A Mom's Eye View On Autism

Hello and welcome to the Mommy blog part of theautismlife.com! As you can see, this website was created by a family living the Autism life for other families doing the same, knowingly or unknowingly. We also have a Dad’s Corner for the guys on the site to relate to each, and there is a Sibling’s Section written by my oldest child and her experience with all of this. My goal is to speak more to the families of young and very young children who are looking for help or are concerned about their child. Some families who are coming to this site may not have a diagnosis and may not even be seeking the label, but only looking for meaningful strategies for their family and their child. I’m not as concerned about attaching labels or preaching to parents about labeling their little one as much as I am concerned about getting therapy or treatment ideas out. A diagnosis can be helpful if you are looking to get into specific programs and we’ll discuss that in another section.

However, if you have just received a diagnosis (or know what’s in the back of your mind) and you’re confused, scared, mad, or whatever, my advice is to take all that energy you’re using and focus it into constructive, everyday, and functional strategies to help your little one understand the world around him or her. An Autism diagnosis is not the end of the world; rather, I like to think of it as a beginning into learning different ways to see the world and different ways of interacting. Obviously, some children are going to need intensive therapy, certainly my child has. Things aren’t going to be easy and your life most likely isn’t going to be exactly what you thought it would end up like. But that’s not all bad.

My son teaches me things about life, the human body (especially the brain), and the world around us all the time. I’d like for this blog to be a weekly (and sometimes more often than that) blog that is dedicated to sharing our experiences—both good and bad—with everyone so that we can learn from each other about living the autism life. As themes or ideas come up we can also tie these into the message board as part of a broader conversation topic. As you are trying to bring your child into your world, he or she is also bringing you into theirs. By understanding both of these worlds, and using the strengths and deficits of each to offset the other, you can create a good life for everyone in your family.

August.3.2006. - Mommy Blog