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Autistic Angel's . . .
Hello, my name is Helen and I have an 10 year old son who is autistic, his name is Mitchell - and he is the most perfect child I could have received. He is my angel who fills my days with joy and wonder. We are on a great journey together, learning one anothers language as we go along. We do both speak "english", I speak it the way it's been taught in american schools for years, but Mitchell speaks it in his own special autistic way.
Expectations . . .
All mothers want the perfect child. We say the only thing we want is for them to be healthy, but in our hearts we know and want the baby to be perfect. He or she will of course BE "perfect" in our eyes even if not in others.
Sweet Reality . . .
At some point after giving birth and once the newness wears off we mom's notice the sweet imperfections in our children. No one is perfect, and even with these funny little things we find it only makes us love them more.
Realizations . . .
When you think of being a mom you just don't imagine what it would be like if there were something "wrong" with your little one to be. But as we all know, not all children can be born absolutely "perfect" and all of the other generalizations that are used to describe the average child. One day you notice - realize - that there is something different about your precious child. Not different in a bad way, almost charming.
Research and Understanding . . .
Hopefully you have resources in your community to help you confirm what you may or may not know. I knew in my heart Mitchell was autistic, I had read some articles, done a little innocent research on the internet - didn't know for sure, but knew still. The thing about autism is that you don't think it could be possible because of the stereotypes you've seen or heard. And those are the reason I wanted to share what I know. We have to make people aware for the childrens sake, and the adults they will become. I have heard horror stories of misdiagnosis, mistreatments and the wasting of precious time because the diagnosis was not made. EARLY INTERVENTION is the key to getting the children headed in the right direction. (I myself am not talking about medical intervention, just teaching intervention to help with communication ~ there are "treatments" out there but that is not the direction we have chosen to take with our son) With the aid of trained teaching professionals you can find the path to help your child learn and begin to calm any behavioral problems the child may be experiencing (ie:hitting, screaming etc because of lack of communication skills). I'm sharing my non-professional information with you in the hopes that I can make you know you are not alone and neither is your child. I was lucky, at the time my child was diagnosed my school district's special education dept. was top notch (navigating the school system is a completely different topic!) If I can just help one person to find the right path to getting their child where they need to be then it was worth my time. I can't stress enough that I am not a trained professional in any field other than being an experienced mom in this situation. But as I have found, there is still so much unknown about autism that the real life experiences of others have been the most valuable to me as a mom. A lot of other people are out there sharing, they are just waiting to be found. I have found some of them but am always thirsty for more, so if you know something - send it my way!
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