I don't think I ever imagined I would start a blog with the title of this one. I don't suppose anyone ever does. No one wants their child to have a disability or developmental disorder. No one wants their child to be different, to struggle, to face trials that you as a parent have never had to face. But here I am... walking the road of autism.
My son E is 2.5yrs old. He is my second child out of three boys. He was born 'healthy' and 'normal'. I suppose most parents breathe that sigh of relief after their child is born when the doctors/midwives declare your child to be healthy. During pregnancy, there is always that 'what if?' It is so easy to take 'full health' for granted. I just assumed that once born healthy, he would stay that way unless there was some sort of accident. If born 'normal' then normal development would follow. Not necessarily so.
We are very young in this journey. The realisation that our son has autism has only occured in the last 2months. Everything is fresh. Information. Understanding. Processing. Grief. Medical appointments. More medical appoinments. Intervention. Therapy.
I hope this blog achieves two things. Firstly, it's a place for me to process. Download. Clarify my emotions. I have always been a 'heart on the sleeve' kind of person. So expect brutal honesty. Secondly, it will be a place to consolidate knowledge. I will post the accumulation of information (hopefully in a concise way!) as I learn what autism is and what it means to parent a child with autism. Please feel free to comment or send helpful info/links. If you are on a similar journey, I'd love to hear from you. The road already feels quite lonely.
hey cars, thanks for beginning to share. will be reading along, and glad to be a part of the journey, and to know a little more what to pray for. love
ReplyDeleteThanks Thora. Appreciate the support. Love to your family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and good on you for taking a gutsy step - I'll be praying for you as you work out what this all means. Dunno if it will be of any use as we are a bit far away, but our church runs council-funded autism support group - check out info here http://www.grlifecare.org.au/autism.htm
ReplyDeleteCara, I have sat with your blog with E in my mind's eye. It touches me so deeply. The insights make me want to engage with E in his world. I have no idea what that looks like but I want to try. Jim
ReplyDeleteJim, thanks for your words and big heart. Interesting - your choice of words - 'engage with him in his world'. Today, I came across an intensive therapy approach with teaches that we need to be part of their world to build trust and slowly introduce them to things outside of their world. So it means doing what they are doing - mimicking their behaviour rather than trying to get them to mimic ours!! I don't know how much credibility this approach holds in other places but just interesting that you chose those words...
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