Parent's Perspectives

I'm a clinician but I'm also a Mother of a child with special needs.

I've seen a lot of funny and interesting reels on Facebook created by parents of special needs kids. I appreciate them because I think it's important for parents to know they are not alone.

I'm creating this blog so I can add some of my own experiences for the same purpose. I sit with people who are so exhausted and overwhelmed. I'm not sure how to help except to say that I'm here, I see you and you are in my thoughts and prayers. What you do is amazing. You are a gift and you will never hear it as much as you deserve to.

A little background: My son is now 8. He was diagnosed at 20 months and was what they might consider Level 2. Verbal. Technically.

After many interventions he's Level 1. He's delayed, has an intellectual disability but we can hold a conversation with him now though his 6 year old sister seems to understand much more than he does and is ready to pass him academically, if she hasn't already.

That said, this week we had several meltdowns. It's been a chaotic summer and more specifically, recently we have been travelling to family reunions and a nearby national park, for vacation. This means that his strict gluten/dairy free diet has not been nearly as strict as usual.

The most recent one, or rather there were two of them, he had lost his water bottle. This time he had lost it for good (this is not a new occurrence for him as he does not pay attention to where he leaves things). This was followed by shrieking and crying, as well as what sounds a lot like suicidal ideation to me. Comments about not wanting to be here anymore, though there were also comments about wanting to move out of state. Not sure where those are coming from since we've never lived anywhere else with him.

The screaming, the crying and slammed doors or breaking things, it's kind of par for the course but the comments about not wanting to be here... it's hard not to be sensitive to those. It felt very depleting, especially since I am very aware of the risk of suicide in Autism. Maybe I'll talk about that one day but for today, I'm just really sorry for you parents who have to sit with that regularly. I know there are SO many of you out there and my heart goes out to you.

Anyhow, blogging is new to me but I'll see if I can give it a try. Parents, you are amazing. You are real superheroes. You're not alone. There are others out there who see you and admire what you're doing. Please stay strong.