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A Day in the Life: Raising a Child with Autism
I am the mother of three children, the oldest being Daanish, who is 10 years old and has moderate to severe autism. Daanish is nonverbal and sometimes aggressive. He can't read or tell me why he can get suddenly sad or angry, but his receptive skills (how he understands and follows directions) are remarkable. He also has a real connection to close loved ones. Raising a child with autism is a constant challenge, and being his mother is an exhausting, exhilarating, and lonely roller coaster ride.
Amal, our second child and our only daughter, is 7 years old and Hamza, our youngest, is 3 years old. With the varying personalities of three children (plus both sets of grandparents, who support us and often visit from either India or Maryland), my husband and I feel both overwhelmed and blessed with love and support. How do we keep everyone happy and moving forward while assessing all the moods, behaviors, and responsibilities of Daanish's needs? It is difficult to paint a portrait of what it's like to manage the day-to-day life of a child with autism, but here I offer a realistic view of parenting a child with special needs.
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You¿ve just learned that your toddler has autism. You feel crushed, but you know you need to formulate a plan for how to move forward. How can you best deal with your autistic child? Speak directly and often to your child. Autistic children learn language more slowly than do children who are... http://blog.care4hire.com/autism/500
4/11/2012 10:23:22 AM Report AbuseBeing a single father with sole custody since 2009 of our 9 year old daughter is a challenge, however going through the neuropysch evaluation process in January and being told she has mild autism was crushing. My daugther has been in an IEP class since Kindergarden, and only over the last 1-2 years it was becoming VERY noticable the difference between her and her peer group (math, spelling, speech, maturity, etc)
4/9/2012 10:14:16 AM Report AbuseYou¿ve just learned that your toddler has autism. You feel crushed, but you know you need to formulate a plan for how to move forward. How can you best deal with your autistic child? Speak directly and often to your child. Autistic children learn language more slowly than do children who are not autistic. By exposing your child to language early and often, you will help him learn language skills. And when your child speaks to you, praise ...http://blog.care4hire.com/autism/500
9/28/2011 02:07:26 PM Report AbuseI'm also of a mother of 5yr old autistic boy, when I wake up until deep sleep I always think onlu my sweet son only, let's try all the way, get faith in itand survive this crisis.
9/27/2011 10:01:48 AM Report AbuseI'm also a mother of a 10 year old boy that has moderate autism. And it's, as the szmidofor1 put it, stressful and i feel like in combat daily. Can't put my guard down. Constant coaching, supervising how other kids treat him, planning ahead how he might react to daily activities, how siblings are affected by the amount of attention he absorb from us parents, etc. But all in all,they are a blessing that are teaching us to accept people's differences without judging.
8/24/2011 11:07:20 AM Report Abuse