Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Don't Know What Autism is?

         This is my daughter and she has Autism. You ask but how could that be? There are no physical disabilities. Well because Autism is a developmental disability not a physical disability. Autism affects the learning, social and emotional process. She is a very normal, happy little girl. She has abilities that shine through everyday. She can become social and emotional and learn.
       She has to be taught how to learn new things and shown to become social and emotional. All of this is present she just has a hard time showing it because she doesn't know how. Its not that she cant. So when you hear Autism please don't think "oh my god, poor child". There is nothing wrong with my child because her abilities are stronger than her disability. If she wanted to become a doctor, nurse, lawyer, judge guess what, she can. You might think she cant, how?
        If you do not live with autism you will never understand. Even if you learn about autism you will still not understand. You see, what my daughter shows me is unexplainable. She is unique in her own way and she makes me proud. The reason she is able to strive and show her potential is because she has a family who supports and knows she can achieve what she sets her mind to. That is what Autism is.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Can You Tell The Difference?

      With the recent J Cole and Drake comments about autism it had me thinking, we have a serious issue going on here. Its not okay for people to degrade our children and use autism in a negative way. So, here is a scenario for you.... Its a beautiful sunny day and you are at an outing with your family or friends. You see parents with their children. As you are trying to enjoy your day you see the children are upset and crying, running around, stomping their feet and maybe even throwing themselves on the floor. The parents are doing their best to calm their children down, but its not working. As all people do they stare with a confused face and make a comment like " if that were my child I would have better control over them and they would not act like that". Am I right? Probably, everyone who doesn't deal with autism will have a rude comment like that. My point is, don't be so quick to judge because that child that is crying, running around and stomping their feet, that is my child and she has autism and you wouldn't know. There is no deformality. Especially if you don't know autism and what to look for. My child does that, all children with autism do that. Even neurotypical children do that. They are human and they have feelings so if you are quick to judge then you are just ignorant. Learn the signs of autism and educate yourself about it because stares and rude comments really hurt our feelings. Our children are just children, looking to have fun and find their place in this world and we cant do that if there is hate towards them, because autism doesn't define who they are. I hope this helps you to understand and sheds light on this issue.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

My Summer With Autism

            So far my summer has been great. I have had family time and had a blast. We have gone to the park, swimming and a water park. My daughter has been attending summer school. She has shown so much improvement and is starting to be a little vocal. I have been working with her and teaching her how to say sounds and two to three letter words. She is so interested in imitating it comes naturally for her. This is the moment I have been waiting for. Now she still can't hold a conversation with anyone but can say some words. I have taught her how to say her name and age. She is such a fast learner, she learned it in a matter of a couple days. It is one baby step at a time but there is progress. By going to the park it has increased her interest in becoming social. Teaching her how to swim has gave her that confidence that she needs to know that she can do it. Everyday its something new and when your dealing with autism you have to be patient and have hope because my daughter is capable of accomplishing anything. All of these accomplishments may seem small to other people but to me it means the world. Its like when a mothers first born begins to talk, crawl, and walk. Well for me, and every autism parent no matter their childs age a small accomplishment is a big one. We still have a long journey ahead of us, and so much more to teach and learn, but looking back at the beginning of our journey until now she has come a long way and I am very PROUD of her and myself. It has been tough but we push through everyday and never give up. I hope she sticks to that as she gets older because there will be obstacles and struggles but in order to succeed you cant give up!!