There are so many times when I hear how "blessed my boys are" to have us
as parents. I don't want to make light of the comment, I believe we are
all blessed that God put us together as a family. However, I get the
occasional funny looks from some people when I respond that
we are the ones who are truly blessed and grateful.
I have always been a blunt person who, unfortunately has a
slight
real problem with the "filter" between my brain and my mouth. I am
usually a much better writer than speaker - I can get my point across
much easier when I write. I have no issue with speaking up when it comes
to rude looks, stares or comments made... if I feel it's warranted.
Sometimes I am "moved" to just keep my mouth shut. I'm sure that every
parent or caregiver of someone with any type of special needs kiddos are
in the same boat.
As
a parent, we are called to figure out many things as our kiddos grow.
As babies - learn the cries in order to know quickly what your baby
needs. Then you get to figure out their way of communicating to tell you
what they want. You learn to "read" your child as to what they need,
sometimes before they even know. Now, as a parent of a kiddo with
autism, you are called to be a teacher, doctor, dentist, nutritionist,
advocate, mind reader, body language interpreter, but mostly... a
detective.
We know that ASD (autism spectrum disorder) is different with
every
child, even with identical twins, some issues are similar, many are
different. The hardest part is filling these different roles and
learning how to cope with them, then teach your child what you can to
help
them cope as well. We have to learn that "mommies and daddies" need
time outs
too. Then we can look at situations that have developed with "fresh
eyes" and try to find a solution, if there is one". Then of course you
have to try to figure a way to communicate with your kiddo, especially
if they are non-verbal. Then you have to figure out how to spot the
"trigger" for the meltdowns in hopes of stopping them before they
escalate.
We learn (from them):
- to see things from a different perspective that we otherwise never would.
- that there isn't always a logical reason for something (to us), but is important to our kiddo.
- the way our senses work - who would of thought that our senses could be over-whelming to our own body? So we learn even more about our own senses.
- we
usually pay more attention to our little ones when something's wrong.
(Like they're sick, or upset, etc.) This allows us to become closer to
our kiddos.
- how to really reach out to our children with autism, especially when they are none verbal to try every way possible to connect with them.
- how to look for ways to correct our children that don't involve physical means, but actually work
- to say what we mean, because most kiddos with ASD are extremely literal.
- that some of our kiddos actually show us what pure, innocent and complete joy is
I think Laura Story's song blessings says it all. Check it out if you haven't heard it or seen this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSVqHcdhXQ
From
a mother's heart - Every time we learn something new we are being let
into, a little more each time, our child's world. Which to me is the
biggest blessing of all. May we all notice the blessings and learn the
lessons our children have to teach us.
God Bless!
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