist who work and shadow my son every day. My biggest hope is for acceptance and understanding of ASD from our community, peers and family. And with nearly 1 in 88 people diagnosed today, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. I love my son with out a shadow of a doubt so very very much, we are on this journey together!!
